Cloud Architect

Cloud Architect

Key Responsibilities

Define and socialise target state architectures across Azure/AWS/GCP (networking, identity, landing zones, operations).

Deliver reference architectures and reusable patterns for containerised, serverless, and data workloads.

Lead migration and modernisation (re‑host/re‑platform/re‑factor) for priority applications.

Implement IaC at scale (Terraform preferred; standard modules; pipelines).

Build observability (logs, metrics, traces, SLOs) and resilience (HA, DR, RTO/RPO).

Produce HLDs/LLDs, diagrams, ADRs, non‑functional requirements, and traceability to business goals.

Select and justify cloud services (compute, storage, data, AI/ML, integration).

Design identity and access (Azure AD/Microsoft Entra, AWS IAM, GCP IAM; SSO; workload identities).

Build/optimise Kubernetes platforms (AKS/EKS/GKE), service mesh (Istio/Linkerd), ingress, and autoscaling.

Implement CI/CD (GitHub Actions/Azure DevOps/GitLab), environment promotion, secrets management, artifact repos.

Security & Compliance

Define guardrails (CIS benchmarks), cloud security posture management (Defender for Cloud, AWS Security Hub, GCP SCC).

Vaulting and KMS (AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, GCP KMS), key rotation, data classification & encryption.

Threat modelling, zero trust patterns, vulnerability management, incident runbooks.

Data & Integration

Reference architectures for streaming/batch (Kafka/MSK, Event Hubs, Pub/Sub), data lakes, warehouses (BigQuery, Synapse, Redshift), ETL/ELT.

Operations & Reliability

Performance testing, capacity planning, SLO/SLIs, error budgets.

Governance & Cost

Landing zone governance, tagging/labels, budget alerts, reserved/savings plans.

Operating model definition (RACI), platform backlog, roadmap, and risk management.

Stakeholder Management

Run workshops, architecture reviews, and design clinics.

Collaborate with InfoSec, Network, Data, and App teams; mentor engineers.

Required Experience

8+ years in cloud architecture/engineering; 3+ years multi‑cloud across Azure, AWS, and GCP.

Proven delivery of enterprise landing zones, Kubernetes, IaC at scale, and secure network architectures.

Strong track record in app migration/modernisation and cost optimisation.

Comfortable in highly regulated environments (finance, healthcare, public sector) is a plus.

Technical Stack (Desired)

Networking: DNS, TLS/mTLS, BGP, NAT, WAF, CDN, private endpoints, service endpoints.

Compute/Containers: AKS/EKS/GKE, ECS/Fargate, VMSS/ASG, serverless (Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Functions).

Security: Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, AWS GuardDuty/Security Hub, GCP SCC, OPA, HashiCorp Vault, KMS.

Scripting: Python/Bash/PowerShell; strong Git and code review practices.

Certifications (Nice to Have)

AWS: Solutions Architect Professional, DevOps Engineer

GCP: Professional Cloud Architect, DevOps Engineer

Soft Skills

Excellent communicator—able to translate complex architecture into clear, actionable plans.

Pragmatic, delivery‑focused, and comfortable with ambiguity.

Strong stakeholder management and mentoring capabilities.

Cloud Target Operating Model & reference architectures.

Landing zone designs and implementation (per cloud).

Network & identity blueprints and runbooks.

IaC repositories (Terraform modules, pipelines) with documentation.

Security patterns (guardrails, policies, encryption standards).

Observability standards (dashboards, alerts, SLOs).

Application migration plans (waves, dependency maps) and executed milestones.

FinOps reports and cost optimisation recommendations.

KPIs / Success Measures

% workloads onboarded to landing zones with guardrails enforced.

Mean time to provision environments (baseline vs target).

% policy compliance (CIS/NIST) and critical vulnerabilities remediated.

Cost savings realised (rightsizing, reservations), forecast accuracy.

Uptime/SLO adherence and incident reduction.

Ways of Working

Hybrid: 2–3 days per week in Oxford; flexibility during key milestones.

Cadence: Weekly architecture forum, sprint rituals with squads, monthly exec updates.

Documentation: Diagrams (Draw.io/Visio), ADRs in Git, Confluence/SharePoint.

Tooling Access: Provided by client (SSO, VPN, repositories).

Seniority level

Mid-Senior level

Employment type

Contract

Job function

Other

Industries

Construction

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