Cloud Architect

GIG Gulf; Dubai; On-site; AED 360,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

GIG Gulf in Dubai seeks a Cloud and AI Architect to lead enterprise cloud and AI architecture, standards, and guardrails across regions. You will drive pilots, POCs and patterns for secure, scalable, AI-enabled solutions aligned to business outcomes.

You will collaborate with business and IT stakeholders to ensure governance, cost transparency, and regulatory alignment while guiding cloud foundations, data platforms and AI workloads across core systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems or related field.
• Cloud or architecture certifications are preferred but not mandatory.
• 3-5 years of hands-on enterprise technology or architecture experience.
• Experience in regulated environments is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead definition and maintenance of cloud and AI architectures, standards, and roadmaps.
• Ensure architectures align with business strategy, regulatory constraints, and multi-country hosting.
• Define patterns for AI-enabled automation and data foundations for solutions.
• Collaborate with security, operations and platform teams to embed governance and controls.
• Prepare architecture proposals and communicate tradeoffs to stakeholders.

Skills

Cloud architecture (AWS/Azure)

Solution architecture

Security & governance

Stakeholder management

English communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/IS

Tools

AWS

Azure

Job description

Who we are:

GIG Gulf (a Fairfax company) is part of the Gulf Insurance Group (GIG), the #1 largest regional composite insurer in the Middle East and North Africa, with presence in 12 markets including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Turkey. GIG Group reported consolidated assets of US$ 3.83 billion and $69 million net profit for the year 2023. The majority shareholder of GIG Group is Toronto based Fairfax Financial Holding, a global leader in insurance and reinsurance with a presence in 40 markets.

GIG Gulf is an 'A' rated regional insurer with a top 5 position in each of its markets (UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain). GIG Gulf has been present in the region for over 70 years with a strategic focus on both growth and investments and is a one stop shop offering a wide range of insurance products and services that cater to a broad variety of needs for corporates, SMEs and individual customers throughout UAE, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar. GIG Gulf also owns a 50% stake in GIG Saudi. Our strategic objectives and guiding principles are focused on Regional Growth, Customer Experience and Digital Transformation.

GIG Gulf has created a diverse and inclusive working environment and culture with a workforce of over 800 employees, with over 60 nationalities, across 15 branches and retail shops region-wide and over 1 million customers. GIG Gulf is a caring partner that encourages customers to achieve their goals and live an inspiring and fulfilling life. We are obsessed with customer feedback and continuously evolving to become the region's digital insurer of reference, committed to running our operations in a responsible, sustainable way.

Job purpose:

As a Cloud and AI Architect, you will work closely with business and IT stakeholders to:

• define and evolve enterprise cloud and AI architecture standards, patterns, and guardrails
• lead pilots, POCs and exploration of new innovative solutions, practices and patterns
• design and deliver cloud-based and AI-enabled solutions that are secure, scalable, and fit for purpose
• actively contribute to the organization’s cloud and AI roadmap and delivery priorities, ensuring alignment with business outcomes, regulatory requirements, and operational realities

Key Responsibilities:

In collaboration with GIG Gulf business and IT stakeholders and considering information system landscape, business ambitions, recommendation, best practices, technology evolution and market trends:

Architecture

• Lead the definition and maintenance of enterprise cloud and AI architectures, standards, and target-state roadmaps
• Ensure cloud and AI architecture are aligned with business strategy, regulatory constraints, and enterprise architecture including multi-country hosting
• Contribute to IT strategy and planning activities covering cloud platforms, automation and AI capabilities
• Support evaluation, selection, and evolution of cloud services, AI platforms, and strategic technology partners

Cloud & AI Platform Leadership

• Define architectural patterns for supporting core systems, digital channels, integrations, analytics, and AI-enabled use cases
• Design cloud foundations that are AI-ready, including data, integration, security, and automation layers
• Ensure consistency, reuse, and simplicity across solutions, avoiding fragmented or ad-hoc implementations
• Work closely with information security, business continuity, operations and platform teams to embed governance, security and control requirements

Technical Leadership

Strong technical leader with broad and in-depth understanding of:

