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Job Description
Senior Digital Cloud Architect (Contract)
Work Arrangement:
Hybrid – approximately 10 days per month onsite (no set days) out of MADISON, WI OFFICE
Fully remote is not an option
Engagement Type:
1‑year contract with potential for extension and possible future conversion (no immediate FTE headcount)
Position Summary
The Senior Digital Cloud Architect partners with business, technology, and vendor teams to design and deliver scalable, secure, and resilient cloud architectures in a multi‑cloud enterprise environment. This role plays a critical part in shaping cloud strategy, defining architectural standards, and guiding delivery teams toward best‑practice solutions.
The architect operates in front of Agile delivery teams, providing high‑level solution direction, architectural patterns, and governance rather than embedding directly within scrum teams. This role requires strong communication skills and the ability to articulate, justify, and influence architectural decisions at senior leadership levels.
Key Responsibilities
Cloud Strategy & Planning
- Define and evolve cloud strategy aligned to business objectives and enterprise architecture principles
- Partner with stakeholders to translate business requirements into scalable, secure cloud solutions
- Contribute to enterprise roadmaps, blueprints, and cloud adoption plans for a multi‑cloud environment
Cloud Architecture & Design
- Design cloud infrastructure solutions using industry best practices
- Lead solution design across AWS‑centric environments with multi‑cloud considerations
- Evaluate vendors and technologies through proofs of concept and technical assessments
- Define reusable architecture patterns, standards, and reference designs
- Incorporate non‑functional requirements such as resiliency, disaster recovery, cost governance, and performance
Security & Compliance
- Design secure‑by‑default architectures aligned with security and compliance standards
- Partner with information security teams on IAM strategy, threat modeling, and zero‑trust principles
- Ensure architectures comply with regulatory and organizational requirements
Architecture Governance
- Participate in and present designs to Architecture Review Boards
- Define and enforce architecture standards and review processes
- Maintain clear, current architectural documentation for engineering and leadership consumption
Collaboration & Leadership
- Work closely with engineering, infrastructure, and security teams
- Communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences
- Mentor architects and senior engineers transitioning into architecture roles
- Guide teams through trade‑off analysis to recommend optimal solutions
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of hands‑on solution or cloud architecture experience
- Strong expertise in AWS cloud architecture
- Experience designing solutions in multi‑cloud environments
- Deep understanding of cloud networking, security, and identity management
- Experience with containerization and orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker)
- Strong ability to articulate, defend, and influence architectural decisions
- Experience working within Agile delivery models
- Strong documentation, communication, and presentation skills
Preferred / Nice‑to‑Have Skills
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, etc.)
- Knowledge of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with serverless and microservices architectures
- Familiarity with cloud cost management or FinOps practices
- Experience with observability and monitoring platforms
- Exposure to Azure and other cloud platforms
- Cloud certifications (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect)
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