Azure Cloud Architect

Company Description

At NCS Australia, we believe in doing technology services better. Our commitment to quality, focus on people, and willingness to challenge traditional thinking set us apart. Our team brings this belief to life by partnering with our clients and communities to make tomorrow together.

We are committed to creating an environment that prioritises innovation, collaboration, and purposeful work. Our diverse team is empowered to make a meaningful impact with curiosity, creativity and resilience to shape better outcomes. Join us and accept the challenge of creating a better tomorrow.

Job Description

We are seeking an experienced Azure Cloud Architect to join our team, ideally based in Canberra (with Melbourne or Sydney also considered for the right candidate).

Operating as part of a major Federal Government cloud initiative, you will serve as the principal authority for enterprise Azure architecture. In this role, you will take high-level strategic ownership of designing, governing, and evolving secure, resilient cloud foundations and landing zones across a complex multi-cloud landscape (Azure primary, alongside AWS).

Sitting at the intersection of enterprise architecture, cloud security, and platform delivery, you will bridge strict government security requirements with modern cloud capability - ensuring platform stability, seamless integration, and continuous evolution.

What You’ll Be Doing (Architectural Scope)

Enterprise Azure Architecture: Lead the end-to-end design, strategy, and governance of enterprise Azure environments, cloud landing zones, and platform core services.

Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Topology: Architect secure integration frameworks connecting infrastructure, hybrid networking (ExpressRoute, Direct Connect, VPNs), multi-account/subscription topologies, and complex routing models across Azure and AWS.

Identity & Access Management: Design robust enterprise IAM, Entra ID (Azure AD), and RBAC frameworks to secure multi-cloud resources and enforce principle-of-least-privilege across all environments.

Security & Compliance Standards: Ensure all cloud architectures, landing zones, and platform services strictly align with Federal Government security and compliance baselines, specifically ISM and IRAP frameworks.

Platform Governance & Patterns: Define architectural standards, blueprints, and reusable patterns for platform deployment, guiding engineering squads on best practices across the full lifecycle (development, staging, production).

Strategic Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate closely with enterprise architects, cybersecurity teams, application leads, and senior government stakeholders to guide solution decisions, resolve complex platform dependencies, and align technology with mission-critical outcomes.

Technical Mentorship: Provide high-level guidance, design reviews, and strategic mentorship to engineering and operational staff.

Qualifications

Core Requirements:

Security Clearance: An active NV1 Security Clearance is strictly mandatory.

Enterprise Azure Architectural Mastery: Proven track record as a Cloud Architect designing enterprise-scale Azure environments, landing zones, and core infrastructure services.

Multi-Cloud & Hybrid Integration: Strong experience architecting integrated solutions across Azure and AWS, including complex hybrid networking (ExpressRoute/VPN), DNS routing, and enterprise identity systems.

Government Security & Compliance: Deep familiarity with Australian Federal Government ICT environments and strict security controls, including ISM, IRAP, and PSPF requirements.

Infrastructure as Code & CI/CD Literacy: Strong understanding of IaC concepts, automation pipelines (Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions), and DevOps practices to ensure architectures support automated, scalable deployment models.

Architectural Leadership: Exceptional analytical skills, clear written/verbal communication, and demonstrated experience producing high-quality architectural deliverables (design documents, blueprints, and technical roadmaps).

Highly Regarded:

Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert or AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Professional).

Experience in Agile/DevOps delivery environments across large-scale enterprise public sector environments.

Additional Information

Why join us:

NCS Australia is where you can feel at home, nurturing your talents and skills as we make tomorrow together, one day at a time. Our benefits include paid parental leave, initiatives focused on your well-being and discounted health insurance. You will also enjoy discounts on various products and services and be regularly recognised and rewarded for high performance. We are committed to your career development through our Capability Fingerprint, industry and partner training programs, special interest groups, and an AI-driven learning platform. No matter where you are in your career, we offer meaningful work and opportunities for growth.

NCS Australia is an equal-opportunity employer, and we take pride in our commitment to valuing and supporting our people and the communities we serve.We are dedicated to attracting, retaining and developing our people regardless of gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and age. Applications are encouraged from all sectors of the community and we strongly encourage applications from the Veterans, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community.

At NCS Australia, we are committed to supporting adjustments throughout the recruitment and selection process, as well as during employment. We actively support and encourage people with disability to apply.

Agencies:

We’ve got this. We request that you do not contact NCS employees outside of the Talent Acquisition team. NCS exclusively accepts resumes from agencies on our preferred supplier panel through the NCS Agency Portal. Agencies that submit resumes must have a valid fee agreement and be assigned to the particular requisition by the Talent Acquisition team. Any resumes that are submitted outside of this process will become the sole property of NCS. If a candidate is hired outside of this process, no fee or payment will be given.

Work rights and background checks:

To be eligible for a position with us, applicants will need to have valid work rights for Australia and be willing to undergo a comprehensive background checking process, including probity and police checks