Identity and Access Management Consultant

4C Strategies is one of the leading independent IT infrastructure and digital transformation consultancies in the UK public sector.

The Identity and Access Management (IAM) Consultant will undertake a comprehensive review of the organisation's current identity and access management capabilities, systems, processes and governance arrangements. The role will develop a strategic roadmap for the improvement of identity services, ensuring that the right people have access to the right resources at the right time whilst maintaining appropriate security, compliance and user experience.

Working closely with key business stakeholders, the postholder will assess the effectiveness of current Joiner, Mover and Leaver (JML) processes, identity data sources, access control models, authentication mechanisms and provisioning processes.

The consultant will develop a target operating model and strategic roadmap that supports the complex identity lifecycle requirements of a Higher Education institution, including the annual onboarding and provisioning of thousands of students, staff, researchers, contractors and affiliates. The role will provide expert advice on identity governance, lifecycle management, automation, role-based access models, authentication services, privileged access management and integration architecture.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current IAM landscape including technology platforms, governance arrangements, operational processes and organisational responsibilities.

• Review and document existing Joiner, Mover and Leaver processes across staff, students, contractors, alumni and affiliate populations.

• Analyse how identity data is created, maintained and consumed across HR, Student Records, Registry, Active Directory, Microsoft 365, learning platforms and business systems.

• Review and map identity data flows, integrations and provisioning mechanisms between authoritative source systems and consuming applications.

• Assess current authentication, authorisation, single sign on and multi factor authentication capabilities.

• Review the effectiveness of role management, entitlement assignment and access governance processes.

• Evaluate the institution's capability to support large scale annual student enrolment, account creation, provisioning and access configuration requirements.

• Identify control weaknesses, security risks, process inefficiencies and opportunities for automation.

• Facilitate workshops with technical teams, business stakeholders and service owners to understand current and future requirements.

• Develop an IAM strategy aligned to organisational objectives, cyber security requirements, digital transformation ambitions and sector best practice.

• Define a target operating model for identity and access management including governance, ownership, processes, policies, data management and service responsibilities.

• Develop a phased roadmap for improvement including quick wins, medium term enhancements and long term transformation activities.

• Provide recommendations regarding identity governance, lifecycle management, directory services, privileged access management, federated identity, role-based access control and modern authentication technologies.

• Develop requirements and recommendations for identity related integrations, automation and orchestration capabilities.

• Produce executive level briefing papers, business cases and option appraisals to support decision making.

• Support the prioritisation and planning of future IAM improvement projects.

• Provide knowledge transfer and expert guidance to internal teams.