Google Workspace SME

Role: Google Workspace SME
Rate: £ PRICE IN inside IR35
Location: Knutsford Cheshire FT onsite
Duration: 6 months +

We are looking for an experienced Google Workspace Architect and Subject Matter Expert (SME) to support the design, development and delivery of a large-scale Google Workspace implementation for a major enterprise client. This role carries particular emphasis on business continuity: the successful candidate will have hands-on experience designing and building solutions that enable the invocation of crisis management and business continuity processes from a Microsoft 365 environment into Google Workspace, ensuring organisations can maintain communication, collaboration and operational continuity when their primary Microsoft toolset is unavailable.
This is a hands-on architecture and delivery role, combining strategic solution design with deep technical SME input, working alongside delivery, security and business continuity teams to embed Google Workspace as a resilient secondary/crisis platform within a predominantly Microsoft-based enterprise estate.
Key Responsibilities
* Lead the architecture, design and technical delivery of Google Workspace solutions across a large-scale enterprise environment (10,000+ users), including Gmail, Drive, Meet, Chat, Calendar, Admin Console and related services.
* Design and build the technical solution enabling business continuity / crisis management invocation - i.e. failover, activation and operational cutover processes that move critical communication and collaboration capability from Microsoft 365 (Teams, Outlook, SharePoint) to Google Workspace during an incident.
* Define the end-to-end crisis activation workflow: triggers, identity and access provisioning, data/user onboarding, communication cascade, and rollback/deactivation procedures.
* Act as the primary SME for Google Workspace within the programme, providing technical guidance, best practice and governance to delivery teams, architects and business stakeholders.
* Design secure, scalable Google Workspace architectures covering identity and access management (including federation/SSO with Microsoft Entra ID / Active Directory), data security, DLP, device management and compliance.
* Develop integration patterns between Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 / Azure AD to support hybrid operation and crisis interoperability.
* Produce architecture artefacts: solution designs, high-level and low-level design documents, runbooks, crisis invocation playbooks and operational procedures.
* Support business continuity and disaster recovery planning, working with BC/DR, security and risk teams to align the Google Workspace crisis solution with wider organisational resilience strategy.
* Lead or support proof-of-concept (PoC) and pilot phases, demonstrating crisis invocation capability to business and technical stakeholders.
* Provide technical leadership through implementation, migration, testing (including crisis simulation/failover testing) and hypercare phases.
* Mentor and provide technical direction to junior engineers and consultants within the delivery team.
* Engage directly with client stakeholders, presenting solution designs, trade-offs and recommendations at both technical and business level.
Essential Experience & Skills
* 10+ years of delivery experience in Google Workspace implementation, architecture or engineering, ideally within large, complex, regulated organisations (e.g. financial services or similar large-scale enterprises).
* Current Google Workspace certification(s) - e.g. Google Workspace Administrator certification and/or other relevant Google Cloud/Workspace credentials.
* Proven, demonstrable experience designing and delivering a business continuity / crisis management solution enabling invocation from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace, including practical knowledge of the technical, security and operational challenges involved.
* Strong hands-on expertise across core Google Workspace services: Admin Console, Gmail, Drive/Shared Drives, Meet, Chat, Calendar, Groups, Vault, and endpoint/device management.
* Solid understanding of Microsoft 365 architecture (Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, Azure AD/Entra ID) sufficient to design credible interoperability and failover solutions between the two platforms.
* Experience with identity and access management, federation and SSO across hybrid Microsoft/Google environments.
* Track record of delivering enterprise-scale technology solutions for large organisations, including large user-base migrations and rollouts.
* Strong understanding of business continuity planning, disaster recovery principles and crisis management frameworks.
* Excellent stakeholder management, communication and documentation skills, with the ability to translate technical design into business-understandable terms.
* Experience operating within formal delivery frameworks (Agile/Waterfall), producing SOWs, design authority documentation and governance artefacts as required.
Desirable Experience
* Experience within financial services or other highly regulated, security-conscious industries.
* Familiarity with SOC/Hypercare operating models and post-go-live operational support.
* Experience with scripting/automation (e.g. Google Apps Script, GAM, Google Workspace APIs) to support crisis invocation automation.
* Prior consulting or systems integrator experience delivering into large client engagements.
* Relevant security or architecture certifications (e.g. TOGAF, CISSP, Google Professional Cloud Architect).

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LA International is an award-winning partner of choice for many of the world's most influential companies and government organisations. Holding Enhanced Government Security Accreditation, we are recognised as the European market leader in the delivery of Security Cleared talent to organisations that demand the very highest levels of security, compliance and assurance.

A multiple award-winning organisation, having secured the prestigious Queens Award for Enterprise: International Trade over consecutive years. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable and accessible workplace where everyone feels valued and supported. We welcome applications from all individuals, regardless of background or identity, and we encourage candidates who may not meet every listed requirement to still apply. If you require any adjustments or support during the recruitment process, please let us know and we will work with you to ensure a fair and accessible experience.

Please Note: If a high volume of applications is received, only candidates shortlisted will be contacted.