About the position
Cloud Architect
Duration: 12 months (contract)
Location: Sandton (Gauteng) - Hybrid
Job Purpose
The Cloud Architect is responsible for defining, designing, and governing the organisation's cloud strategy, architecture, and implementation roadmap. The role ensures that cloud platforms and services are secure, scalable, resilient, cost-effective, and aligned to business and technology objectives. The Cloud Architect works closely with business stakeholders, solution architects, engineering teams, security teams, and technology partners to enable cloud adoption and digital transformation initiatives.
______
Key Responsibilities:
Cloud Strategy & Architecture
Develop and maintain enterprise cloud architecture standards, principles, and reference architectures.
Define cloud adoption roadmaps aligned to business and technology strategies.
Evaluate cloud technologies and services to support current and future business
requirements.
Establish cloud governance frameworks, architecture patterns, and best practices.
Solution Design & Delivery
Design secure, scalable, highly available, and resilient cloud solutions.
Provide architectural leadership across cloud transformation, application modernisation, data platforms, AI, and digital initiatives.
Review and approve solution designs to ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards.
Support migration of applications, data, and infrastructure from on-premise to cloud environments.
Security, Risk & Compliance
Ensure cloud solutions comply with security, risk, regulatory, and governance requirements.
Collaborate with cybersecurity teams to implement cloud security controls and monitoring.
Define cloud identity, access management, encryption, and network security architectures.
Support audit, compliance, and risk management activities.
Cloud Operations & Optimisation
Promote cloud operational excellence through automation, monitoring, and observability.
Drive cloud cost optimisation and FinOps practices.
Establish standards for availability, resilience, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
Support performance optimisation and capacity planning initiatives.
Stakeholder Engagement
Work closely with business leaders, product owners, engineering teams, and technology partners.
Provide architectural guidance during planning, budgeting, and project execution.
Present architecture strategies and recommendations to senior management and governance forums.
Mentor solution architects, engineers, and technical teams on cloud best practices.
__________
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related discipline.
Postgraduate qualification advantageous.
Professional Certifications (Preferred)
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional
Google Professional Cloud Architect
TOGAF Certification
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
FinOps Practitioner Certification
__________
Experience
8-12 years of IT experience with at least 5 years in cloud architecture roles.
Experience designing and implementing enterprise-scale cloud solutions.
Proven experience with cloud migration and modernisation programmes.
Experience with hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments.
Experience within financial services, banking, insurance, or highly regulated industries is advantageous.
Experience leading large-scale transformation initiatives and technology delivery teams.
__________
Technical Skills
Cloud Platforms
Microsoft Azure (Preferred)
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Virtual Infrastructure & Networking
Networks
Software Defined Networking
VPN and ExpressRoute Connectivity
Load Balancing and Traffic Management
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
DevOps & Automation
Azure DevOps
GitHub
CI/CD Pipelines
Terraform
Bicep
Ansible
PowerShell
Python
Containers & Modern Platforms
Kubernetes
Docker
OpenShift
Container Security
Security & Compliance
Cloud Security Architecture
Identity & Access Management
Zero Trust Architecture
Encryption & Key Management
Regulatory Compliance Frameworks
Data & AI Platforms
Azure Databricks
Microsoft Fabric
Azure Synapse Analytics
Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS Gen2)
AI/ML Platform Architecture
________
Key Competencies
Strategic Thinking
Enterprise Architecture
Leadership & Influencing Skills
Stakeholder Management
Problem Solving & Decision Making
Risk Management
Financial & Commercial Acumen
Communication & Presentation Skills
Innovation & Continuous Improvement
__________
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Cloud adoption and transformation success rate.
Architecture compliance and review outcomes.
Cloud platform availability and resilience metrics.
Reduction in technical debt and legacy infrastructure.
Cloud cost optimisation and value realisation targets.
Security and compliance audit outcomes.
Delivery of strategic cloud initiatives within agreed timelines.
Desired Skills:
- Cloud Architecure
- Microsoft Azure
- Azure Architectur
- Enterprise Cloud Design
- Cloud Migration Experience
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
