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