Cyber Security Architect & Engineering Lead

Zero Trust, secure-by-design and automation. Lead security architecture reviews and threat modelling for major projects, technologies and high-risk integrations. Own security initiatives from problem identification and business case through to implementation and validation. Provide technical leadership across Microsoft Sentinel, Defender and wider SecOps, including configuration, tuning, detection engineering and monitoring. Provide oversight across incident response, threat hunting, vulnerability/exposure management and security recovery. Support complex and high-severity incident response with internal teams, SOC providers and specialist partners. Improve vulnerability management using business risk, exploitability, attack-path context and threat intelligence. Lead and support practical implementation of ISO 27001 controls, audits, remediation and continual improvement. Support Cyber Essentials Plus, client assurance and regulatory/contractual security requirements. Lead on AI security

including practical controls for Microsoft 365 Copilot, AI agents, custom AI applications and emerging technologies. Identify opportunities to automate security and assurance processes. What We’re Looking For Hands-on security engineering and architecture experience within a Microsoft-centric environment. Strong Microsoft Sentinel experience, including setup, configuration, tuning, detection and SecOps. Strong knowledge of Microsoft Defender, Entra ID, Azure, Microsoft 365 and related security tooling. Identity, Zero Trust, cloud, data, endpoint, network, application and API security, plus secure software development. Experience with security architecture reviews, threat modelling, control design, technical standards and reference architectures. Strong practical ISO 27001 experience, including controls, audits, remediation and continual improvement. Experience across incident response, detection engineering, threat hunting, vulnerability/exposure management and security automation. Proven ability to own initiatives from identifying a problem and building the business case through to implementation and measuring improvement. Automation skills using Python, PowerShell, Logic Apps, Azure Functions, APIs, infrastructure as code or equivalent. Ability to influence senior stakeholders, communicate technical risk clearly and drive change without relying solely on formal authority. Mentoring colleagues and providing technical leadership. Experience in a regulated, client-confidential or professional services environment is advantageous. AI security, AI governance or security automation experience is highly desirable. Desirable Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert / SC-100 CISSP or CCSP Microsoft security certifications such as AZ-500 or SC-200 GIAC certifications covering incident response, cloud, detection or forensics ISO 27001 Lead Implementer or Lead Auditor SABSA, TOGAF or equivalent About You You will be a hands-on security professional and technical leader comfortable moving between architecture, engineering, configuration, testing and stakeholder engagement. You take ownership rather than simply identifying problems. You will be able to demonstrate examples of identifying a security gap or opportunity, building the case for change, gaining approval and delivering successful implementation. Our client is not seeking a predominantly SOC alert-triage or heavily GRC focused candidate without strong technical experience. Equally, strong engineering ability alone is not enough; you will need leadership, ownership, commercial awareness and the ability to influence the wider business. Apply now for immediate review! Cyber Security Architect, Engineering Lead, Cyber Security, Microsoft Sentinel, Defender, Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, SecOps, ISO 27001, CISSP, CCSP, TOGAF, SABSA Circle Recruitment is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy. Earn yourself a referral bonus if you refer somebody else who fills the role! We also offer an iPad if you refer a new client to us and we recruit for them. Follow us on Facebook - Circle Recruitment , Twitter - @Circle_Rec and LinkedIn - Circle Recruitment.