Cybersecurity Architect Lead

About the Job
The company is seeking an experienced Cybersecurity & Engineering Architect Lead to provide cybersecurity architecture and engineering leadership across a large-scale, complex technology transformation program in the UAE. The successful candidate will act as a senior security design authority, responsible for defining, governing, and assuring cybersecurity architecture across multiple technology domains. This role requires strong technical depth combined with broad architectural expertise across cloud, infrastructure, network, applications, identity, data, security platforms, and enterprise integration, together with the leadership capability to guide architects, engineers, vendors, and technology partners.

Key Responsibilities

Cybersecurity Architecture Leadership

• Own and lead the end-to-end cybersecurity architecture across the program.
• Define the cybersecurity target architecture, roadmap, principles, standards, patterns, and security design requirements.
• Establish and enforce security-by-design and zero-trust principles throughout the technology lifecycle.
• Translate business, technical, security, and risk requirements into scalable and practical security architectures.
• Ensure security architecture is aligned across applications, cloud, infrastructure, network, identity, data, APIs, and integration services.
• Provide senior technical direction for complex cybersecurity design decisions.

Security Engineering Leadership

• Lead cybersecurity architecture and engineering activities across multiple workstreams.
• Provide technical direction to security architects, security engineers, technical leads, and delivery teams.
• Define engineering standards and technical requirements for security technologies and controls.
• Review security configurations, implementation designs, and engineering approaches.
• Ensure security architecture requirements are correctly translated into deployable technical controls.
• Support troubleshooting and resolution of complex security architecture and engineering issues.

Architecture Governance & Design Authority

• Establish and lead cybersecurity architecture governance and design assurance processes.
• Review and approve security architecture and technical designs.
• Participate in Architecture Review Boards and technical design authorities.
• Review solution designs produced by internal teams, vendors, and technology partners.
• Identify security architecture gaps, risks, technical debt, and control weaknesses.
• Define remediation requirements and track architectural issues through to resolution.
• Maintain security architecture documentation, standards, patterns, and technical decision records.

Identity & Access Management

• Define architecture requirements for Identity and Access Management (IAM), privileged access, authentication, authorization, and identity governance.
• Provide architectural guidance across SSO, MFA, PAM, RBAC/ABAC, federation, directory services, and identity lifecycle management.
• Ensure identity controls are integrated consistently across applications, cloud platforms, infrastructure, and enterprise services.
• Support the implementation of least-privilege and Zero Trust access principles.

Network, Infrastructure & Cloud Security

• Define and govern security architecture across cloud, hybrid infrastructure, networks, compute, storage, and platform services.
• Provide architectural oversight for technologies such as firewalls, WAF, IDS/IPS, network segmentation, NAC, VPN, secure access, endpoint security, and cloud-native security controls.
• Ensure secure architecture across public cloud, private cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.
• Define security requirements for workload protection, cloud posture, segmentation, encryption, and privileged administration.
• Ensure appropriate resilience and security controls are incorporated into infrastructure designs.

Application, API & Data Security

• Embed security requirements throughout application and software architecture.
• Define security requirements for APIs, middleware, integration platforms, microservices, and application interfaces.
• Promote secure development and DevSecOps practices across delivery teams.
• Ensure appropriate controls for application authentication, authorization, secrets management, encryption, vulnerability management, and secure coding.
• Define security requirements for data protection, classification, encryption, key management, and secure data exchange.

Security Monitoring & Detection Architecture

• Provide architectural guidance for security monitoring, logging, detection, and response capabilities.
• Define integration requirements across SIEM, SOAR, EDR/XDR, NDR, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, and security monitoring platforms.
• Ensure appropriate logging and telemetry requirements are incorporated into solution designs.
• Work with security operations teams to ensure architecture supports effective detection, investigation, and incident response.

Risk, Vulnerability & Security Assurance

• Identify and assess cybersecurity risks associated with architecture and technology decisions.
• Support threat modelling and security design assessments.
• Ensure vulnerabilities and architectural weaknesses are appropriately assessed and remediated.
• Work closely with governance, risk, compliance, architecture, engineering, and operations teams.
• Ensure security controls are measurable, testable, and aligned with defined requirements.

Vendor & Technology Management

• Provide cybersecurity architecture oversight across multiple vendors and technology partners.
• Review and challenge vendor security designs and technical proposals.
• Ensure vendor solutions comply with agreed security architecture, standards, and design principles.
• Evaluate cybersecurity technologies and provide recommendations based on security, architecture, integration, operational, and commercial considerations.
• Drive resolution of cross-vendor security architecture and integration issues.

Stakeholder & Technical Leadership

• Act as a senior cybersecurity technical advisor across the program.
• Work closely with Solution Architecture, Infrastructure, Cloud, Network, Application, Data, and Program Leadership teams.
• Present security architecture, risks, decisions, and recommendations to senior technical and management stakeholders.
• Facilitate security architecture workshops and technical design sessions.
• Translate complex cybersecurity risks and technical issues into clear business implications and recommendations.

Required Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 15+ years of IT/cybersecurity experience, including substantial experience in cybersecurity architecture and security engineering.
• Proven experience operating as a Lead Security Architect, Cybersecurity Architect Lead, Principal Security Architect, Security Engineering Lead, or equivalent.
• Demonstrated experience leading security architecture for large-scale, complex technology transformation programs.
• Strong architecture and engineering knowledge across network security, cloud security, infrastructure security, IAM/PAM, application security, data protection, endpoint security, and security monitoring.
• Strong understanding of Zero Trust and security-by-design principles.
• Experience with security technologies including SIEM/SOAR, EDR/XDR, IAM/PAM, firewalls, WAF, IDS/IPS, vulnerability management, and cloud security controls.
• Strong experience working within complex multi-vendor and systems integration environments.
• Experience reviewing and governing security designs produced by vendors, architects, and engineering teams.
• Strong understanding of cybersecurity risk management, threat modelling, vulnerability management, and security assurance.
• Excellent technical leadership, communication, stakeholder management, and influencing capabilities.

Preferred Experience

• Previous experience leading cybersecurity architecture and engineering for major technology programs in the UAE or wider GCC region.
• Strong experience with Microsoft Azure, AWS, or hybrid-cloud security architecture.
• Experience with modern Zero Trust, SASE, SSE, DevSecOps, CNAPP, CSPM, SIEM/SOAR, XDR, and identity-centric security architectures.
• Knowledge of recognized cybersecurity frameworks and standards such as NIST CSF, ISO/IEC 27001, CIS Controls, SABSA, and Zero Trust architecture principles.
• Experience working within large-scale, complex and highly governed enterprise environments.
• Relevant professional certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, SABSA, TOGAF, CISM, GIAC, Azure Security, AWS Security, or equivalent are highly desirable.

What We Are Looking For
We are looking for a senior cybersecurity architecture and engineering leader, rather than a candidate whose experience is primarily security operations, compliance, audit, or governance. The successful candidate should have sufficient technical breadth to understand the complete technology landscape and sufficient depth to challenge security designs across cloud, infrastructure, network, identity, applications, data, and security platforms. They should be capable of leading security architects and engineers, governing vendor designs, acting as a security design authority, and ensuring security is embedded throughout the complete technology lifecycle. The ideal candidate will combine deep cybersecurity expertise, architectural thinking, engineering credibility, leadership capability, and pragmatic decision-making.