Solution Architect 0807-1

Key Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the Azure platform architecture for the Digital Factory, covering landing zones, network topology, identity and access, policy-as-code, security guardrails and multi-environment design across sandbox, QA, UAT and production.
• Design platform operating models that enable infrastructure-as-code, automation, CI/CD, self-service provisioning, golden paths and repeatable environment patterns for product teams.
• Translate business and delivery goals into architecture decisions that balance speed of delivery, control, cost, security, compliance, resilience and clear accountability.
• Develop composable platform architecture patterns that support a system-of-systems approach, reusable services, APIs, platform integrations and modular capabilities across product teams.
• Define architecture standards and reference patterns for cloud-native applications, shared platform capabilities, AI-enabled applications, APIs, container workloads and managed Azure services.
• Guide the design of governed data platform and AI/ML architecture patterns, including data products, managed AI services, AI application hardening, model access controls, monitoring and production-readiness practices.
• Embed observability, incident response, service health, reliability and operational transparency into platform architecture so teams can understand cost, usage, performance, compliance posture and service ownership at scale.
• Shape FinOps and TCO architecture practices, including tagging strategy, cost allocation, budget controls, usage dashboards, showback reporting and cost accountability mechanisms.
• Partner with platform engineers, product owners, developers, security, audit, finance and leadership stakeholders to align platform architecture with business outcomes and governance expectations.
• Document architecture decisions, reusable patterns, trade-offs, principles and operating procedures to support adoption, knowledge retention and continuous improvement.

Required Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of experience in solution architecture, platform architecture, enterprise architecture or cloud architecture, including significant experience designing platforms on Microsoft Azure in enterprise or regulated environments.
• Strong experience with Azure cloud platform architecture, including Azure Landing Zones, hub-and-spoke or virtual WAN network designs, identity and access models, subscription design, management groups, Azure Policy and multi-environment architecture.
• Experience designing platform operating models that support infrastructure-as-code, automated provisioning, CI/CD, GitOps, self-service workflows, reusable templates, golden paths and platform product management practices.
• Ability to translate business objectives, policy constraints and delivery needs into architecture principles, target states, patterns, trade-offs and roadmap recommendations.
• Strong understanding of security, compliance and governance-by-design, including policy-as-code, least-privilege access, network segmentation, secrets management, secure release controls and auditability.
• Experience with modern software delivery architecture, including CI/CD pipelines, deployment promotion, rollback patterns, quality checks, release governance and developer experience design.
• Understanding of data platform and AI/ML architecture patterns, including governed data products, managed AI services, Azure AI services, model integration patterns, AI application hardening and responsible AI controls.
• Experience designing observability and operational architecture using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, dashboards, service health metrics, incident management patterns and business-relevant platform measures.
• Strong understanding of FinOps, TCO and cloud cost architecture, including tagging, cost allocation, budget controls, usage reporting, optimization levers and cost accountability.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain architecture trade-offs clearly to senior leaders, technical teams and non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable working in an agile, product-oriented environment where platform capabilities are delivered incrementally and improved through adoption feedback.

Preferred Skills

• Experience operating in Government Commercial Cloud, public sector cloud environments or regulated enterprise environments.
• Experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub, ShipHATS, Terraform, Azure Bicep, API Management, Azure Container Apps, Azure App Service, Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Sentinel, Defender for Cloud or equivalent tools and services.
• Exposure to Microsoft Fabric, Azure OpenAI, Synapse, data lakehouse patterns, data governance, model operations or AI governance frameworks.
• Experience designing developer portals, internal platforms, platform APIs, service catalogues, self-service workflows or reusable engineering patterns.
• Understanding of SRE practices, incident response automation, reliability engineering, platform SLIs/SLOs and operational readiness reviews.
• Familiarity with enterprise architecture methods, architecture decision records, capability mapping, technology roadmaps and architecture governance forums.