A public-sector organisation in the Brussels region of Belgium is evolving the cybersecurity architecture of an interconnected IT estate covering network connectivity, datacentres, identity and access, cloud and hybrid services, firewalls, and security monitoring. This Senior Cybersecurity Architect role translates risk, governance and compliance requirements into maintainable technical decisions, with direct relevance to ISO/IEC 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework and SIEM/SOC capabilities.
The mission
The security architecture function links governance, enterprise architecture and operational IT teams. Its scope includes network and connectivity, firewall and perimeter security, segmentation, routing, remote access, datacentre and virtualisation, IAM, MFA, privileged access, PKI, cloud/hybrid services, resilience, and security monitoring. The organisation aligns controls and risk decisions with ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 27002:2022, ISO/IEC 27005:2022, NIS2, GDPR, CyberFundamentals Framework and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Clear architecture decisions help project and infrastructure teams implement security controls that remain testable and maintainable.
As a Senior Cybersecurity Architect, you will assess the current estate, define target architectures, and review designs for projects, migrations and significant changes. Your outputs will include high-level and detailed architecture documents, traffic-flow diagrams, communication matrices, segmentation principles, risk analyses, architecture decisions and reusable security patterns. You will work with security, infrastructure, network, operations and project teams, while the organisation retains decision and approval authority. Approved recommendations follow existing change management, and the role does not involve unilateral production changes.
Your responsibilities
- Assess existing cybersecurity architecture and produce prioritised recommendations covering risks, dependencies, vulnerabilities and resilience.
- Translate ISO/IEC 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework and related requirements into concrete controls, security patterns and architecture decisions.
- Lead security architecture reviews for projects, migrations and significant changes, documenting impacts, alternatives, testing criteria and rollback conditions.
- Shape IAM, MFA, PAM, PKI, firewall, segmentation, remote access and high-availability designs across enterprise environments.
- Define logging, SIEM/SOC integration, detection, retention and traceability requirements with operational teams.
- Challenge supplier proposals, facilitate technical workshops and transfer knowledge through maintainable documentation and handovers.
Your profile
Essential skills
- Bring at least 10 years of experience in complex enterprise IT, including at least seven years in cybersecurity and five years in a Security Architect or Cybersecurity Architect function.
- Design, review and evolve cybersecurity architectures across network, datacentre, identity, perimeter, remote access, cloud/hybrid and security monitoring domains.
- Produce high-level and detailed architecture documentation, flow diagrams, communication matrices, architecture decisions and technical requirements.
- Apply Security by Design, Security by Default, Zero Trust, least privilege, defence in depth, segmentation and resilience pragmatically.
- Perform technical risk management, assess supplier proposals independently, and convert regulatory or governance requirements into proportionate controls.
- Explain complex decisions to technical and non-technical stakeholders, facilitate co-design workshops, and transfer knowledge through clear documentation and handovers.
- Hold at least one recognised senior cybersecurity certification. CISSP is strongly expected, alongside demonstrable experience as a security architect.
Education
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems Security, Networks and Telecommunications, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.