Head of Middleware Platform

Anticipated Contract End Date/Length: 6 months contract
Work Setup: Hybrid (3 days per week onsite, mandatory)

Our client in the Information Technology and Services industry is looking for a Head of Middleware Platform to lead the security, strategy, and performance of middleware capabilities across a complex technology environment. The role will define secure configuration baselines, drive compliance and remediation, and ensure middleware platforms align with business strategy, regulatory expectations, technology advancement, best practices, and evolving threats.

Work closely with technical subject matter experts, Enterprise and Security Architecture, Control Owners, Service Owners, Technology and Platform Owners, delivery partners, and wider stakeholders to maintain secure and effective middleware capabilities, prioritise investment and improvements, and support technology and service uplift.

What you will do:

• Define secure configuration baselines for middleware software, including IBM WebSphere Application Server, IBM WebSphere Message Queue, IBM WebSphere Portal, IBM HTTP Server, Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat, Oracle WebLogic Server, nginx Web Server, and node.js JavaScript Web Server.
• Collaborate with middleware technical subject matter experts to agree secure configuration baselines.
• Define, develop, and implement compliance checks for configuration scans with middleware technical subject matter experts.
• Provide remediation guidance to IT Service Owners based on compliance findings.
• Work with the Configuration Baseline Management team to ensure configuration compliance data is received and appropriately managed.
• Engage stakeholders across the organisation to understand security needs, expectations, and priorities.
• Define and maintain the middleware capability strategy with support from Enterprise Architecture, Security Architecture, and Control Owners.
• Align capability strategy with business objectives, regulator expectations, technology and practice advancement, best practices, and evolving threat actors.
• Ensure successful delivery through delivery partners in alignment with supporting functions.
• Maintain and prioritise the capability backlog based on objectives and value released, identifying priorities for delivery teams.
• Support backlog prioritisation across supporting technology and operations/service teams.
• Evaluate and adopt new technologies and practices that may impact capability requirements or the control environment.
• Monitor and communicate capability performance through agreed indicators and metrics.
• Oversee Control Owner activity from a technical perspective, including accurate assessment of control defect severity.
• Partner with Service Owners to understand service performance, exceptions, customer feedback, and service uplift roadmaps.
• Collaborate with Technology and Platform Owners to understand IT service performance, significant defects, technology health, customer feedback, and technology uplift roadmaps.
• Support the resolution of technical debt and other technology health priorities.
• Lead and empower the technical team, promoting effective delegation and ownership.
• Translate complex technical and security requirements into clear business-focused recommendations for stakeholders.
• Drive continual improvement across middleware security, capability performance, service delivery, and technology practices.