Cloud Solution Architect

Minimum Mandatory Requirements

• Google Cloud Platform, AWS or Azure certification
• Infrastructure as Code experience
• Experience working in a cloud environment for a public sector entity (State, Federal, Higher Ed, etc.)

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop cloud solutions that meet business and technical requirements (primary focus on Google Cloud Platform; AWS and Azure also relevant)
• Collaborate with stakeholders, business product owners, and DevOps teams to gather requirements and translate them into architectural designs and technical roadmaps
• Provide technical leadership and guidance on cloud best practices, application hosting, and distributed architecture
• Create and maintain architectural documentation, including diagrams, integration processes, and specifications
• Ensure solutions are secure, compliant, and optimized for performance, reliability, and scalability
• Architect and maintain cloud database systems, BigQuery data pipelines, and public/private APIs to support application integration and legacy-to-cloud migrations
• Evaluate and recommend new cloud technologies, tools, and services (e.g., containers, Kubernetes/GKE, BI analytics)
• Conduct regular reviews of cloud environments to identify improvements and cost optimization opportunities
• Support disaster recovery planning and backup strategies and ensure high availability of critical systems
• Stay current on emerging cloud technologies and industry trends to inform architectural strategy

Required Technical Skills

In-depth knowledge of cloud platforms and services (demonstrated Google Cloud Platform expertise or other major public cloud provider); scalable, distributed systems and microservices architecture; Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Open Tofu, Ansible, CloudFormation, or Pulumi); networking (VPC, hybrid connectivity), security protocols, and IAM in cloud environments; containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes/GKE); AI-assisted developer tools and workflows for infrastructure provisioning, code maintenance, and automated testing; strong problem-solving and troubleshooting; effective communication and leadership skills; and experience working in a cloud environment for a government, higher education, or other public-sector entity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent related experience, where 1 year of higher education substitutes for 1 year of experience)
• 7+ years of experience in IT, including 3+ years in cloud architecture, DevOps, or a similar technical leadership role
• Certifications such as Google Professional Cloud Architect, Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer, AWS Certified Solutions Architect, or Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect
• Experience with DevSecOps practices, CI/CD workflows (e.g., GitHub Actions), and database administration/migrations (PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, BigQuery)
• Familiarity with security frameworks such as NIST, CIS Benchmarks, or ISO/IEC 27001