Enterprise Information Technology Architect

Job Title: IT Enterprise Cloud Architect

Job Location: Richmond, VA / Columbia SC : Hybrid

Job Duration: 12+ Months (Possibility of Extension)

Pay Rate: $86 to 89/hr. on w2

Shift: Day Shift

Work Mode: Hybrid (One Week Remote and One Week in Office)

Job Description:

Position Summary:

• Develop enterprise cloud strategies, architecture standards, reference architectures, and technology roadmaps aligned with business objectives.
• Lead cloud transformation, migration, hybrid-cloud, and application modernization initiatives.
• Ensure cloud solutions meet security, compliance, scalability, reliability, performance, and cost requirements.
• Collaborate with business leaders, architects, engineering teams, cybersecurity, and vendors to drive architecture decisions.
• Communicate architecture strategies, risks, and recommendations to technical teams and executive leadership.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain enterprise cloud strategies, principles, target-state architectures, reference architectures, standards, and multi-year technology roadmaps.
• Translate business priorities, regulatory requirements, risks, and investment objectives into architecture decisions and transition plans.
• Lead cloud, hybrid-cloud, migration, modernization, platform, and shared-service initiatives from concept through delivery and operational readiness.
• Establish reusable architecture patterns and governance for cloud infrastructure, identity, networking, security, integration, monitoring, resiliency, backup, disaster recovery, and cost management.
• Evaluate existing technology landscapes, identify technical debt and modernization opportunities, and guide workload placement based on security, compliance, performance, and total cost.
• Promote Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, GitOps, policy as code, automated security controls, cloud financial management, and architecture best practices while mentoring teams and communicating recommendations to stakeholders.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, cloud architecture, solution design, platform strategy, or large-scale technology transformation.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Computer Engineering, or Information Systems.
• Strong enterprise and solution architecture expertise across business, applications, data, integration, security, infrastructure, and operations.
• Hands-on knowledge of AWS and/or Microsoft Azure, cloud operating models, identity and access management, networking, encryption, monitoring, backup, and disaster recovery.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, GitOps, policy as code, Kubernetes, containers, APIs, microservices, and cloud-native application modernization.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, architecture governance, decision-making, and collaboration skills; experience in large-scale IT organizations or regulated industries is preferred.

Preferred Certification

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional or Associate; AWS Certified Security - Specialty or Advanced Networking - Specialty is a plus.
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert; Azure Security Engineer Associate is a plus.
• TOGAF certification or comparable enterprise architecture experience.
• Other relevant cloud, security, networking, Kubernetes, FinOps, or DevOps certifications .