Expert Cloud Architect

MatchPoint is a fast-growing, young, energetic global IT-Engineering services company with clients across the US. We provide technology solutions to various clients like Uber, Robinhood, Netflix, Airbnb, Google, Sephora and more! More recently, we have expanded to working internationally in Canada, China, Ireland, UK, Brazil and India. Through our culture of innovation, we inspire, build, and deliver business results, from idea to outcome. We keep our clients on the cutting edge of the latest technologies and provide solutions by using industry specific best practices and expertise.

We are excited to be continuously expanding our team. If you are interested in this position, please send over your updated resume. We look forward to hearing from you!

Role: Expert Cloud Architect

Contract Length: Fulltime

Location: Remote

Salary: $150K-$155K/An

Seeking an Expert Cloud Architect to join a customer's Hybrid Cloud Platform team as a senior, hands-on technical leader operating at the intersection of enterprise architecture strategy and deep infrastructure delivery. Reporting to the Sr. Cloud Principal Architect, this role owns the platform's most complex architectural challenges - hybrid cloud connectivity, platform-wide automation frameworks, landing zone evolution, and cross-domain integration patterns - while remaining deeply embedded in code and delivery. This role carries broader scope and higher autonomy than a Senior Cloud Architect. The Expert Cloud Architect sets technical direction for multi-team initiatives, defines enterprise-grade Terraform module standards, architects end-to-end platform capabilities, and drives adoption of emerging technologies such as AI-assisted operations, autonomous infrastructure, and advanced observability. The role influences architecture decisions beyond its immediate team, partnering with enterprise architects, security leadership, and business stakeholders.

The Expert Cloud Architect spends hands-on time writing Terraform, designing pipeline architectures, building proof-of-concepts, and directly resolving the hardest technical problems the team encounters - serving as the escalation point when Senior Cloud Architects are stuck. The role spans AWS, Microsoft Azure, and private cloud platforms (Azure Local), with accountability for platform-wide design consistency, performance, security posture, and operational excellence across the hybrid estate.

Responsibilities:

Architecture Strategy & Technical Direction

• Own and evolve the hybrid cloud platform architecture across AWS, Azure, and Azure Local, ensuring coherence, scalability, and security.
• Define and drive the long-term technical roadmap for the platform team in partnership with the Sr. Cloud Principal Architect.
• Architect enterprise landing zones, subscription and account topology, network segmentation, and identity federation strategies.
• Design complex hybrid networking solutions, including vWAN, ExpressRoute, SD-WAN integration, network virtual appliances, and cross-cloud connectivity.
• Establish architecture decision records (ADRs), design principles, and non-functional requirement frameworks for the platform.
• Evaluate emerging cloud services, open-source tools, and industry trends, and make build, buy, or adopt recommendations with clear trade-off analysis.
• Lead architecture reviews for high-impact or high-risk initiatives, providing binding technical guidance.

Hands-On Delivery (Infrastructure-as-Code & Platform Engineering)

• Author and maintain enterprise Terraform module libraries, defining patterns, interfaces, security defaults, and versioning strategies.
• Design and implement advanced CI/CD pipeline architectures in Azure DevOps for multi-environment, multi-subscription infrastructure delivery.
• Build complex automation, including multi-stage deployments, policy-as-code enforcement, drift detection, and self-healing infrastructure patterns.
• Implement and validate security architectures through code, including private endpoints, managed identities, CMK encryption, and network micro-segmentation.
• Design and deploy Kubernetes platforms (AKS/EKS) with production-grade configurations: RBAC, network policies, ingress, service mesh, and GitOps.
• Build proof-of-concepts and reference implementations that teams can adopt and extend.
• Resolve the hardest infrastructure challenges, including state migration, provider upgrades, complex module refactoring, and cross-account/subscription orchestration.

