Senior Cloud Architect

Position Summary

Effectual Senior Cloud Architects are responsible for technical leadership of Professional Services projects. They partner with Engagement Managers (EMs) to deliver an exceptional customer and delivery team experience. Effectual Cloud Architects are “Brand Ambassadors” and are expected to demonstrate Effectual’s experience and expertise through the delivery of high-quality, leading-practice solutions to customers. Aligning business technology with an organization’s strategy and goals can often be a complex and overwhelming process without the right tools and expertise.

A Glimpse into the Daily Routine of a Senior Cloud Architect

Effectual is seeking a Senior Cloud Architect to lead complex enterprise cloud architecture engagements for strategic clients. As a senior technical expert and trusted advisor, you’ll define architecture strategy, govern technical standards, and mentor both client teams and internal architects across modernization, resilience, security, and optimization initiatives.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Lead Enterprise Architecture Programs

Define enterprise target-state cloud architecture and phased roadmap strategies

Lead architecture review boards and executive design discussions with client leadership

Establish reusable architecture standards, guardrails, and delivery patterns across programs

Design Cloud Infrastructure

Architect scalable, highly available AWS solutions using Well-Architected Framework principles

Build multi-account landing zones, hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect, Transit Gateway), and DR/BC architectures

Architect solutions across containers, storage, networking, data platforms, and serverless computing

Automate & Optimize

Develop Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform and CloudFormation

Create Python automation scripts and CI/CD pipelines

Optimize cloud performance, cost efficiency, reliability, and security posture

Enable Client Success

Provide technical guidance and mentorship to client engineering teams

Lead workshops, knowledge transfer sessions, and incident response

Troubleshoot complex infrastructure challenges and create comprehensive documentation

Qualifications

10+ years of continual, prior experience working as a Solution Architect, including in parallel:

6+ years architecting and building AWS infrastructure

2+ years of infrastructure as code experience (Terraform preferred)

2+ years of DevOps toolchain experience (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, AWS Code* Suite)

AWS experience within the past year, with knowledge of primary AWS services (Compute, Storage, Networking, RDS)

Strong track record of implementing AWS services in a variety of distributed computing environments

Experience facilitating discussions with senior leadership regarding technical/architectural trade-offs, best practices, and risk mitigation

Experience leading highly available and fault-tolerant enterprise and web-scale software deployments

Experience managing data center or cloud operations, including data assurance, monitoring, alerting, and notifications

Demonstrated ability to think strategically about business, product, and technical challenges

Strong working knowledge of leading AWS cloud security practices

Proficient in developing Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g., Terraform, AWS CloudFormation)

Proficient in coding configuration management tooling (e.g., Ansible, Chef, Puppet)

Proficient in at least one or more programming/scripting languages (e.g., Python, Java, Node)

Demonstrable knowledge of Agile and Waterfall SDLC methodologies

Ability to work with multiple clients in parallel, with strong attention to detail

Exceptional communication and time management skills

Ability to work EST with flexibility for different time zones

Technical Skills

AWS Architecture Depth: Advanced architecture expertise across compute, storage, networking, IAM/security, and data services

Infrastructure as Code: Advanced Terraform and CloudFormation expertise

Automation: Strong Python scripting and CI/CD pipeline experience

Systems: Enterprise Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu) and Windows Server/Active Directory

Networking: VPC design, hybrid connectivity, multi-region patterns, and traffic controls

Architecture Governance: Standards definition, design review facilitation, and technical risk management

Configuration Management: Ansible, Chef, or Puppet proficiency

Required Professional Competencies

Ability to translate technical concepts for executive audiences

Ability to build consensus across stakeholders without direct authority

Strong problem-solving and analytical capabilities

Excellent communication and collaboration skills

Ability to work EST with flexibility for different time zones

Required Certifications

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (Current or Expired)

 

Nice-to-Have Skills and Experience

Multi-cloud experience (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Compliance framework expertise (PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2)

AWS CDK and modernization experience

Migration program exposure (MGN, DMS, Migration Hub) and migration strategy leadership

VMware-to-AWS migration experience

FinOps practices and cost optimization expertise

Agile/Scrum methodology experience

Nice-to-Have Certifications

AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate

AWS Certified Security – Specialty

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional

AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty

HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate

Kubernetes certifications (CKA, CKAD) and container orchestration experience (ECS, EKS)

 

Company Offered Benefits

Full-time employees are eligible to participate in our employee benefit programs:

Medical, dental, and vision health insurances

Short term disability, long term disability, and life insurances

401k with company match

Paid time off (PTO) (120 hours PTO that accrue over one year)

Paid time off for major holidays (14 days per year)

These and any other employee benefit offerings are subject to management’s discretion and may change at any time.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The work is generally performed in an office environment. Physical demands include sitting, keyboarding, verbal communication, and written communication. Employees are occasionally required to stand; walk; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

Salary Range for this position: $160,000 - $200,000

“Salary ranges provided are for informational purposes only and may vary depending on factors such as experience, qualifications, and geographic location. The final salary offer will be determined based on the candidate’s skills and alignment with the role requirements.”

This job description may not be inclusive of all assigned duties, responsibilities, or aspects of the job described, and may be amended anytime at the sole discretion of the Employer. Duties and responsibilities are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbents will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” relationship. Effectual Inc. is an EEO employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any protected classification in its hiring, promoting, or any other job-related opportunity.