Cloud Architect

Role Purpose
The Cloud Architect is a senior technical and solutioning role responsible for owning cloud architecture across the presales-to-delivery lifecycle. This role bridges customer business needs with scalable, secure, and cost-optimized cloud solutions, ensuring that what is sold can be delivered with quality, predictability, and measurable outcomes.

The Cloud Architect works closely with Sales, Presales, Delivery, and Engineering teams to drive winning proposals, define reference architectures, and lead successful cloud implementations.

Key Responsibilities
1. Presales & Solution Architecture

Act as the primary cloud solution owner during presales engagements.
Translate client business problems into cloud-native solution architectures (primarily Azure; AWS/GCP exposure desirable).
Lead architecture discussions, whiteboarding sessions, and technical workshops with client stakeholders (CTOs, IT Heads, Architects).
Build high-quality solution artifacts, including:

Cloud architecture diagrams
High-level and low-level designs (HLD / LLD)
Migration and modernization approaches
Security, networking, and identity models

Support RFP/RFI responses, technical bid sections, and proposal reviews.
Collaborate with Sales and Practice teams to:

Define scope, assumptions, risks, and dependencies
Create effort estimates and delivery models
Ensure architectural alignment with commercials and timelines

Present and defend solutions in customer demos, solution walkthroughs, and technical Q&A sessions.

2. Delivery Architecture Ownership

Own the architecture handover from presales to delivery, ensuring:

No scope or expectation gaps
Clarity on non-functional requirements (security, performance, scalability, DR)

Provide architecture governance during delivery:

Review detailed designs and implementations
Validate adherence to agreed architecture and best practices

Mentor and guide delivery engineers, DevOps, and platform teams.
Act as an SME to unblock delivery challenges, especially for:

Cloud networking & security
Landing zones and governance
HA/DR, RPO/RTO design
Cost optimization and scalability

Participate in architecture reviews, design signoffs, and readiness assessments.

3. Cloud Platform & Best Practices

Design and implement:

Azure Landing Zones using IaC (Terraform / Bicep / ARM)
Secure network topologies (Hub-Spoke, Zero Trust)
HA, DR, Backup, and Business Continuity strategies

Drive cloud cost optimization (FinOps principles) and performance excellence.
Ensure compliance with security, regulatory, and enterprise architecture standards.
Stay current with Azure/AWS/GCP roadmaps, services, and reference architectures.

4. Practice & Capability Building

Contribute to cloud accelerators, reference architectures, reusable templates, and internal IP.
Support capability development by mentoring architects and senior engineers.
Participate in presales readiness, solution review