Cloud Architect

Duncan & Ross; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Duncan & Ross in Abu Dhabi, UAE seeks a senior Cloud Architect to translate organizational cloud requirements into practical standards, templates and governance artefacts, guiding product teams and vendors through architecture decisions.

You will define cloud landing zones, security, IAM and resilience standards, and review designs for compliance and scalability. The role demands hands-on experience and enterprise-scale experience.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of infrastructure and cloud experience with architecture responsibilities.
• Hands-on experience building cloud standards, reference architectures, patterns and governance artefacts.
• Strong knowledge of cloud landing zones, networking, security, IAM, containers and IaC.
• Experience reviewing enterprise-scale cloud solutions and ensuring compliance.

Responsibilities

• Translate cloud and security policies into clear architecture standards and guidelines.
• Develop and maintain cloud reference architectures, design templates and review checklists.
• Define standards for landing zones, networking, IAM, security, containers and resilience.
• Provide hands-on guidance across planning, design, implementation and readiness stages.
• Review high/low-level designs and disaster-recovery plans for product teams and vendors.
• Assess compliance with security, scalability, availability, performance and data residency.
• Identify risks and remediation needs; promote reuse of approved services and templates.
• Advise on emerging cloud technologies and adoption strategies.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Security architecture

Reference architectures

Enterprise architecture

Infrastructure as code

Governance artefacts

Landing zones

Education

Cloud architecture certification

Job description

Job description

About the job CLOUD ARCHITECT

Domain Architect - Cloud

Role Purpose:

Provide hands-on cloud architecture expertise by translating organizational cloud, security, infrastructure, and data requirements into practical standards, patterns, templates, and governance artefacts, while guiding and assuring cloud solutions delivered by product teams and vendors.

Key Responsibilities:

• Translate enterprise architecture, cloud, security, data residency, infrastructure, and operational policies into clear cloud architecture standards and guidelines.
• Develop and maintain cloud reference architectures, approved patterns, design templates, review checklists, quality-gate criteria, and architecture decision records.
• Define standards for cloud landing zones, networking, identity and access management, security, containers, hosting, resilience, backup, disaster recovery, observability, and infrastructure automation.
• Provide hands-on cloud architecture guidance during planning, sourcing, design, implementation, and readiness stages.
• Review cloud HLDs, LLDs, infrastructure designs, deployment architectures, connectivity designs, and disaster-recovery plans prepared by product teams and vendors.
• Assess compliance with cloud security, scalability, availability, performance, interoperability, data residency, and operational requirements.
• Identify cloud architecture risks, gaps, technical debt, non-compliance, and required remediation.
• Promote reuse of approved cloud services, shared components, deployment patterns, and infrastructure templates.
• Assess emerging cloud technologies and provide architecture-fit and adoption recommendations.
• Support cloud architecture quality gates and provide domain architecture recommendations and approval inputs.

Minimum Profile:

• 8+ years of infrastructure and cloud experience, including cloud architecture responsibilities.
• Strong hands-on experience developing cloud standards, reference architectures, patterns, templates, and governance artefacts.
• Strong knowledge of cloud landing zones, networking, security, identity, containers, resilience, disaster recovery, observability, and infrastructure as code.
• Experience reviewing and assuring enterprise-scale cloud solutions.
• Relevant professional cloud architecture certification is preferred.
• Government, regulated-sector, or large-enterprise experience is preferred.

Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE (on-site) | Duration: 4 months | Start: ASAP, subject to security clearance | Language: Arabic speakers preferred

Vertical:

Technology