Principal Cloud Architect

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

📋 Description

• Define and articulate a 3-5 year enterprise cloud strategy that aligns with corporate business objectives, competitive positioning, and the technology roadmap.

• Develop cloud governance frameworks, policies, and architectural standards that can scale throughout the organization while ensuring security and compliance.

• Direct the cloud Center of Excellence (CoE) as a strategic business unit; prioritize initiatives, allocate resources, and evaluate impact.

• Ensure adherence to regulatory standards (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR) and collaborate with the Chief Information Security Officer on integrating security-by-design.

• Assess emerging cloud technologies and provide strategic recommendations for adoption and investment to executive leadership.

• Maintain architecture decision records (ADRs) and enterprise reference architectures as valuable organizational assets.

• Design multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions utilizing AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform to support enterprise scalability, resilience, and cost-effectiveness.

• Oversee large-scale cloud migration and modernization projects; create phased roadmaps and success metrics.

• Architect solutions for containerization, microservices, serverless computing, and platform engineering to enhance organizational agility.

• Conduct architecture reviews and offer technical guidance to senior engineering leaders and project teams.

• Establish standards for cloud networking, security, and infrastructure; ensure uniformity across all business units.

• Collaborate with Information Security to incorporate Zero Trust architecture and IAM best practices into all cloud workloads.

• Lead enterprise-wide cloud adoption efforts; facilitate cultural and organizational transformation across technical and business teams.

• Build and enhance internal cloud expertise through hiring, mentoring, and training initiatives.

• Create cloud engineering centers of excellence and cross-functional teams.

• Effectively communicate complex technical strategies to executive leadership, board members, and business stakeholders.

• Facilitate architectural governance councils and ensure alignment among business units.

• Develop and implement internal communications and change management strategies to support cloud transformation.

• Drive strategies for cloud cost optimization; establish FinOps practices across the organization.

• Collaborate with the Chief Financial Officer and business leaders to create multi-year cloud budgets, forecasts, and ROI models.

• Develop chargeback/showback models that connect cloud costs with business units and promote accountability.

• Create KPIs and dashboards to track cloud expenditure, performance, operational health, and business value realization.

• Negotiate vendor contracts and agreements with managed service providers; optimize licensing and discount commitments.

• Conduct regular business reviews with stakeholders regarding cloud investment performance and strategic implications.

• Build and lead a high-performing cloud architecture and engineering team; define hiring strategies and organizational structure.

• Mentor senior engineers and technical leaders; formulate succession plans and career development pathways.

• Set performance expectations, conduct evaluations, and enforce accountability throughout the cloud organization.

• Cultivate a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and technical excellence.

• Represent the cloud organization in executive forums and strategic planning discussions.

• Allocate resources strategically to maximize organizational impact and capability enhancement.

• Serve as the executive relationship owner for key cloud vendors (AWS, Azure, GCP) and managed service providers.

• Negotiate strategic partnerships and managed services agreements that align with organizational goals.

• Engage with industry peers, analyst firms, and professional organizations to remain informed on cloud trends.

• Collaborate with external consultants and professional services firms on strategic initiatives.

• Represent BCF at industry forums and thought leadership events.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field.

• OR equivalent advanced work experience demonstrating strategic technical leadership.

• 5+ years of direct management experience leading technical teams (minimum of 5-10 direct reports).

• Proven ability to build, mentor, and scale engineering organizations.

• Experience in establishing technical strategy and governance frameworks.

• 12+ years of progressive experience in IT infrastructure, software engineering, or enterprise architecture.

• 8+ years of hands-on experience in designing and delivering enterprise-grade cloud solutions.

• 5+ years of leadership experience managing technical teams and implementing large-scale transformation initiatives.

• Demonstrated success in architecting and executing multi-year cloud migration or digital transformation programs at an enterprise level.

• Experience in leading organizational change and cultivating high-performing technical teams.

• Extensive expertise in at least two major cloud platforms: AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.

• Strong understanding of enterprise cloud networking, security architecture, and Zero Trust principles.

• Proficient with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation, Bicep).

• Experience with container orchestration (Kubernetes) and CI/CD/DevOps methodologies.

• Knowledge of cloud security, IAM, compliance frameworks, and regulatory standards.

• Familiarity with FinOps principles and cloud cost management tools.

🏝️ Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life, and global travel health insurance.

• Income protection benefits: life insurance, short-term, and long-term disability programs.

• Leave programs to accommodate personal circumstances.

• Retirement Savings Plan with employer matching.

• Paid time off, volunteer time off, 10 holidays, and 2 well-being days.

• Additional voluntary benefits available, along with a comprehensive wellness program.