Quantum Cryptography Architect

As a Quantum Cryptography Architect at Starling, you will lead the bank's Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) strategy while serving as the cryptography subject matter expert across our Security Architecture team. You join a security-focused organisation within the UK's leading digital bank, where you will architect end-to-end security solutions and guide teams across the business to design resilient systems against emerging quantum threats.

What you'll do

• Lead Starling's Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) initiative, taking ownership of designing our crypto-inventory, evaluating PQC algorithms, and building architectures for cryptographic agility.
• Act as the cryptography subject matter expert, providing architecture and design guidance on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), key management, service mesh security, and transport layer protocols across cloud environments.
• Architect secure, scalable solutions across AWS and GCP, translating complex security requirements into pragmatic design patterns for engineering teams.
• Lead secure design reviews and threat modeling initiatives, delivering actionable security guidance and continuous support to engineering teams.
• Design and build proof of concept solutions for engineers to refine or draw inspiration from when suitable.
• Work closely with software engineers, cloud architects, and security operations to review RFCs and ADRs, conduct threat models, and embed security into the development lifecycle without adding friction.
• Serve as a trusted advisor within the Security Architecture team, staying ahead of industry trends, threat vectors, and regulatory standards to elevate Starling's security posture.
• Perform threat modeling and technical risk assessments on new and existing platform architectures.
• Define, document, and promote enterprise cryptographic management standards covering key lifecycle, hardware security, and modern cipher suites.
• Mentor engineering teams and provide guidance on cryptographic implementations, secure secrets management, and data protection at rest and in transit.
• Support the Security Architecture team with daily security architecture activities and ad hoc advisory services.

What you bring

• Proven track record in an Information Security Architect or Senior Security Engineering role designing secure, distributed systems within modern cloud environments (AWS/GCP).
• Comprehensive practical and theoretical knowledge of symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, PKI management, digital signatures, key management systems (KMS), and HSMs.
• Strong understanding of quantum computing threats to modern encryption, NIST PQC standards, hybrid key exchange, and strategies for achieving crypto-agility.
• Demonstrated ability to perform threat modeling on complex cloud-native applications, APIs, and microservices architectures (e.g. Kubernetes, ECS).
• A belief that security should enable engineering speed, with the ability to design security controls that minimise developer friction.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of distilling complex technical and cryptographic risks into clear guidance for both technical teams and senior leadership.

Nice to have

• Experience in fintech, banking, or highly regulated cloud environments (e.g. PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, NIST guidelines).
• Demonstrated background in a highly technical role such as Security Engineering, Infrastructure Engineering, or Penetration Testing.
• Experience in infrastructure, application, and AI security, including container security, secure code reviews, and secure integration of generative AI/ML.
• Practical experience leveraging and applying the SABSA (Sherwood Applied Business Security Architecture) framework to design business-driven, risk-aligned enterprise security architectures.
• Recognised industry security certifications such as SABSA, CISSP, AWS Security Specialty, or specialised cryptography credentials.

What we offer

• 25 days holiday plus an extra day for your birthday, with the flexibility to take public holidays whenever works best for you
• Annual leave increases with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
• 16 hours paid volunteering time per year
• Salary sacrifice and company enhanced pension scheme
• Life insurance at 4x your salary and group income protection
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care, plus partner discounts with Waitrose, Mr & Mrs Smith, and Peloton
• Generous family-friendly policies
• Perkbox membership providing access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly perks
• Access to Cycle to Work, salary-sacrificed gym partnerships, and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing
• Hybrid working with a minimum of 1 day per week in office (commutable distance to London, Cardiff, Dublin, Southampton, or Manchester offices)

About Starling

Starling is the UK's first and leading digital bank with over 3.5 million accounts and 350,000 business customers. Founded in 2014, the bank employs over 3,000 people across offices in London, Cardiff, Dublin, Southampton, and Manchester, and operates as a fully licensed UK bank with a tech-first approach to delivering innovative fintech products.