Senior Principal Architect - Security Architecture & Solution Engineering - Network & Zero Trust Architecture

GSK remains committed to achieving bold commercial ambitions for the future. By 2031, we aim to deliver £40 billion in annual sales, leveraging our existing strong performance momentum to significantly increase our positive impact on the health of billions of patients globally. Our Ahead Together strategy is centred on early intervention to prevent and alter the course of disease, thereby protecting people and supporting healthcare systems.

Our diverse portfolio consists of vaccines, specialty medicines, and general medicines.

Through continuous innovation and a dedicated focus on scientific and technical excellence, we strive to develop and launch new, groundbreaking treatments that address critical health challenges.


Position Summary

Job Purpose:

Own the Network and Zero Trust domain as design authority for GSK. Zero Trust is a current Cyber Architecture and Solutions priority being built from the ground up rather than maintained, so this role is designing where GSK has no incumbent framework. A two-person domain: you and one Principal Architectyou and one Senior Principal Architect, with no engineering function of your own — Security Solution Engineering builds to your specifications and a managed service vendor operates the result.

About the team.

Security Architecture and Solution Engineering sets the target-state security architecture for GSK and builds the solutions that realise it. The function brings IT and OT architecture under single ownership for the first time, spanning Network and Zero Trust, Application Security, Platform Security, MDR and Detection Engineering, VM and Configuration Management, Data Security, and OT Security across a global manufacturing, laboratory and research estate. Architecture sets the standards and reference designs, Solution Engineering builds, tests and packages them, and a managed service vendor operates them. Architecture accountability never transfers: Cyber Architecture and Solutions designs and builds, the vendor runs. Twenty roles, with standards applying in more than 100 countries.

What makes this role different.

You are building a Zero Trust framework from nothing, not operating one someone else designed. This is a design authority role with a very small team: one Principal Architectvery small team: one Senior Principal Architect, no engineering function of your own — Solution Engineering builds what you specify and the vendor operates it. If you need a large team or direct control of implementation to be effective, you will find this frustrating. Expect to be asked what failed in a Zero Trust programme you ran, not just what you designed.

Key responsibilities:

This role will provide you the opportunity to lead key activities to progress your career. These responsibilities include some of the following:

• Act as design authority for Network and Zero Trust architecture across GSK.

• Own the Zero Trust policy framework: device trust, identity trust and application access policy.

• Own network segmentation and micro segmentation standards across the estate.

• Own SASE and SD-WAN security architecture, secure remote access design and DNS security architecture.

• Produce architecture specifications that Solution Engineering builds from without reinterpretation.

• Maintain the Network and Zero Trust reference architecture library.

• Reject network and Zero Trust tooling that cannot express policy as code, integrate with the existing identity provider, or be operated by the managed service without Cyber Architecture and Solutions present.

• Assure the handover pack for every Zero Trust enforcement point and segmentation policy change before the vendor takes it, and retain the architecture decision when they propose a workaround in production.

• Resolve the segmentation boundary with OT Security where Purdue Level 3.5 meets the corporate network, and with Platform Security where NAC posture checks depend on EDR health.

• Secure Zero Trust design funding in major programme business cases at the point segmentation is still cheap — before application teams have built east-west dependencies that cannot be unpicked.

• Lead your team in using approved AI tools to improve productivity and ways of working, role-modelling responsible use and follow GSK's Responsible AI, privacy and security requirements.

• Mentor architects and engineers across the function and contribute to the architecture community of practice, setting the technical standard by example rather than by headcount.

• This is a specialist-track Director role with one direct report; authority is held through the specification and the design review, not through line management.

Basic Qualifications:

• 15+ years in network security architecture, with technical authority held through specification and design review rather than headcount — the domain team is one Principal Architect one Senior Principal Architect.

• Designing Zero Trust from the ground up — device trust, identity trust and application access policy — and sequencing the move from a perimeter-based estate

• Network segmentation and micro segmentation standards, SASE and SD-WAN security architecture, secure remote access and DNS security, with policy-as-code and automated enforcement

• Specifications a separate engineering team builds from without rework, holding technical authority through the specification rather than line management

• Zero Trust architecture for AI workloads and agents — non-human identity, LLM API egress control and segmentation of AI platforms and the data fabric

Preferred Qualifications:

• Recognised architecture certification such as SABSA or TOGAF

• Zero Trust programme at enterprise scale, including the organisational resistance it attracts

• Regulated industry experience, including GxP environments where a routine network control can affect validated systems

• Technical evaluation of new network and Zero Trust tool proposals against the architecture model (vendor selection sits with Product Management), including automation of policy enforcement and network change

• Experience retiring a legacy remote-access estate — VPN concentrators and jump hosts — onto ZTNA without a change freeze
• Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Typical tools and technologies: Zero Trust policy architecture across device, identity and application access, microsegmentation platforms such as Illumio, Guardicore and Cisco Secure Workload, SASE and SD-WAN including Zscaler, Netskope and Prisma Access, secure remote access design, DNS security, 802.1X and network access control, cloud network security on Azure and GCP, reference architecture libraries.

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Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

Inclusion at GSK:

As an employer committed to Inclusion, we encourage you to reach out if you need any adjustments during the recruitment process.

Please contact our Recruitment Team at IN.recruitment-adjustments@gsk.com to discuss your needs.

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