Practice Director, Cloud Services

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Canada.

📋 Description

• Lead, mentor, and develop Toptal’s team of solution architects.

• Establish goals, provide constructive feedback, and foster a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and ongoing learning.

• Recruit, onboard, and retain solution architects effectively.

• Define reference architectures, design patterns, and best practices for hybrid cloud and DevOps solutions.

• Evaluate solution designs to ensure quality, security, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

• Collaborate with Sales to understand client needs, outline solution strategies, and craft proposals and technical presentations.

• Lead important client discussions and align architects with suitable opportunities.

• Develop scalable offerings, including hybrid cloud architecture and migration, landing zones, container platforms, Infrastructure-as-Code, CI/CD and DevSecOps, SRE and observability, and FinOps.

• Work with Delivery teams to guarantee successful implementation of designs.

• Assist engineering teams in navigating complex technical decisions and support critical engagements.

• Plan team capacity, oversee workload and utilization, and monitor pipeline support, win rates, and client satisfaction.

• Cultivate relationships with AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, VMware/Broadcom, Red Hat, and HashiCorp.

• Ensure team certifications and partner alignment are maintained.

• Stay updated on trends in hybrid cloud, platform engineering, and DevOps.

• Contribute to marketing content and thought leadership initiatives.

• Take ownership of architecture for strategic accounts and create proofs of concept.

• Collaborate closely with Marketing, Sales, Delivery, and Talent Operations.

• Build relationships with organizational leaders and stakeholders.

• Evaluate market demand, existing talent, active engagements, and team development needs.

• Define the team operating model, architecture standards, and pre-sales engagement process.

• Build the team and drive revenue growth.

• Establish partner relationships and develop a hiring and talent plan.

⛳️ Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree is required.

• Over 15 years of experience in cloud, infrastructure, or DevOps engineering and architecture.

• At least 5 years of experience leading teams of solution architects or senior engineers in cloud or technology services.

• Minimum of 3 years managing a business or team.

• Preferably possess experience with P&L or budget responsibilities.

• Demonstrated history of overseeing financial performance, identifying improvement areas, and driving profitability and growth.

• Proven experience in leading and developing teams of solution architects or senior technical consultants.

• Established ability to build and scale hybrid cloud and DevOps service offerings.

• Extensive expertise in hybrid and multi-cloud architecture across AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

• Strong experience with data center and virtualization platforms such as VMware, Nutanix, and Hyper-V.

• Familiarity with hybrid cloud technologies like Azure Arc, AWS Outposts, and Google Distributed Cloud.

• Deep knowledge of containerization and orchestration technologies, including Kubernetes, OpenShift, and Docker.

• Understanding of serverless computing and microservices architecture.

• Strong experience with Infrastructure-as-Code and configuration management tools such as Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation, or Pulumi.

• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, GitOps, and automation frameworks like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, and Argo CD.

• Expertise in DevOps and platform engineering practices, including DevSecOps, SRE, observability, and DORA delivery metrics.

• Experience with cloud migration, application modernization, disaster recovery, and business continuity in hybrid environments.

• Knowledge of security and compliance frameworks, including NIST, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and CIS.

• Understanding of identity and access management, encryption, and policy-as-code.

• Familiarity with FinOps, cloud cost optimization, AI-enabled infrastructure and operations, and edge computing.

• Ability to forge relationships with enterprise clients and executives.

• Proven capacity to lead collaboratively and thrive in a high-growth environment.

• Proficient in articulating strategy with a robust, agile execution plan.

• Demonstrated success in making data-driven decisions and defining key metrics.

• Capable of translating complex technical concepts into actionable business strategies.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Ability to excel in a fast-paced, rapidly growing company.

• Resumes and communications must be submitted in English.

• An MBA is preferred.

• Relevant certifications such as AWS, Azure, or GCP Architect; CKA/CKAD; Terraform Associate are advantageous.

🏝️ Benefits

• Fully remote work environment.

• Flexible virtual-team working conditions.

• Support structure that encourages innovation, social interaction, and enjoyment.