About the job
gravity9 is on the lookout for a Technical Lead / Solution Architect to spearhead the design and development of a secure metadata catalogue platform for a prominent public sector client in the UK. This innovative platform will act as a centralized index, facilitating the discovery, governance, and access control of data spread across various independent domains. This design ensures that authorized users can efficiently locate and retrieve data without the catalogue itself storing or having visibility of the underlying datasets.
This is a greenfield project that demands exceptional architectural insight, hands-on implementation skills, and the capacity to collaborate effectively within a multi-vendor landscape, where the catalogue will integrate seamlessly with distinct data storage and encryption services offered by various technology partners.
Contract Duration
15 weeks
Work Commitment
Part-time for the first 4 weeks (design phase); full-time for the subsequent 11 weeks (build and integration phase)
Working Model
Primarily remote with occasional onsite meetings
Security Clearance
BPSS (Baseline Personnel Security Standard) clearance is required
Residency Requirement
Candidates must be UK residents
Technical Responsibilities
The selected contractor will lead the design and implementation of the API layer and application logic. A dedicated database consulting engineer will manage the MongoDB cluster setup, schema design, indexing, and performance optimization, while the contractor will collaborate closely with them to take ownership of the application-layer delivery.
Architecture & Design (Weeks 1–4, part-time)
• Develop the Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) model, encompassing policy attributes such as clearance level, nationality, group/role, and context, along with enforcement points and decision logic.
• Design the RESTful API architecture, focusing on endpoint structure, request/response contracts, and error handling methodologies.
• Outline query patterns, access flows, and interaction points with external systems, including data storage and encryption solutions from partner organizations.
• Collaborate with the database consulting engineer on schema design, search strategy, and encryption methodologies to align the API layer with the underlying data architecture.
• Contribute to Infrastructure as Code practices for deployment using tools like Terraform or equivalents.
Build & Implementation (Weeks 5–15, full-time)
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