Tech Practice Principal - Infrastructure / Security Lead

Tech Practice Principal - Infrastructure / Security Lead Location: Hybrid: Client Site, AND Digital office, Remote. Proximity to Reading / Thames Valley is key Core Tech: Microsoft Azure Cloud, E2E Digital Security, DevOps AND Introduction At AND, we accelerate the development of digital capabilities. In practice, that means helping ambitious leaders and organisations build the teams, products, processes and even operational structures they need to close the digital skills gap within their organisation today, so that they thrive tomorrow. Clients rely on our experience, agility and craft skills across tech and business strategy, software development, AI and product management to address some of the toughest challenges facing their businesses. We bring aboard thinkers, tinkerers, passionate software craftspeople and inspiring technologists to help us solve these challenges. Together, we’re united by a sense of pragmatism, purpose and a deeply-held belief that digital products and technology alone won’t transform a business or save the world: it’s the people that count. The Opportunity We are looking for an Infrastructure / Security Tech Lead to take the technical helm of a high-profile platform infrastructure and security initiative. You will not just be overseeing delivery; you’ll be the technical heartbeat of a mission-critical, end-to-end digital system that supports a wide array of eCommerce platforms (including Commerce Tools, Bloomreach, and Amplience) and Salesforce integrations. This role is perfect for a hands-on technical expert who enjoys the challenge of scaling complex cloud-native architectures in Azure, driving rigorous security protocols, and taking accountability for managing a team of DevOps/SRE engineers to deliver these outcomes. Key Responsibilities Technical Excellence & Execution Cloud & Security Mastery: Lead by example as an expert in Cloud architecture, specifically Azure, and champion the security of digital systems end-to-end. Establish and maintain strong security postures using high-level Azure native security frameworks, threat protection protocols, and compliance best practices. Architectural Stewardship: Ensure the long-term health, security, and scalability of our infrastructure ecosystem, supporting (tooling, logs, service resolution) and infrastructure environments Make pragmatic decisions balancing speed-to-market with security and technical excellence. Engineering Culture: Set the "gold standard" for infrastructure and security routines. Drive a culture of technical pride, ensuring robust CI/CD pipelines and secure deployment practices across the ecosystem. Team Management, Pastoral Leadership & Delivery Delivery Accountability: Operate in "Project Mode," taking full accountability for managing your team to deliver on-time infrastructure and security outcomes, while ensuring adherence to budgets and high quality. Distributed Team Management: Act as the bridge between onshore stakeholders and a distributed team of Onshore and Nearshore DevOps/SREs. You will actively manage this team to maintain velocity and ensure consistent infrastructure and security standards across geographical boundaries. Stakeholder Management Collaborative Influence: Navigate a multi-faceted stakeholder landscape. You will be equally comfortable discussing cloud deployments with DevOps/SRE engineers as you are discussing security compliance, platform resilience, and roadmap priorities with Senior Executives to help them achieve their business ambitions. What You’ll Bring Cloud Expertise: Extensive professional experience building, securing, and deploying enterprise-scale infrastructure specifically within Microsoft Azure. Security Mastery: Deep expertise in the end-to-end security of complex digital systems, including a strong working knowledge of overarching Azure cloud security frameworks, identity management, and secure-by-design principles. Team Management & Delivery: Proven experience providing line management, pastoral care, and operational leadership for remote or nearshore DevOps and SRE teams. You know how to manage team health and accountability to successfully deliver project outcomes when the team isn't in the same room. Consultative Mindset: The ability to build trust quickly, evaluate options, and translate complex business requirements into actionable strategic infrastructure plans during moments of rapid growth. Equal Opportunities Statement At AND Digital we embrace diversity and are committed to equal opportunities. We are actively recruiting for a diverse and inclusive workforce so want to ensure we do everything we can to support your application. We want you to feel safe and empowered to let us know if you require any adjustments to be made to your application or interview process so please speak to our recruitment team.