Cloud Solution Architect

Cloud Solution Architect

We're seeking an accomplished Cloud Solution Architect to join the King County's Department of Information Technology (KCIT) Cloud Services Architecture team. In this role, you will design and deliver innovative cloud and hybrid architectures across infrastructure, applications, data, and security. You'll translate complex business and technical requirements into scalable solution architectures, reference designs, and repeatable patterns, leveraging emerging capabilities in Microsoft Azure and, where appropriate, AWS. Your work will play a key role in advancing KCIT's long-term technology strategy and supporting critical services for King County residents.

About King County Department of Information Technology (KCIT)

King County is committed to being the best-run government in the nation, and King County Information Technology (KCIT) is helping lead that transformation. KCIT harnesses the power of technology to modernize operations, advance digital equity and social justice, and deliver innovative solutions that engage, empower, and serve our residents, businesses, and community partners.

Recognized by the National Association of Counties (NACo) for excellence in vision, strategy, innovation, and collaboration, KCIT is focused on delivering smart, secure, and customer-centered technology services that strengthen county operations and support thriving, resilient communities. As the technology business partner to all 18 County departments, KCIT provides the foundational systems and services that power many of the region's most essential functions. We work side-by-side with our partners to design and deliver technology solutions that enhance customer experience and advance King County's mission.

Learn more about KCIT at:

Primary Responsibilities

• Collaborate with peer architects, service owners, engineers, and vendors to determine optimal end-to-end cloud and hybrid solution designs across applications, systems, platforms, and integrations
• Analyze and translate business requirements into solution architectures and architectural blueprints (target state, current state, gaps, and transition approach)
• Define and maintain reference architectures, reusable solution patterns, and standards (including landing zone and platform patterns) to guide consistent solution decisions
• Create and manage architectural strategies and roadmaps across multiple projects and teams, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, governance, and long-term cost sustainability (FinOps)
• Serve as a technical expert and project resource for complex, high-impact initiatives (cloud migrations, modernization, platform adoption, and integration)
• Consult with stakeholders and technical teams to match reference architectures to business and technical requirements; document tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations
• Partner with security, data, and infrastructure teams to ensure solutions meet security, privacy, resilience, and compliance requirements
• Provide architectural oversight through delivery—reviewing designs and implementations for alignment to standards, patterns, and intended outcomes
• Communicate architecture decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences; facilitate consensus and drive alignment to business objectives

What You'll Do

• Lead solution architecture for cloud and hybrid initiatives, producing artifacts such as diagrams, decision records, reference designs, and implementation guidance
• Design migration and modernization approaches from on premises to Azure, including workload readiness, landing zone alignment, and phased transition plans
• Define observability and operational architecture (monitoring, alerting, logging, SLOs) to support reliability, incident response, and service management
• Create and maintain architecture documentation, standards, and solution patterns to enable repeatable delivery across teams
• Support delivery teams by providing architectural guidance during implementation, including design reviews and risk/issue escalation (may include on-call support as needed)
• Architect for cost optimization and performance efficiency by applying FinOps, capacity planning, and right-sizing strategies
• Design platform patterns for containerized workloads, including AKS architecture, cluster governance, networking, and workload identity
• Design network edge and application protection architectures (e.g., WAF patterns, ingress, DDoS considerations) appropriate to workload risk and exposure
• Define identity, access, and privilege models (RBAC/ABAC where applicable) to support secure access management across cloud resources
• Develop and govern policy-as-code approaches (e.g., Azure Policy initiatives, tagging standards, guardrails) to support consistent compliance and lifecycle management
• Architect application identity solutions using Entra ID (app registrations, managed identities) and guide teams on secure implementation patterns
• Design global routing and application delivery patterns (e.g., Azure Front Door) to meet availability, performance, and security requirements.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience delivering cloud and/or hybrid solutions, including demonstrated responsibility for solution architecture on complex, high-impact projects
• Strong knowledge of Azure architecture across compute, networking, identity, security, data, and operations (e.g., VNets, AKS, Entra ID, Storage, Monitor, Application Gateway/Ingress, Front Door, Load Balancers)
• Working knowledge of AWS services and deployment patterns to support multi-cloud interoperability where needed (e.g., EC2, EBS, CloudFormation)
• Ability to define infrastructure and platform architectures using Infrastructure as Code approaches (ARM, Bicep, Terraform, CloudFormation) and guide teams in implementation
• Proficiency with automation and scripting to enable repeatable operations and deployments (PowerShell, Bash, Azure CLI)
• Experience defining delivery and release patterns with CI/CD tooling (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions), including controls for quality, security, and compliance
• Understanding of cloud security architecture and risk management, including identity, network segmentation, encryption, secrets management, and compliance requirements
• Knowledge of cost optimization strategies and governance (FinOps, tagging/chargeback, reserved capacity) and ability to incorporate them into solution designs
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain architectural tradeoffs and drive alignment across diverse teams
• Familiarity with observability approaches and tooling (Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Prometheus/Grafana or equivalents) to design for operational excellence
• Experience designing hybrid architectures that includes on-premises Windows Server/IIS hosting and connectivity patterns for .NET applications
• Experience designing migration paths for on-premises.NET workloads to cloud-native Azure services (rehost, refactor, replatform), including integration and data considerations
• Demonstrated ability to partner with software engineering teams to set technical direction, establish design standards, and support successful delivery
• Ability to lead and facilitate architecture reviews and troubleshoot complex issues by identifying root causes and driving solutions across teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Azure certifications (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Security Engineer, Azure DevOps Engineer)
• AWS certifications (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect – Associate/Professional)
• Experience establishing solution patterns for container platforms (Docker/Kubernetes), API integration, and event-driven architectures
• Background in FinOps and cloud cost management, including building cost models and influencing adoption of optimization practices
• Experience with cloud financial management tooling (e.g., Apptio Cloudability) and reporting for stakeholders
• Experience creating architectural roadmaps across multiple platforms/teams and contributing to enterprise standards, best practices, and governance processes
• Ability to work independently and as a team member; demonstrated proficiency with business applications such as the Microsoft Office suite

Hybrid Work:

KCIT works in a hybrid model, with days in the office as well as telecommuting. The ratio of remote to onsite work will be dependent on business needs and is subject to change. The primary onsite location is the Chinook Building, 401 5th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104.

Employees must reside in Washington state and within a reasonable distance to their King County worksite to respond to workplace reporting requirements.

King County has a robust collection of tools and resources to support working remotely. The individual selected for this opportunity will join an innovative and progressive team that is redefining how we work as we transition to the department's hybrid environment. Employees will be provided with a County-issued laptop and must maintain a home workspace with an internet connection where they can reliably perform work and remain available and responsive during scheduled work hours.

Work Schedule: The normal workweek for this position is Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This position may require after-hours escalation support.

FLSA Status: This position is FLSA Exempt and is not eligible for overtime pay

Classification: Solutions Architect (Job code: