Cloud Solutions Architect (AWS, Data Architecture, Enterprise)

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Being a job seeker can be tough.

Navigating the treacherous terrain that is the online job boards, ducking and diving between badly written job ads and repetetive copy, searching for that golden nugget that is an advert that actually talks to your own needs.

Well, I certainly don't have any golden nuggets (I don't mean the cereal), but what I do have is an advert that hopefully does 3 key things:

(1) Gives you some actual information about the role.

(2) Gives you some actual infomation about the role.

(3) Gives you... you get the idea.

Here it goes...

I have partnered up with a Global Enterprise in the North West who are keen to recruit an experienced Cloud Solutions Architect to their digital banking division. The role will see you take up a key strategic position within the organisation, specifically focusing on their enterprise cloud offering and getting involved in the journey that is migrating their applications and infrastructre to the cloud.

The role has a high level of visibility, working on some key business-critical areas for the organisation and helping to both shape and develop a data-centric cloud strategy. You will help to ensure that all cloud architectures have a more data-centric approach (this advert loves the word 'data') and you will work with a range of teams across a variety of cloud roadmaps through the full change lifecycle. Moreover, you will also be tasked with providing support, mentoring colleagues through cloud adoption, challenging the pre-established thinking and ensuring cloud-first solutions are the norm within the organisation.

But enough about what you will be doing... the question is, what do you need to demonstrate to be considered a viable candidate for this role? Well rather than regurgitate the job description, I thought it would be worth highlighting a few key areas:

Stakeholder Management - Fundamentally, this role will involve a consistent level of stakeholder-facing responsibilities (both technical and non-technical), right up to c-suite level. You need to have a clear background managing stakeholders and an understanding as to how to manage the challenges that will ultimately produce. Communication is therefore a pre-requisite and the ability to translate high-level technical language into dialogue that somebody like me will understand is the key!

Architecture - Knowledge of a wide range of architectural frameworks/disciplines (N-Tier, SOA, Microservices, BCS, TOGAF etc.) is crucial, as is a background in Enterprise Architecture and/or hands on experience as a Technical Architect. You should have extensive experience of end-to-end design and should be able to craft detailed and complex archtiectural strategy roadmaps with ease.

Cloud Technologies - You probably guessed by the title of this ad, but a fundamental understanding of multi-cloud capabilities and adoption and knowledge of the full cloud technology stack is crucial. The core focus is Amazon Web Services (AWS) but wider knowledge of Azure is also fine for this role. Fundamentally, they need somebody who is able to define cloud-based strategy and then create a roadmap to implement said strategy into a workable solution.

Technologies - Whilst not a role that involves any coding, you should ideally bring a strong technological background to the table, as well as an understanding of a range of different programming languages and frameworks. The majority of their solutions are developed with the Java EE stack and a background in Software Engineering would be a huge bonus. Moreover, an understanding of Big Data (Hadoop, Cloudera) and Infrastructure (Windows, Linux) is also a key component of this role.

Methodologies & Processes - Finally, a strong understanding of modern software engineering principles (i.e. Agile, Scrum, TDD, BDD, DevOps, Continuous Integration etc.) would be great should you want to be considered for this position. They are currently going through a company-wide Agile transformation so the idea is that you can bring your own skills and experience to help them along that journey.

Ultimately, you should be a confident and passionate technical leader who wants to bring your own ideas and suggestions to the table, rather than follow the ideas and suggestions of others. Its that small characteristic that separates the leaders from the followers and that is perhaps the most pressing requirement this organisation are looking for from you.

Interested?

If the answer is a resounding 'yes' then I hope you decide to follow this up by either calling me on 07943721308 or 0191 338 7540.

Alternatively, if you are reading this job advert at work then send me a quick email to [email protected] and I will make sure I respond.

As always, anything we discuss will remain completely confidential.