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SECURITY ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
Security architecture and design recruitment
Architecture is the discipline where the market and the title have drifted furthest apart. Half the architect CVs we see describe senior engineering; half the architect briefs we take describe a governance role. We start by establishing which one you actually need.
What we place
- ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT
- Owns the target-state security architecture, standards and reference patterns across the estate.
- CLOUD ARCHITECT
- Landing zones, tenancy design, guardrails and reference architecture for AWS, Azure or GCP.
- SOLUTION ARCHITECT
- Attaches to programmes and projects, translating standards into designs teams can actually build.
- APPLICATION SECURITY
- Secure SDLC, threat modelling and design review for product and platform engineering groups.
- IDENTITY ARCHITECT
- Authentication, authorisation and federation design — the architecture specialism most in demand and least well supplied.
- NETWORK & SEGMENTATION
- Segmentation strategy, zero-trust network design, and the unglamorous work of retiring flat networks.
How we screen
We ask architects to describe a design decision they made where the secure option lost. Good architects have several: they can explain the trade-off, the residual risk, who accepted it and what compensating control went in. Architects who have only produced documents describe an estate where every recommendation was adopted.
We also check whether someone can still build. An architect who cannot open a console or read a Terraform plan will be ignored by the engineering teams they are supposed to influence — and in smaller organisations, an architect who cannot implement is simply an expensive reviewer.
The market, honestly
Architecture supply looks better than it is. There are many candidates with the title and comparatively few who can produce a defensible target state and then land it against engineering resistance. Financial services in both markets hire heavily at this level, and cloud architecture is where the shortage bites hardest.
Salary expectations here are unusually wide, because the title spans design authority and hands-on senior engineering. We establish scope, influence and reporting line at the briefing so the offer is not the first place the mismatch appears.
If the role has no design authority and no budget influence, it is a senior engineering role. We will still fill it — but calling it architecture will cost you good candidates in week three.
Where we recruit
Cape Town and Johannesburg across South Africa, and London and the wider United Kingdom.
Common questions
Is a security architect different from a senior security engineer?
Usually yes. An architect sets target state, standards and patterns and is judged on decisions; an engineer builds and operates controls and is judged on systems. Small organisations combine them, and we ask which balance you want before searching.
Do you place cloud security architects?
Yes, and it is the most common architecture brief we take. Landing zone design, guardrails and tenancy models for AWS and Azure dominate, with GCP appearing occasionally in product organisations.
Do architecture frameworks like SABSA or TOGAF matter?
They help candidates communicate and they matter in regulated enterprises that use them. They do not tell you whether someone can design something that survives contact with a delivery team.
Can you find architects who will still work hands-on?
Yes, but it narrows the pool and it needs to be said in the advert. Many senior architects have deliberately left implementation behind, and discovering that at offer stage wastes everyone six weeks.
Related disciplines
Talk to us about your search
A short conversation is usually enough to tell you whether we can help.