Expert Solution Architect (PROJ-4843)

The Solution Architect will be accountable for the integrity, security and fitness-for-purpose of the EKMS and SMS solution architectures, providing strategic technical leadership and ensuring architectural decisions support the successful delivery of critical security capabilities across ASD.

The role will establish and maintain architectural direction, influence key stakeholders and provide assurance that solution designs remain aligned with organisational objectives, security requirements and agreed enterprise architecture standards. Working under the general direction of the Strategy, Planning and Project Management (SPPM) Leadership team, the Solution Architect will apply sound judgement and established project governance practices to support EKMS and SMS delivery outcomes.

The role will also contribute to the resolution of complex architectural and integration issues, support key design and assurance decisions, and provide authoritative advice to project teams, security stakeholders, vendors and operational teams throughout the solution lifecycle.

Key duties and responsibilities

• Lead the development of end-to-end solution architectures for EKMS and SMS capabilities, ensuring alignment across security, operational and enterprise architecture requirements.

• Design secure architectures supporting cryptographic key lifecycle management, secret storage, certificate management, privileged access integration and automated key rotation processes.

• Produce and maintain architecture artefacts including solution designs, security models, integration patterns, infrastructure designs, data flows and technical roadmaps.

• Conduct architecture assessments, option analyses and technology evaluations, providing recommendations that balance security, performance, scalability, risk and operational supportability.

• Collaborate with security architects, engineers, project managers, business stakeholders and vendors to ensure successful implementation and integration of EKMS and SMS solutions.

• Provide architectural governance and assurance through design reviews, technical review boards, security assessments and project governance forums.

• Identify and manage architecture risks, dependencies and technical debt, ensuring compliance with agency security policies, Australian Government requirements and industry best practices.

• Oversee implementation of KMS and secret management platforms, ensuring secure integration with existing enterprise systems.

• Design integration patterns for applications, CI/CD pipelines, container platforms, and cloud services to consume secrets securely.

• Lead proof-of-concept activities and pilot deployments to validate architectural decisions.

• Develop migration strategies from legacy key/credential management approaches to modern centralised platforms.

• Ensure solution comply with the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF), Information Security Manual (ISM), and relevant Australian Government security standards.

• Implement zero-trust principles and defence-in-depth strategies for cryptographic material protection.

• Design audit, logging and monitoring capabilities for key usage, access and lifecycle events.

• Support accreditation and certification activities, producing required security documentation.

• Contribute to the development of key management policies, procedures and operational playbooks.

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to implementation team and junior staff.

• Conduct architectural reviews and risk assessments for proposed solutions.

Essential criteria

• A minimum 10 years of experiences in leading solution architecture activities for complex enterprise security, infrastructure, cloud or cyber security programs and projects.

• Proven experience designing and integrating enterprise key management, secrets management, identity and access management, PKI or cryptographic security solutions.

• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture methodologies, security architecture frameworks and system integration principles within large-scale ICT environments.

• Experience designing secure solutions across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments, including high-availability, resilience and disaster recovery considerations.

• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, including the ability to influence senior executives, governance boards and technical teams.

• Tertiary qualification in Information Technology, Cyber Security, Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent demonstrated experience.

Desirable criteria

• Experience implementing or supporting enterprise key management platforms, Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), vault technologies, certificate management systems or secret management solutions.

• Knowledge of cryptographic standards, key management frameworks and security guidance including NIST, Information Security Manual (ISM) and Essential Eight.

• Experience with cloud security technologies and platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or CyberArk.

• Knowledge of secure systems engineering, threat modelling, security accreditation and architecture assurance processes.