About
About Cipherer
Cipherer is a boutique cloud and DevSecOps consultancy operating from Scotland, delivering inside the systems that financial services, public sector, blockchain and scientific computing depend on.
Operating model
Cipherer is structured as a boutique consultancy with a deliberate operating model: principal-level engineering with no sub-contracting and no juniors on the engagement. Clients work directly with the principal who owns the work, end to end. We accept fewer engagements at a time and run them at depth.
On UK Standard Procurement Documents and equivalent SPDs, sub-contracting is recorded as 'No'. The principal consultant is the sole delivery resource and the company's sole director.
Founder
Ricardo Alvarado is the company's director and principal consultant. Seventeen years of delivery across financial services, blockchain, public sector, healthcare, scientific computing, gambling and oil and gas. He holds National Security Vetting at SC/IL3 level and has delivered programmes inside Scottish Government cyber security, the NHS COVID-19 data response, CERN and ESA scientific computing, and global Web3 platforms.
Engagements are taken at principal architect, principal engineer, VP and CTO advisor levels, depending on the brief. The operating posture is the same across all of them: business strategy translated into infrastructure that does not fail.
Company identity
Cipherer Ltd is a UK limited company registered in Scotland under company number SC732147, VAT number GB416050240, and registered at Kinniny House, Ordnance Road, Crombie, Dunfermline KY12 8JZ. Incorporated 11 May 2022.
Trading as Cipherer Consultancy Services. Classified as a micro enterprise (fewer than 10 employees, turnover under £1.57m).
Insurance and compliance
Insured through Accredited Insurance (Europe) Limited UK Branch, with Employers Liability cover at £10 million (exceeding statutory £5 million minimum) and appropriate Professional Indemnity cover for the engagements we accept.
Cyber Essentials certified. Operates in alignment with ISO 27001 principles and NIST cyber security frameworks. The principal consultant has delivered PCI-DSS, SOC 2 and NIST-compliant programmes across government and financial services.
How we engage
Initial conversations are direct: tell us what you are building, what the constraints are, and where the engagement is in its lifecycle. We assess fit honestly. Where it is not a fit, we say so; where it is, we propose terms, scope and outcome measures upfront and stand behind them.
Public-sector buyers can engage Cipherer through Public Tenders Scotland (PCS-Tender), the Find a Tender Service, and other UK procurement portals. Tender documentation, technical proficiencies and standard SPD answers are maintained as canonical artefacts.