Senior Enterprise Infrastructure Architect

About Kirkland & Ellis

At Kirkland & Ellis, we don't just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 24 offices worldwide. Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers' commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward.

What You'll Do

As a Sr. Enterprise Infrastructure Architect, you'll shape and drive the technology strategy that powers critical business applications across cloud and on-premises platforms. Reporting to the Director of Enterprise Architecture, you'll collaborate with a high-performing architecture team to define standards, guide complex initiatives, and ensure a cohesive enterprise technology vision. This role is hybrid and can be based in Chicago or Houston, giving you flexibility while staying closely connected to the business and your peers. You'll play a pivotal role in modernizing platforms, enabling cloud adoption, and ensuring systems are secure, resilient, and aligned with evolving business needs.

• Shape Technology Strategy: Define and lead enterprise-wide cloud and infrastructure strategies, roadmaps, and standards that support business growth and innovation.
• Architect Cloud & Hybrid Solutions: Design and guide the implementation of scalable solutions across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments, integrating seamlessly with on-premises systems.
• Drive Cloud Migration: Lead cloud and application migration initiatives, ensuring efficiency, security, and alignment with enterprise architecture principles.
• Ensure Governance & Standards: Oversee architecture review processes and validate that all solutions meet established enterprise, security, and compliance standards.
• Evaluate & Optimize Systems: Assess existing architectures to identify gaps, risks, and opportunities, delivering actionable recommendations for improvements and optimization.
• Lead Complex Initiatives: Take projects from concept through design and implementation, driving medium to large-scale infrastructure and platform transformations.
• Enable Secure Cloud Operations: Champion cloud data security, governance practices, and cost controls, including managing consumption and rate limits for AI-driven workloads.
• Document & Communicate Architecture: Create and maintain architecture diagrams, patterns, runbooks, and documentation while clearly articulating technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Collaborate Across Teams: Partner with leadership, technical teams, and stakeholders to align on priorities, share insights, and advance enterprise-wide initiatives.
• Stay Ahead of Innovation: Continuously evaluate emerging technologies, vendor solutions, and industry best practices to evolve the technology landscape.

What You'll Bring

• Education & Certifications: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent experience; cloud certifications such as Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, AWS Certified Solutions Architect, or Google Professional Cloud Architect are strongly preferred.
• Experience: 10+ years of overall technology experience including 3+ years in advanced cloud infrastructure design (legal industry experience is a plus).
• Cloud & Infrastructure Expertise: Deep knowledge of multi-cloud environments (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP)) and hybrid architecture, including migration from on-premises systems.
• Containerization & Platforms: Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, Rancher, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
• AI & Data Platforms: Experience designing infrastructure for AI workloads, troubleshooting complex issues, managing model consumption, and working with Microsoft Fabric for large-scale data processing.
• Automation & DevOps: Strong skills in scripting and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools including PowerShell, Chef, Ansible, Puppet, and Terraform; familiarity with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) practices.
• Security & Governance: Expertise in cloud governance, identity and access management including Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, and Conditional Access policies.
• Networking & Systems Knowledge: Strong understanding of Local Area Network/Wide Area Network/Software-Defined Wide Area Network (LAN/WAN/SD-WAN), along with Windows and Linux server technologies.
• Reliability & Performance: Proven experience building and maintaining highly available (greater than 99%) enterprise environments.
• Communication & Leadership: Exceptional ability to translate complex concepts into clear insights, influence stakeholders, and collaborate across technical and business teams.
• Adaptability & Ownership: A proactive mindset with strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to balance long-term strategy with immediate priorities.
• Travel Flexibility: Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed.

Compensation

The base salary range below represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position in Chicago. This range may differ based on your geographic location and cost of living considerations.

Chicago: $176,000 - $220,000

At Kirkland & Ellis, we consider compensation more than just a base salary. We offer an exceptional range of flexible benefits including comprehensive healthcare, paid time off, and retirement. We also offer personal support and tailored learning and development opportunities all designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work.