Quantum Cryptography Architect

As a Quantum Cryptography Architect at Starling, you lead the organisation's Post-Quantum Cryptography strategy while architecting end-to-end security solutions across our cloud-native banking platform. You join the Security Architecture team, a strategic function driving security impact across Starling's technology landscape. This role combines hands-on cryptographic expertise with enterprise architecture leadership, positioning you to shape how Starling stays resilient against evolving quantum and emerging threats.

What you'll do

• Lead Starling's Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) initiative by owning the strategic design of our crypto-inventory, evaluating PQC algorithms, and architecting systems built for cryptographic agility.
• Serve 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 our 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 on new and existing platform architectures, delivering actionable security guidance to engineering teams.
• Design and build proof-of-concept solutions for engineers to refine or draw inspiration from.
• Collaborate 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.
• Define, document, and promote enterprise cryptographic management standards covering key lifecycle, hardware security, and modern cipher suites.
• Mentor engineering teams on cryptographic implementations, secret management, and data protection at rest and in transit.
• Support the Security Architecture team with daily security architecture advisory services and stay ahead of industry trends, threat vectors, and regulatory standards to elevate Starling's overall security posture.

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 or GCP).
• Comprehensive practical and theoretical knowledge of symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, PKI management, digital signatures, key management systems (KMS), and Hardware Security Modules (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 such as Kubernetes and ECS.
• The ability to design security controls that minimise developer friction and enable engineering speed.
• 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 such as PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, and 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 and ML.
• Practical experience leveraging 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 your public holiday allowance taken whenever works best for you, with an extra day for your birthday
• Annual leave increases with length of service, and you can 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 benefits with Waitrose, Mr and Mrs Smith, and Peloton
• Generous family-friendly policies
• Perkbox membership providing retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly perks
• Cycle to Work scheme, salary sacrificed gym partnerships, and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing
• Hybrid working with a minimum of 1 day per week in one of our offices in London, Cardiff, Dublin, Southampton, or Manchester

About Starling

Starling is the UK's leading digital bank on a mission to fix banking through fast technology, fair service, and honest values. The fully licensed UK bank now employs over 3,000 people and serves 3.5 million personal accounts alongside 350,000 business customers. At heart, Starling is a tech-first company, operating with a flat structure that empowers technologists to make decisions and drive innovation.