Team Leadership & Force Multiplication

• Serve as the senior technical escalation point, unblocking Senior Cloud Architects and platform engineers on the most complex problems.
• Lead cross-team architecture alignment sessions, ensuring consistent patterns across squads and workstreams.
• Define code review standards, module contribution guidelines, and quality gates for the Terraform module library.
• Mentor Senior Cloud Architects and platform engineers, elevating team capability through pairing, design reviews, and technical coaching.
• Drive engineering culture around infrastructure-as-code discipline, automated testing, documentation-as-code, and continuous improvement.
• Facilitate architecture guilds, communities of practice, and cross-functional technical forums.
• Translate complex technical trade-offs into clear recommendations for leadership and business stakeholders. Enterprise & Cross-Functional Leadership
• Partner with enterprise architecture, security, networking, and compliance teams to shape platform standards and policies.
• Influence enterprise governance frameworks, including Azure Policy, AWS SCPs, tagging standards, cost allocation, and resource lifecycle management.
• Drive platform observability strategy, including centralized logging, distributed tracing, alerting frameworks, and AIOps integration.
• Support disaster recovery architecture, ransomware resilience, and business continuity planning for platform services.
• Contribute to vendor relationship management, evaluating cloud provider roadmaps, negotiating architectural patterns, and influencing feature requests.
• Represent the platform team in enterprise architecture boards, change advisory processes, and technology governance forums.
• Support AI/ML platform infrastructure, including GPU scheduling, model serving, feature stores, and MLOps pipeline architecture.

Qualifications:

Minimum:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a job-related discipline, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of hands-on experience in cloud infrastructure, systems engineering, or cloud architecture roles.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience writing Terraform at scale, including enterprise module libraries, multi-environment state management, and provider development.
• 4+ years of experience designing and implementing CI/CD pipeline architectures (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or equivalent).
• 3+ years of experience in a technical leadership or architecture role, guiding teams, setting standards, and making binding design decisions.
• Demonstrated experience architecting solutions across both AWS and Azure (multi-cloud, not single-provider).
• Proven track record resolving complex cross-domain infrastructure challenges spanning networking, security, compute, and automation.
• Experience working in and leading within Agile/Scrum delivery teams.

Desired:

• AWS Solutions Architect Professional or Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification.
• HashiCorp Terraform Associate or equivalent IaC certification.
• Kubernetes certification (CKA/CKAD) or equivalent hands-on container platform experience.
• Deep expertise in hybrid networking: ExpressRoute, vWAN, Transit Gateway, Palo Alto NVA, SD-WAN, and BGP routing.
• Experience designing and operating enterprise landing zones (Azure CAF, AWS Control Tower, or custom).
• Knowledge of AI/ML infrastructure architecture, including GPU compute, distributed training, model serving, and MLOps.
• Experience with platform engineering practices: internal developer platforms, self-service infrastructure, and golden paths.
• Familiarity with FinOps practices, cloud cost optimization, and resource rightsizing.
• Experience with compliance-as-code: Azure Policy, AWS Config Rules, OPA/Rego, and Sentinel.
• Strong background in security architecture: zero-trust, identity federation (SAML/OIDC), private connectivity, and secrets management.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present architecture decisions to executives, write technical RFCs, and mentor effectively.
• Experience influencing technology strategy beyond the immediate team, such as through enterprise architecture boards or centers of excellence.

Tools and Technologies:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure
• Azure Local (private/hybrid cloud)
• Terraform (enterprise module libraries, multi-environment state management)
• Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions (CI/CD pipeline architecture)
• Kubernetes (AKS/EKS), GitOps, and service mesh
• Hybrid networking: ExpressRoute, vWAN, SD-WAN, network virtual appliances (e.g., Palo Alto)
• Azure Policy, AWS SCPs/Control Tower, and landing zone frameworks (Azure CAF)
• Policy-as-code and compliance-as-code: OPA/Rego, HashiCorp Sentinel, AWS Config Rules
• Observability tooling: centralized logging, distributed tracing, alerting, and AIOps
• Identity federation (SAML/OIDC), zero-trust security architecture, and secrets management