Cloud Architect

Job Responsibilities Architecture Strategy & Technical Direction  Own and evolve the hybrid cloud platform architecture across AWS, Azure, and Azure Local — ensuring coherence, scalability, and security.  Define and drive the long-term technical roadmap for the platform team in partnership with the Sr. Cloud Principal Architect.  Architect enterprise landing zones, subscription/account topology, network segmentation, and identity federation strategies.  Design complex hybrid networking solutions: vWAN, ExpressRoute, SD-WAN integration, network virtual appliances, cross-cloud connectivity  Establish architecture decision records (ADRs), design principles, and non-functional requirement frameworks for the platform.  Evaluate emerging cloud services, open-source tools, and industry trends — make build/buy/adopt recommendations with clear trade-off analysis.  Lead architecture reviews for high-impact or high-risk initiatives, providing binding technical guidance. Hands-On Delivery (Infrastructure-as-Code & Platform Engineering)  Author and maintain enterprise Terraform module libraries — defining patterns, interfaces, security defaults, and versioning strategies.  Design and implement advanced CI/CD pipeline architectures in Azure DevOps for multi-environment, multi-subscription infrastructure delivery.  Build complex automation: multi-stage deployments, policy-as-code enforcement, drift detection, self healing infrastructure patterns.  Implement and validate security architectures through code — private endpoints, managed identities, CMK encryption, network micro-segmentation.  Design and deploy Kubernetes platforms (AKS/EKS) with production-grade configurations: RBAC, network policies, ingress, service mesh, GitOps.  Build proof-of-concepts and reference implementations that teams can adopt and extend  Resolve the hardest infrastructure challenges — state migration, provider upgrades, complex module refactoring, cross-account/subscription orchestration Team Leadership & Force Multiplication  Serve as the senior technical escalation point — unblock Senior Cloud Architects and platform engineers on the most complex problems.  Lead cross-team architecture alignment sessions, ensuring consistent patterns across squads and workstreams.  Define code review standards, module contribution guidelines, and quality gates for the Terraform module library.  Mentor Senior Cloud Architects and platform engineers — elevate team capability through pairing, design reviews, and technical coaching.  Drive engineering culture: infrastructure-as-code discipline, automated testing, documentation-as-code, and continuous improvement.  Facilitate architecture guilds, communities of practice, and cross-functional technical forums.  Translate complex technical trade-offs into clear recommendations for leadership and business stakeholders. Enterprise & Cross-Functional Leadership  Partner with enterprise architecture, security, networking, and compliance teams to shape platform standards and policies.  Influence enterprise governance frameworks — Azure Policy, AWS SCPs, tagging standards, cost allocation, and resource lifecycle management.  Drive platform observability strategy: centralized logging, distributed tracing, alerting frameworks, and AIOps integration.  Support disaster recovery architecture, ransomware resilience, and business continuity planning for platform services.  Contribute to vendor relationship management — evaluate cloud provider roadmaps, negotiate architectural patterns, and influence feature requests.  Represent the platform team in enterprise architecture boards, change advisory processes, and technology governance forums.  Support AI/ML platform infrastructure — GPU scheduling, model serving, feature stores, and MLOps pipeline architecture. Qualifications Minimum  Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a job-related discipline, or equivalent experience.  8 years of hands-on experience in cloud infrastructure, systems engineering, or cloud architecture roles.  5 years of hands-on experience writing Terraform at scale (enterprise module libraries, multi-environment state management, provider development).  4 years of experience designing and implementing CI/CD pipeline architectures (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or equivalent).  3 years of experience in a technical leadership or architecture role — guiding teams, setting standards, making binding design decisions.  Demonstrated experience architecting solutions across both AWS and Azure (multi-cloud, not just single provider).  Proven track record of resolving complex cross-domain infrastructure challenges (networking + security + compute + automation).  Experience working in and leading within Agile/Scrum delivery teams. Desired  AWS Solutions Architect Professional or Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification.  HashiCorp Terraform Associate or equivalent IaC certification.  Kubernetes certification (CKA/CKAD) or equivalent hands-on container platform experience.  Deep expertise in hybrid networking: ExpressRoute, vWAN, Transit Gateway, Palo Alto NVA, SD-WAN, BGP routing.  Experience designing and operating enterprise landing zones (Azure CAF, AWS Control Tower, or custom).  Knowledge of AI/ML infrastructure architecture — GPU compute, distributed training, model serving, MLOps.  Experience with platform engineering practices: internal developer platforms, self-service infrastructure, golden paths.  Familiarity with FinOps practices, cloud cost optimization, and resource rightsizing.  Experience with compliance-as-code: Azure Policy, AWS Config Rules, OPA/Rego, Sentinel.  Strong background in security architecture: zero-trust, identity federation (SAML/OIDC), private connectivity, secrets management.  Excellent communication skills — ability to present architecture decisions to executives, write technical RFCs, and mentor effectively.  Experience influencing technology strategy beyond the immediate team — enterprise architecture boards, COEs, or similar. Skills: technical leadership,terraform,cloud architect