Job
Description
We are seeking a highly experienced and technically profound Cloud Application Architect to drive our cloud-first digital transformation initiatives. This pivotal role involves leading the design, development, and modernization of our enterprise application portfolio to deliver modern, scalable, secure, and business-aligned cloud-native solutions. The ideal candidate will possess a deep, hands-on technical background in application architecture, with a focus on transforming legacy systems into agile, customer-centric, and cloud-optimized experiences within either the Microsoft or Java enterprise stack. This role is critical for shaping our application landscape, ensuring robust end-to-end design, and guiding development teams through complex architectural challenges in a dynamic, cloud-first environment. Key Responsibilities As a Senior Cloud Application Architect, you will: Define Cloud-Native Application Architectures: Lead the definition, design, and implementation of comprehensive cloud-native application architectures and strategic modernization roadmaps for critical enterprise systems, primarily leveraging AWS EKS, Azure AKS, and serverless functions (e.g., AWS Lambda, Azure Functions). Own End-to-End Application Design: Hold ultimate accountability for the end-to-end application design, ensuring solutions meet stringent requirements for scalability (handling high transaction volumes), performance (low latency), robust security (integrating DevSecOps principles like SAST/DAST, Zero Trust), and high reliability (achieving stringent uptime targets). Guide Microservices/API Architecture & Containerization: Provide senior technical guidance and mentorship to multiple distributed project teams on advanced microservices and API-first design patterns, including choreography vs. orchestration, eventual consistency, and idempotent API design. Lead the adoption and implementation of Docker containerization and Kubernetes orchestration (AKS/EKS) for efficient application deployment and management. Develop Deployment & Operational Strategy: Define and enforce declarative deployment strategies (e.g., GitOps with ArgoCD/FluxCD). Design application-level disaster recovery and business continuity plans, including multi-region deployments with active-active/active-passive patterns and automated failover mechanisms. Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Collaborate extensively as a strategic partner with cross-functional teams including software developers (Java/.NET), product owners, business analysts, DevOps engineers, security specialists, and infrastructure teams. Translate complex business requirements into clear, actionable technical specifications. Lead Technical Design Sessions & Governance: Lead high-stakes technical design sessions, facilitate architecture review boards (ARB), and prepare comprehensive architectural documentation (e.g., Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), sequence diagrams, data flow diagrams) to ensure alignment, maintain architectural integrity, and govern new feature implementations. Support Build vs. Buy & Tool Selection: Actively support critical build vs. buy analyses for new functionalities. Evaluate, select, and champion various cloud services (PaaS, SaaS) and third-party tools (e.g., API Management gateways, caching solutions, message brokers) based on technical fit, business needs, and cost efficiency. Conduct and present Proof-of-Concepts (PoCs) for emerging technologies and strategic platform integrations. Drive DevSecOps & Observability Integration: Champion the integration of advanced DevSecOps practices, from "shift-left" security to automated CI/CD pipelines. Implement comprehensive application observability solutions (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Application Insights) to monitor SLOs/SLIs, diagnose performance issues, and proactively ensure system health. Optimize Application-Level Costs: Design and optimize application architectures to maximize cloud cost efficiency, leveraging serverless computing, right-sizing container workloads, and implementing intelligent autoscaling policies. Mentor & Foster Innovation: Mentor junior and mid-level developers and architects on cloud-native development best practices, application refactoring techniques, and effective utilization of cloud services. Explore and prototype the integration of emerging technologies (e.g., AI/ML, Generative AI) for intelligent features and digital workflow automation. Qualifications: Education: Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field. Experience: 1 12+ years of progressive experience in application architecture, with a significant and demonstrable focus on cloud-native application design, digital-first transformations, and modernizing enterprise software. Application Development Background: Strong application background with hands-on experience in either the Microsoft (.NET Core, ASP.NET) or Java (Spring Boot, J2EE) enterprise/product software architecture. Cloud Platform Expertise: Proven experience delivering cloud-first solutions using public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure are preferred; GCP experience is a plus), with a deep understanding of their PaaS and IaaS offerings relevant to application development. Modern Application Design Principles: Deep knowledge and hands-on experience with microservices, API-driven development, event-driven architecture, serverless computing, and domain-driven design. Containerization & Orchestration: Expertise in Docker and Kubernetes (EKS, AKS), including deployment strategies and operational best practices for containerized applications. Agile, DevOps, & CI/CD: Strong understanding and practical experience with agile delivery models, comprehensive DevOps practices, and continuous integration/deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. Communication & Stakeholder Management: Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to bridge technical and business perspectives, and advise senior leadership. Leadership & Governance: Extensive experience in leading cross-functional development and architecture teams, managing architectural governance, and mentoring engineers in large-scale programs. Preferred Skills: Cloud Certifications: Relevant cloud certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Certified Kubernetes Application Developer - CKAD). Enterprise Architecture Frameworks: Knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF) in the context of digital transformation. Observability Tools: Experience with comprehensive observability solutions for applications (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Application Insights, distributed tracing tools like Jaeger). Security by Design: Direct experience implementing security best practices at the application architecture level (e.g., OWASP, threat modeling, secure coding standards). AI/ML Integration: Experience with integrating analytics, personalization, and AI/ML capabilities into application architectures. Low-Code/No-Code Platforms: Exposure to low-code/no-code development tools and digital workflow automation platforms.