• Public cloud platforms (AWS and/or Azure)
• Cloud-native architecture patterns, automation, and solutions
• AI and machine-learning solution patterns, including generative (LLM, SLM etc.) and agentic AI (RAG, vector datastores, memory, cognitive reasoning etc.) working knowledge (desirable)
• Secure design principles, identity and access management, and regulatory considerations relevant to insurance

Operational & Technical Responsibilities:

Cloud & AI Architecture

• Function as an active, hands-on Cloud and AI Architect for enterprise initiatives:
• Define and maintain cloud and AI architecture frameworks, design guidelines, and reference patterns
• Design cloud architectures for solutions, including core applications, data platforms, and AI-enabled services
• Design architecture that supports AI workloads including (desirable):
• Secure integration of AI services with enterprise data
• Patterns for AI-enabled automation and decision support
• Controlled use of foundation or public models where approved
• Lead pilots, proofs of concepts and controlled trials to explore emerging cloud, automation and AI technologies

Tangible Outcomes & Delivery Focus

• Maintain a strong delivery and results orientation:
• Contribute to the cloud and AI roadmap aligned to business priorities and delivery plans
• Support and guide implementation of cloud solutions on AWS and/or Azure
• Guide teams on cloud-native design, automation, and deployment practices
• Ensure solutions are production-ready, cost-aware, documented, and operationally supported

Governance & Security

• Define architectural guardrails, including:
• Data access, privacy, and residency controls across cloud platforms
• Ensure solutions align with security standards, regulatory and operational requirements
• Embed FinOps principles into cloud architecture to ensure cost transparency, accountability and optimization
• Responsible and compliant use of AI and generative AI services
• Integration patterns for AI-enabled workflows and services
• Support controlled evaluation and adoption of AI technologies, avoiding unmanaged experimentation

Communication & Stakeholder Engagement

• Prepare clear and structured architecture proposals, options, and decision papers
• Communicate architectural choices and tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Provide practical recommendations focused on business outcomes, risk, and sustainability
• Promote collaboration, reuse, and shared ownership across delivery teams

Quality & Operational Excellence

• Ensure high-quality design, testing, and operational readiness of cloud and AI solutions
• Support incident, problem, and root-cause analysis related to cloud platforms
• Track and follow up on technical issues to ensure timely resolution and continuous improvement

People Leadership (Where Applicable)

• Support onboarding and development of cloud operations and AI engineers
• Provide technical coaching, design reviews, and mentoring
• Encourage knowledge sharing, standards adoption, and disciplined architectures practices
• Foster a collaborative culture aligned with organizational values and delivery commitments

Business / Domain knowledge requirements (desirable)

• Knowledge of Health Data industry
• Basic knowledge of the insurance business
• Basic understanding of market practices/business processes
• Understanding of regulatory challenges, including compliance, data privacy and residency

Qualifications & Technical Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field
• Cloud or architecture certifications (AWS, Azure or equivalent) are preferred but not mandatory where practical experience is demonstrated

Experience

• 3-5 years of overall experience in enterprise technology or architecture roles
• Minimum 2-3 years of hands-on experience in cloud architecture across AWS and/or Azure
• Demonstrated experience designing and governing production cloud systems
• Experience in regulated environments (insurance, financial services, healthcare) is preferred

Core Skills

• Cloud architecture (AWS and/or Azure): Ability to design scalable, secure and resilient cloud platforms supporting enterprise solutions
• Solution architecture: Proven experience defining architecture reference designs, and target-state
• Security & governance: Strong grounding in secure-by-design principles, identity, access control, data protection, and compliance
• Proofs of concept: Hands on experience in structured PoCs and technology evaluations with clear outcomes and decisions
• AI-enabled Architectures (desirable) - Hands on experience enabling AI/ML and GenAI use cases through data foundations, including exposure to LLM-based solutions, RAG patterns, and vector-based retrieval where applicable
• AI & GenAI integration (desirable): Hands-on experience architecting AI or GenAI solutions integrated with enterprise data and systems.

Collaboration

• Strong stakeholder management skills across business, IT, and control functions
• Ability to communicate architectural decisions clearly
• Comfortable working in a high-demand, delivery-oriented environment

Communication and Soft Skills

• Excellent communication skills in English, both verbal and written
• Team player – ability to work with a team and influence a positive collaborative culture
• Ability to prioritize workload appropriately based on the impact on the business

Demonstrated ability to work independently while efficiently managing multiple projects simultaneously.