AWS Principal Systems & Security Architect

Recruiter: Luke Byrne

Hiring Manager: Girish Mahanjan

Career Grade: CLC

Internal Closing Date: 16th August 2026

Locations: London or Bristol

About the role

This role sits at the intersection of AWS system design and security within BT's Mobile Data-Driven Operations (DDOps) division. Half the role is dedicated to architecting scalable, resilient, distributed AWS systems that power real-time telecom network analytics and AIOps automation – anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and automated incident remediation. The other half is dedicated to embedding security-by-design across those same systems: protecting sensitive network telemetry and customer data, enforcing least-privilege access, and ensuring compliance with telecom and data-protection regulation & telecommunications security act. The successful candidate balances architectural trade-offs between performance, cost, and risk, and acts as the technical authority ensuring that system design nor security is addressed equally.

What you’ll be doing

What you’ll be doing – your accountabilities -System Design 
•    Architect Distributed AWS Systems: Design scalable, event-driven architectures (SQS, MSK, Lambda, EKS/ECS/EMR, Step Functions) supporting AIOps telemetry ingestion, correlation, and automated remediation across the mobile network estate.
•    Define Reference Architectures: Set standards for streaming, lakehouse, and microservices patterns handling high-volume mobile network and customer usage data.
•    Architect Scalable Data Solutions: Design and implement enterprise-grade data pipelines and architectures using AWS services (e.g. S3, Glue, Lambda, Redshift, EMR, Kinesis,ClickHouse), optimised for analytics and scalability.
•    Design for Resilience: Own multi-AZ/multi-region strategy, disaster recovery, and chaos-engineering practices for mission-critical AIOps platforms.
•    Enable AIOps & MLOps: Partner with data science and MLOps teams to embed anomaly detection and predictive-maintenance models into production system design.
•    Own Non-Functional Requirements: Balance latency, throughput, availability, and cost across the platform and manage the complete data lifecycle—from capturing learning interaction data to delivering consolidated insights—ensuring data is accurate, accessible, and actionable.

What you’ll be doing – your accountabilities -Security Architect
•    Own Security Architecture: Design IAM, KMS, network segmentation, and VPC architecture across all AWS workloads.
•    Champion DevSecOps: Embed security scanning, IaC checks, and secrets management into CI/CD pipelines.
•    Lead Threat Modelling: Run architecture-level security reviews, threat modelling, and remediation of penetration-test findings.
•    Ensure Regulatory Compliance: Uphold GDPR, UK Data Protection Act, Ofcom, and internal BT security policy requirements across the platform.
•    Own Detection & Response Architecture: Design logging, monitoring, and automated remediation using CloudTrail, GuardDuty, and Security Hub.

Essential Skills / Experience

Systems Design skills you’ll need to succeed

•    Extensive AWS System Design & Security Experience: Demonstrated 4+ years of experience in designing complex data pipelines deployed in AWS, with deep knowledge of all foundational AWS services and major data analytics services. Demonstrated 3+ years of Security experience in AWS handling complex implementations
•    Distributed Systems Expertise: Proven experience designing distributed, event-driven systems on AWS at scale.
•    Streaming & Lakehouse Architectures: Hands-on experience with Kinesis/MSK, EKS/ECS/Fargate, Lambda, and Step Functions.
•    AIOps & Observability Tooling: Familiarity with CloudWatch, OpenSearch, Grafana, and SageMaker for real-time analytics and anomaly detection.
•    Performance & Cost Trade-offs: Track record of optimising systems for reliability, latency, and cost.

Security skills you’ll need to succeed
•    AWS Security Services: Deep expertise in IAM, KMS, GuardDuty, Security Hub, Macie, WAF, and Shield.
•    Compliance Frameworks: Working knowledge of GDPR, ISO 27001, NIST, and Ofcom telecom regulatory requirements & TSA.
•    DevSecOps: Experience with IaC security scanning (e.g. Checkov, tfsec) and secrets management (Secrets Manager, Vault).
•    Certifications (desirable): AWS Security Specialty, CISSP, or CCSP.
•    Communication: Ability to explain security and architectural trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Our Package

•    15% on target bonus
•    Company car or £5,500 cash alternative
•    Private healthcare for self and family
•    BT Pension scheme, minimum 5% Employee contribution, BT contribution 10%
•    From January 2025, equal family leave:  receive 18 weeks at full pay, 8 weeks at half pay and 26 weeks at the statutory rate. It’s for all parents, no matter how your family is made up.
•    25 days annual leave (not including bank holidays), increasing with service
•    Huge range of flexible benefits including cycle to work, healthcare, season ticket loan
•    World-class training and development opportunities
•    Option to join BT Shares Saving schemes.
•    Discounted broadband, mobile and TV packages
•    Access to 100’s of retail discounts including the BT shop

BT Group is the UK’s leading communications group and the holding company behind some of the country’s most recognised brands – including BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet. Our purpose is as simple as it is ambitious: we connect for good.  Our customers include consumers, small, medium and large businesses, public sector organisations and other communications providers. 

BT Group’s role is about setting direction, unlocking value and creating the conditions for our brands and businesses to thrive.

Having come through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, our focus now is on what comes next – simplifying how we operate, using technology and AI to work smarter, and organising ourselves to serve customers better and grow sustainably. Group teams shape strategy, policy, brand, capital allocation and transformation, helping the whole organisation perform at its best.

We have a singular culture that unites all our people: we are customer-first challengers, who are committed, clear and connected. These behaviours unite us as one team to deliver for our colleagues, our customers, our stakeholders and the country.   Joining BT Group means working at the heart of a business that matters to the UK, with the opportunity to shape decisions, influence outcomes and help set the future course of one of the country’s most important companies.