Information Security Architect

Job title: Information Security Architect

Contract duration: Start with 6 months

First preference: EEE candidates

Location: JHB

The Head of Security Architecture for the organization is responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining robust security architectures that protect sensitive data in compliance with regulations such as POPIA, GDPR. This role is critical in safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of electronic health records (EHR), patient and employee information, medical devices, and cloud-based healthcare services. The role will focus on designing and developing security architecture that aligns business and corporate security strategy. The role will collaboratively direct Security Architects, IT, and Engineers to design and build security controls and solutions compliant with approved enterprise architecture frameworks and standards across business and digital.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and develop complex and comprehensive security architectures for our systems, applications, and infrastructure, considering both current and future needs.
• Collaborates with stakeholders, including developers, engineers, and project managers, to integrate security requirements into the system design and development lifecycle.
• Provides guidance and expertise in secure coding practices, network security, identity and access management, data protection, and other security domains.
• Model threats and risks, designing the controls necessary to mitigate them, on both an organizational and technical level – thinking like an attacker, understanding and anticipating the moves and tactics that a hacker might use to attack systems.
• Follow the architecture analysis process, which consists of research, validation, and evaluation of all new initiatives, with phase gate reviews presented to all stakeholders during key forums, including current trends such as AI and LLMS.
• Evaluates and selects security technologies, tools, and frameworks to support the organization's security.
• Define portfolio vision and reusable security patterns aligned with the EA strategy.
• Lead architecture reviews for high-risk projects, driving recommendations to resolution.
• Advise on security controls for hybrid and cloud platforms, balancing usability, cost, and compliance.
• Defines and applies security policies, standards, and procedures to ensure compliance with industry regulations and best practices.
• Leads incident response activities, including identification, containment, eradication, and recovery, in coordination with the incident response team.
• Experience with Cloud Security platform vendors and technologies such as Azure and AWS.
• Manage security architects and mentor engineers, developers, and vendors.

What will you bring?

• Risk-based decision-making - expert in ISO 27001 / NIST / CIS controls, able to quantify and articulate risk, then select proportionate, cost-effective controls.
• Pen-testing & threat-modelling - scoping, overseeing, and translating results into enforceable patterns and backlog items.
• Influential communication - proven ability to engage C-suite and delivery stakeholders alike, adapting style to gain agreement and drive secure-by-design culture.
• Teamwork and Energy – work across different functional and business teams with effective collaboration.
• Technical depth - hands-on knowledge of cloud security, IAM, container & API security, network segmentation, encryption, and DevSecOps toolchains; capable of explaining the exploitability of complex vulnerabilities. Zero trust design thinking.
• Mentoring & governance - experience in line-managing or coaching security architects/engineers and running architecture assurance or design-review boards.
• Secure-system design leadership - demonstrable track record creating or validating architectures for large-scale, high-risk services using recognised frameworks (SABSA, TOGAF).

Requirements / Skills and Competence

• Tertiary qualification in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (preferred)
• Minimum of 5-10 years of experience in Security Architecture.
• CISSP, CISA, CISM, or other relevant security-related designation(s) preferred.
• Certifications in CISSP-ISSAP, TOGAF, or SABSA, cloud architecture (Microsoft, AWS, GCP)
• Experience in identifying gaps in existing architectures.
• Understanding of security infrastructure in Public and Private Cloud, e.g., virtual network infrastructure, hybrid IaaS/PaaS/SaaS solutions.
• Experience in designing security architectures to mitigate threats and sound knowledge of security strategies and technologies.
• Direct the Project and Security teams with the guidance to build policies, standards, risks, and controls frameworks supporting operational requirements for the business.
• Good experience in security architecture design in Cloud and on-prem.
• Design and implementation of IOT, endpoint protection, and secure IAM.
• Understanding of authentication and authorisation technologies (SAML, LDAP, PKI, etc.) and other IAM technologies
• Understanding of the implementation, operation, and maintenance of SIEM, boundary protection technologies (firewalls, mail gateways), Antivirus, and AD security products
• Knowledge of web application architectures and threat modelling.