CLOUD ARCHITECT | Raritan, New Jersey,08869Onsite

Job Title: CLOUD ARCHITECT
Location: Raritan, New Jersey,08869 Onsite
Mode : Contract (6+ Months)

Key Responsibilities
Lead Enterprise Cloud Architecture: Guide the design and continuous evolution of enterprise cloud architecture across multiple cloud service providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and hybrid on-premises environments.
Develop Reference Architectures: Create and maintain detailed reference architectures, patterns, and blueprints covering compute, storage, networking, security, identity, data, and analytics domains.
Translate Business Needs: Convert business requirements into scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-effective cloud solutions aligned with organizational goals.
Establish Standards and Governance: Define and enforce governance models, standards, and best practices for cloud adoption, including identity and access management (IAM), networking, cost controls, and compliance measures.
Drive Cloud Migration and Modernization: Lead migration and modernization initiatives (rehosting, refactoring, rearchitecting, repurchase) with clear roadmaps, milestones, and comprehensive risk management strategies.
Security and Compliance: Define and enforce security architectures, compliance controls, data protection policies, encryption standards, key management, and incident response plans.
Optimize Cloud Spend: Implement cost governance practices, tagging strategies, right-sizing, automation, and lifecycle management to maximize cloud investment value.
Architect Automation and CI/CD Pipelines: Design automation workflows, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions (Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM), and container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker) to enable rapid and repeatable deployments.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with security, site reliability, data engineering, and application teams to ensure reliability, observability, and optimal system performance.
Cloud Service Evaluation: Assess, select, and manage relationships with cloud service vendors, maintaining due diligence and managing associated risks.
Technical Leadership and Mentoring: Provide guidance and mentorship to engineers, developers, and operations teams; communicate architecture decisions and rationale to stakeholders at all organizational levels.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: Develop robust architectures for disaster recovery, business continuity, and backup; design for high availability and fault tolerance.
Performance and Monitoring: Establish and uphold performance benchmarks, monitoring, logging, and incident management practices, driving continuous improvement initiatives.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
5+ years of hands-on experience with cloud technologies, including at least 4 years in an architecture or lead role.
Proficiency in at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud); experience with multiple platforms is advantageous.
Strong knowledge of networking (VPC/VNet, subnets, routing, firewalls, VPNs/ExpressRoute/Direct Connect), security, IAM, storage, databases, and compute services.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM) and automation/scripting (Python, PowerShell, Bash).
Understanding of containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes) as well as serverless architectures.
Experience with cloud-based data architecture, data pipelines, and analytics solutions.
Ability to translate business requirements into architectural designs and deliverables.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to influence and guide teams and stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
Relevant certifications such as AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect, CCSP/CISSP, or TOGAF.
Familiarity with enterprise architecture frameworks and methodologies (e.g., TOGAF, Zachman).
Experience with hybrid cloud, edge computing, or data governance initiatives.
Knowledge of security frameworks and compliance standards (ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, as applicable) and risk assessment methodologies.
Advanced degree or specialized training in cloud security, data architecture, or AI/ML infrastructure.
Skills & Competencies
Technical: Cloud architecture design, cost optimization, security and compliance, IAM, networking, storage and databases, data governance, disaster recovery, performance optimization, and monitoring.
Tools & Technologies: Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM), CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps), containerization (Kubernetes, Docker), cloud-native services, and scripting languages.
Leadership & Collaboration: Stakeholder management, cross-functional team leadership, negotiation, project management, and effective written and verbal communication.
Problem Solving: Analytical thinking, risk assessment, and the ability to decompose complex problems into actionable architectural designs.
Experience Level Variants
Senior Cloud Architect: Requires 7+ years of practical experience with cloud technologies; responsible for broader scope, leading architecture reviews, and managing multi-cloud programs.
Staff/Principal Cloud Architect: Requires 10+ years of experience; responsible for defining cloud strategy at the enterprise level and driving organization-wide transformation.