AWS Solutions Architect

Cloud Architect

Current AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional certification is strongly preferred. Current Azure certification is nice to have. This role is primarily focused on developing cloud architectures, frameworks, standards, governance, and policies for the organization. The ideal candidate will be proficient in engaging with business users and other technology teams to understand and assess requirements to subsequently develop multi/hybrid cloud solution architectures that can be implemented by the engineering teams. The resource will have to augment cloud engineering skills or guide engineers as needed. This role requires a degree of on-premises infrastructure knowledge because many on-premises systems interact with cloud resources or are being migrated to the cloud. The organization is also seeking to advance their Infrastructure-as-Code practices in the near future.

Key Skills:

• AWS 6-10 Years
• Azure 2-4 Years
• OCI & GCP are nice to have Hybrid On-Prem/Knowledge 4-6 Years
• Cloud Networking 4-6 Years
• Cloud DevOps 4-6 Years
• Cloud Security 2-3 Years
• Cloud FinOps 1-2 Years
• Microsoft Visio 2-3 Years
• Deep Understanding of Cloud Platforms, Services, Frameworks, Governance
• Proficiency with AWS and Azure Cloud Platforms is a must.
• The resource will primarily focus on designing architectures, standards, and governance for the AWS platform but will also support other Architects on Azure when required.
• Expertise in efficiently managing multi-account AWS Organization and multi-subscription Azure Tenant.
• AWS CloudShell / Azure Cloud Shell – PowerShell or CLI.
• Resource may augment existing teams' skillsets for other cloud platforms as needed.
• Experience with hybrid and multi-cloud interoperability and on-prem to cloud integrations.

Cloud Architecture & Design:

• Design scalable, resilient, cost optimized, and secure cloud solutions that align with business needs and cybersecurity policies.
• Assess applications for cloud suitability and develop migration roadmaps.
• Document architectural designs (Microsoft Visio), cloud governance frameworks, cloud standards, and implementation guides.
• Strong understanding of:
• AWS Compute (EC2, Instance Auto Scaling, Batch)
• AWS Storage (S3, EBS, Batch Operations, Tiers, Intelligent Tiering, Lifecycle Policies)
• AWS data analytics platforms (Glue, Lake Formation, RedShift, Athena, etc.)
• AWS database services (RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, etc.)
• Serverless services (Fargate, Lambda)
• Azure compute services (VMs, Scale-Sets, Batch)
• Azure storage (storage accounts, blobs, files, tables, queues, data lake)
• Azure data analytics platforms (Fabric, Data Factory, Synapse, Databricks, Event Hubs etc.)
• Azure database services (Azure SQL DB, Managed Instance, Hyperscale, Cosmos DB etc.)
• Serverless services (Azure Functions, Web App, App Services, ASE, Logic Apps, etc.)
• Containerization (ECS, ECR, EKS, Batch, Kubernetes, Docker, AKS, OpenShift, etc.)

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) & Automation:

• Hands-on experience with Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, Azure ARM, or Pulumi for infrastructure provisioning.
• Develop CI/CD pipelines for automated deployment using GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, or AWS CodePipeline.
• Automate configuration management using Ansible, Chef, or Puppet.

Security & Compliance:

• Implement cloud security best practices (IAM, RBAC, WAF, Security Groups, NACLs, CloudTrail, GuardDuty, Secrets Manager, NSG, ASG, Service Principals, Managed Identities, Azure Advisor, Defender for Cloud, Key Vault, encryption, monitoring).
• Knowledge of zero-trust architectures and cloud security frameworks (CIS, NIST, ISO 27001).
• Experience with SIEM tools (Splunk, Chronicle Security) for security monitoring.

Performance Optimization & Cost Management:

• Optimize cloud environments for cost efficiency using Cost Explorer, Cost & Usage Reports, Savings Plans, Azure Advisor, Cost and Billing Management, Reservations, and general FinOps practices.
• Monitor performance and availability using CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Azure Resource Health, SolarWinds.
• Implement auto-scaling, caching, and load balancing strategies for cloud workloads.

Networking & Cloud Connectivity:

• Strong understanding of VPC design, vNet design, Hub & Spoke, Transit Gateway, Peering, Application Load Balancers, Application Gateway, Network Load Balancers, Traffic Manager, VPNs, Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, and hybrid networking.
• Configure and optimize CDNs (CloudFront, Global Accelerator, Frontdoor, Cloudflare, Akamai) for low-latency applications.

Troubleshooting & Support:

• Debug and troubleshoot cloud infrastructure, networking, and service-related issues.
• Use cloud-native monitoring, logging, and tracing tools (CloudWatch, Network Monitor, VPC Flow Logs, Azure Monitor, Network Watcher) for root cause analysis.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Work closely with cross-functional teams (Network, Server, DevOps, Cybersecurity, Finance, and Procurement).
• Translate complex technical concepts into business-friendly language.
• Participate in technical discussions, cloud strategy planning, and decision-making processes.