Enterprise PKI Specialist (Contractor)

Enterprise PKI Specialist (Fixed Term Contract) The Enterprise PKI Specialist is a senior technical specialist responsible for the design, implementation, governance, and evolution of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) services across Qube Research & Technologies (QRT). The successful candidate will serve as the organisation's primary PKI subject matter expert, providing strategic guidance, architectural leadership, hands-on engineering expertise, and technical governance across all PKI-related initiatives. This is a highly specialised role requiring extensive experience designing, building, and modernising PKI environments within large enterprises. The successful candidate will have a proven track record of delivering PKI programmes from initial requirements gathering and architecture design through to implementation, operationalisation, and long-term governance. PKI Architecture & Delivery - Design and deliver enterprise grade PKI architecture and supporting operational model. - Design and implement root and issuing Certificate Authority (CA) hierarchies. - Define certificate policies, certificate profiles, naming standards, trust models, and operational controls. - Design resilient, highly available PKI infrastructure and supporting services. - Lead the implementation and migration of PKI platforms, tooling, and supporting infrastructure. - Define disaster recovery, backup, recovery, and key protection requirements for PKI services. - Design and oversee Hardware Security Module (HSM) integration and key management processes. - Establish operational procedures for certificate issuance, renewal, revocation, recovery, and lifecycle management. - Ensure solutions are scalable, supportable, and aligned with security and regulatory requirements. PKI Subject Matter Expertise - Act as the organisation's recognised PKI authority and trusted advisor. - Provide expert guidance on certificate authority design, trust models, certificate lifecycle management, revocation strategies, and key protection. - Advise engineering and platform teams on PKI integration requirements and best practices. - Review proposed solutions and ensure alignment with established PKI standards and architectural principles. - Provide technical leadership for complex PKI-related initiatives and problem resolution. Machine Identity & Certificate Lifecycle Management - Develop enterprise approaches for managing machine identities at scale. - Design and implement automated certificate issuance, renewal, rotation, and revocation processes. - Support certificate management across infrastructure, cloud, container, networking, and application environments. - Reduce operational risk associated with certificate expiry and trust failures. - Define standards for certificate discovery, inventory, monitoring, and reporting. Stakeholder Engagement & Governance - Work closely with infrastructure, engineering, cloud, security, risk, and operational teams. - Translate complex PKI and cryptographic concepts into clear business and technical recommendations. - Develop PKI standards, policies, procedures, and governance documentation. - Support audits and regulatory reviews relating to cryptographic and PKI controls. - Influence technical direction and ensure PKI considerations are embedded within strategic initiatives. Essential Skills & Experience - Proven experience designing and delivering enterprise PKI environments from inception through production operation. - Extensive experience designing Root CA, Intermediate CA, and Issuing CA architectures. - 10+ years of experience working with enterprise PKI, trust services, or cryptographic infrastructure. - Strong understanding of offline Root CA designs, trust hierarchy models, certificate policy development, and PKI governance. - Experience implementing and operating HSM-backed PKI environments. - Deep knowledge of X.509 certificates, PKCS standards, CRLs, OCSP, certificate validation, and trust chains. - Proven experience leading PKI programmes or transformations across multiple organisations. - Ability to engage effectively with senior stakeholders, architects, engineers, auditors, and operational teams. Desirable Skills & Experience - Experience with Venafi, Keyfactor, DigiCert Trust Lifecycle Manager, Sectigo, EJBCA, HashiCorp Vault, or equivalent platforms. - Experience with Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) design and migration programmes. - Experience implementing PKI within AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, and hybrid cloud environments. - Experience supporting financial services, regulated industries, or large-scale enterprise environments. - Relevant industry certifications in security, architecture, cloud, or cryptography. Contract Details - Fixed Term Contract - Hybrid working model - London-based role - Competitive package dependent on experience