Platform Cloud Architect

As an IBM Consulting Architect, you will act as a trusted technical advisor to our clients, shaping architecture decisions that enable complex business and technology transformation. You will operate across the lifecycle - from early discovery and design through delivery and transition - providing architectural leadership to ensure solutions are coherent, fit-for-purpose, and aligned to client objectives.

You will work closely with clients, delivery teams, and partners, bringing industry insight and structured architectural thinking to complex environments. This role requires strong stakeholder engagement, the ability to operate in multi-supplier or 'rainbow' teams, and confidence guiding teams through ambiguity, trade-offs, and change.

Core Responsibilities (Common Across All Architect Roles)

• Build strong relationships with client stakeholders and act as a trusted advisor, providing clear architectural guidance aligned to business outcomes.
• Lead and influence architectural decision-making across teams, ensuring design integrity, quality, and consistency throughout delivery.
• Apply industry best practices, architectural patterns, and standards to shape pragmatic, sustainable solutions.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers, architects, and delivery leads, supporting capability development within teams.
• Collaborate effectively across architecture, engineering, security, and platform communities to deliver cohesive outcomes.
• Support architectural governance activities, including design reviews, assurance, and risk management where appropriate.
• Operate effectively within consulting environments, balancing client needs, delivery constraints, and long-term sustainability.

In addition to the core responsibilities above, a Consulting Platform Architect will primarily focus on, * Design cloud and platform architectures supporting application, data, and integration workloads.

• Lead platform design activities across cloud migration, hybrid environments, and cloud native enablement.
• Define target and transitional platform architectures, including landing zones, networking, identity, and security foundations.
• Support migration planning and execution for legacy and on premises environments.
• Work closely with security architects to ensure platforms meet organisational and regulatory requirements.
• Provide architectural guidance to delivery teams using platform services and cloud tooling.
• Produce platform architecture artefacts, standards, and reference designs.
• Support governance, cost optimisation, and operational readiness considerations., IBM wants you to bring your whole self to work and for you this might mean the ability to work flexibly. If you are interested in a flexible working pattern, please talk to our recruitment team to find out if this is possible in the current working environment.

Bachelor's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• Strong experience as a Platform, Cloud, or Infrastructure Architect.
• Hands on experience with cloud platforms (e.g. AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, Oracle OCI).
• Understanding of hybrid and multi cloud architectures and migration strategies.
• Experience designing secure, resilient, and scalable platforms.
• Ability to work with delivery teams, security specialists, and programme leadership.
• Consulting or large scale transformation experience.

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government's Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personal Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NVS) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV).

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Experience with cloud security, identity, or network architecture.
• Background in large migration or modernisation programmes.
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code, automation, or platform engineering concepts.
• Exposure to regulated or public sector environments., Being an IBMer means you'll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you'll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

Are you ready to be an IBMer?

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You'll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you'll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You'll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences. In this role, you'll work in one of our IBM Consulting Client Innovation Centers (Delivery Centers), where we deliver deep technical and industry expertise to a wide range of public and private sector clients around the world. Our delivery centers offer our clients locally based skills and technical expertise to drive innovation and adoption of new technology., IBM Consulting is IBM's consulting and global professional services business, with market leading capabilities in business and technology transformation. With deep expertise in many industries, we offer strategy, experience, technology, and operations services to many of the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. Our people are focused on accelerating our clients' businesses through the power of collaboration. We believe in the power of technology responsibly used to help people, partners and the planet., In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better., IBM's greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world. Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we're also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business. At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it's time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world. IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.