Quantum Cryptography Architect

About this role

Starling is the UK's first and leading digital bank on a mission to fix banking! Our vision is fast technology, fair service, and honest values. All at the tap of a phone, all the time. We are about giving customers a new way to spend, save and manage their money while taking better care of the planet, which has seen us become a multi-award-winning bank that now employs over 3,000 people across our offices in London, Cardiff, Dublin, Southampton, and Manchester. Our journey started in 2014, and since then we have surpassed 3.5 million accounts with 350,000 business customers. We are a fully licensed UK bank, but at heart, we are a tech-first company, enabling our platform to deliver brilliant products. Our technologists are at the very heart of Starling and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment that is all about building things, creating new stuff, and disruptive technology that keeps us on the cutting edge of fintech. We operate a flat structure to empower you to make decisions regardless of what your primary responsibilities may be; innovation and collaboration will be at the core of everything you do. Help is never far away in our open culture, you will find support in your team and from across the business, we are in this together! The way to thrive and shine within Starling is to be a self-driven individual and take full ownership of everything around you: from building things, designing, discovering, to sharing knowledge with your colleagues and making sure all processes are efficient and productive to deliver the best possible results for our customers. Our purpose is underpinned by five Starling values: Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim For Greatness. Hybrid model We have a Hybrid approach to working here at Starling - our preference is that you're located within a commutable distance of one of our offices so that we're able to interact and collaborate in person. In Technology, we're asking that you attend the office a minimum of 1 day per week. About Role & Team The Security Architecture team at Starling is driving significant impact across the organisation, actively guiding and empowering teams across Security and the wider technology landscape. We are looking for a mid-to-senior level Information Security Architect to join our ranks. While you will cover typical end-to-end security architecture across our modern tech stack, this role carries a strategic focus: Cryptography & Post-Quantum Readiness. As quantum computing capabilities evolve, we are looking to ramp up our Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) efforts. We are looking for a leader who will own the strategic design of our cloud-native and on-premise cryptography roadmaps, conduct cryptographic assessments, drive crypto-agility, and define our technical roadmap to keep Starling resilient against emerging future threats. What you'll get to do Lead our Post-Quantum Strategy: Take ownership of Starling’s Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) initiative over the coming years; designing our crypto-inventory, evaluating PQC algorithms, and designing architectures built for cryptographic agility. Act as the Cryptography SME: Provide expert architecture and design guidance on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), key management, service mesh security, and transport layer protocols across our cloud environments. Enterprise Architecture Delivery: Architect secure, scalable solutions across AWS and GCP, translating complex security requirements into simple, pragmatic design patterns for engineering teams. Secure Architecture Governance: Lead and assist with secure design reviews and threat modeling initiatives, delivering actionable security guidance and continuous support to Engineering teams. Proof of Concept Development: Our architects enjoy a hands-on approach. When suitable, we design and build PoC solutions for engineers to refine or draw inspiration from. Collaborate & Influence: Work closely with software engineers, cloud architects, and security operations to review RFCs and ADRs, conduct threat models, and embed security seamlessly into the development lifecycle without adding friction. Drive Thought Leadership: Serve as a trusted advisor within our growing Security Architecture team, staying ahead of industry trends, threat vectors, and regulatory standards to elevate Starling's overall security posture. Responsibilties Architect end-to-end security solutions for cloud-native applications, microservices, and modern banking platforms. Develop and lead our Post-Quantum Cryptography transition roadmap and crypto-inventory strategy. Perform threat modeling and technical risk assessments on new and existing platform architectures. Define, document, and promote enterprise cryptographic management standards (key lifecycle, hardware security, modern cipher suites). Review architectural design documents, RFCs, and ADRs to ensure alignment with security guardrails and regulatory requirements. Mentor engineering teams and provide guidance on cryptographic implementations, securely managing secrets, and data protection at rest/in transit. Support the rest of the Security Architecture team with daily security architecture activities (e.g. adhoc security architecture advisory services). Requirements Security Architecture Experience: Proven track record in a Information Security Architect or Senior Security Engineering role designing secure, distributed systems within modern cloud environments (AWS/GCP). Deep Cryptography Expertise: Comprehensive practical and theoretical knowledge of symmetric/asymmetric cryptography, PKI management, digital signatures, key management systems (KMS), and HSMs. Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Knowledge: Strong understanding of quantum computing threats to modern encryption, NIST PQC standards, hybrid key exchange, and strategies for achieving crypto-agility. Threat Modeling & System Design: Demonstrated ability to perform threat modeling on complex clou