Azure Cloud Infrastructure Architect

Azure Cloud Infrastructure Architect

The Cloud Infrastructure Architect position is responsible for providing expert technical consulting in the area of server and storage architecture, performance management, strategic planning and design of IP's cloud platforms worldwide.

The Enterprise Computing and Storage group within Infrastructure Operations and Security (IOS) is responsible for the availability, performance, and security of computing systems, providing customers with high performance, stable, secure, and recoverable environments with agile responsiveness to business requirements.

Key Accountabilities

• Strategic thought leadership related to IP's cloud computing strategy. Implementation leadership across IOS, other IT groups, and business teams related to the resulting technologies and organizations for delivery of computing services.
• Provide senior level expertise of the enterprise's cloud infrastructure platforms.
• Facilitate the definition and implementation of standards and guidelines that shape the design of IP's cloud infrastructure worldwide.
• Contribute to strategy development and direction for server and storage platforms, cloud services such as data warehouse, analytics, AI, and others using current and applicable emerging technologies.
• Lead the evaluation and appropriate usage and management of private and public cloud computing capabilities.
• Design high performance / high availability computing environments.
• Continuously improve efficiencies of cloud platforms by staying abreast of evolving technologies, including cloud-style computing and infrastructure convergence.
• Research and recommend software products to assist with the management and availability of these systems.
• Collaborate with other IT groups to interface systems as required to network, security, and other infrastructure components.
• Consult with the storage, backup, and disaster recovery architects to provide high performance and resilient configurations for all computing platforms.
• Bridge the gap between the strategic direction provided by the planning/architecture group and the tactical realities of operations.
• Guide vendor relationships and agreements including setting direction for Managed Service Provider, Cloud Provider, and others to execute plans and sustain operations of IP's computing platforms.

Key Challenges:

• The external environment, including technology, competition, markets:

  • Constant changes in the external environment abound with regard to technologies and technology platforms. The person filling this position must stay abreast of current technologies and lead the organization to adapt to change quickly as new technologies are introduced.

  • Evaluate new products and technologies with an eye towards implementing those solutions that provide significant business value, increased efficiencies, or reduce cost to IP (e.g. adopting enterprise cloud computing methodologies and best practices).

  • Additionally, successful interaction with software vendors for enterprise-wide agreements is required.

• The internal environment, including interaction with others (both inside and outside the company) with respect to policies/practices:

  • The environment changes continually due to divestitures, acquisitions, other projects, and technologies being introduced into the environment. The person in this role must be very adaptable, flexible, and extremely responsive to business partner needs, with little or no notice.

  • This position must interact well with other support teams, service providers, and project teams within IOS, as well as application support groups within business units.

  • This position also interacts, trains, and mentors support personnel in other countries, often through managed service provider relationships. There are logistical as well as cultural challenges.

  • Proper communication with internal IT service providers is essential, especially related to global architectural standards and best practices.

• The work itself, e.g., problems, opportunities, change:

  • This position must help lead the organization to provide the optimal choices to balance agility, effectiveness, and cost of computing resources.

  • This position will have to keep current with business requirements, business applications, and new technologies. This position must continually implement and refine processes to enable scalability of the platform.

  • Opportunities involve the potential to grow the installed base, manage site-specific applications, and further consolidate infrastructure from the field to provide financial return and standardization for the company.

  • Operational availability of the server population will be one of the most important aspects and a primary challenge for the person in this position.

  • Learn customers' needs and respond to them in a timely and professional manner.

  • Leverage a commitment to the "Root Cause Analysis" philosophy of problem solving.

The Skills You Will Bring:

Education and General Experience :

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, related technical field preferred; post-graduate degree a plus.

• Minimum of 10 years' experience leading the design and management of noted below.

Functional Knowledge and Experience

• Ability to collaborate in development of a strategic direction

• Ability to share vision and purpose

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Experience dealing within and navigating a diverse political environment for a global enterprise.

Technical:

• Experience with deploying enterprise data center resources in a cloud environment; Azure preferred

• Broad experience with IT infrastructure and operations technologies, including: RISC-based servers, x86 servers.

• Deep experience with operating systems such as Microsoft Windows Server, Unix/Linux operating systems.

• Understanding of virtualization, containers, and cloud services used to scale up and scale out computing services.

• Understanding of enterprise storage, networking, firewalls, clustering, backup and recovery, disaster recovery, directory services, converged infrastructure, cloud-style computing, performance and capacity planning, monitoring, and security.

• Responsible for ensuring solution designs are aligned with architecture strategies, direction and transition plans.

• Collaborates with stakeholders to develop the case for strategic investments necessary to support architectural decisions.

• Manages and maintains a repository of architecture information for future needs for their areas of focus (e.g. infrastructure, data, applications and development, business area, process area).

• Provides consulting, coaching and training services to the enterprise executives with regard to utilization of common architectures.

• Shapes business group thinking regarding architectural possibilities

• Provides overall direction, guidance and definition of an enterprise's architecture to effectively support the Corporate Business Strategy.

• Responsibilities include researching, analyzing, designing, proposing, and delivering solutions that are appropriate for the business and technology strategies.

• Must have significant business knowledge, global awareness and expertise in multiple domains and how processes will work and interact with other processes.

• Interfaces across several business areas acting as expert in inter-connects and commercial reality.

• Acts as leader in relationships with outside companies, consultants and universities.

• Typically has 10 or more years of overall IT experience.

Competencies needed for this position:

• Being Resilient
• Business Insight
• Collaborates
• Cultivates Innovation
• Manages Complexity
• Nimble Learning
• Plans &