Lead Infrastructure and Cloud Architect

Tiger Recruitment; Abu Qrayn; On-site; AED 300,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Tiger Recruitment's client in the UAE is seeking a Lead Infrastructure & Cloud Architect to provide technical leadership across hybrid cloud and on-premise environments. You will drive Azure and AWS strategies, oversee migration initiatives, and ensure scalable, secure, and cost-efficient infrastructure.

You will partner with senior IT leadership to deliver resilient systems, implement IaC with Terraform/CloudFormation, manage governance and security, and mentor teams to raise performance and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent.
• Minimum 9 years of relevant experience in cloud infrastructure, IT architecture or a related field.
• Strong enterprise experience with Microsoft Azure and AWS, particularly hybrid cloud environments.
• Experience with Infrastructure‑as‑Code and automation using Terraform, CloudFormation and ARM/Bicep.

Responsibilities

• Lead the management and optimisation of Azure cloud infrastructure, including migrations from on‑premise to Azure.
• Oversee on‑premise and hybrid infrastructure, ensuring high availability, security and performance.
• Implement cloud governance, security controls and FinOps across AWS and Azure environments.
• Develop and execute cloud strategy, roadmaps and governance across the organisation.
• Provide strategic and technical leadership to cloud and infrastructure teams and mentor staff.

Skills

Azure expertise

Hybrid cloud

Cloud migration

FinOps

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT/CS/Engineering

Tools

Terraform

CloudFormation

ARM/Bicep

Azure DevOps

AWS

Job description

Must be based in the UAE Our client, a leading utility-scale organisation in the UAE, is seeking an experienced Lead Infrastructure & Cloud Architect to provide technical leadership across its hybrid cloud and infrastructure environment. The successful candidate will be responsible for managing and continuously improving cloud and on-premise infrastructure services, supporting cloud migration initiatives, and ensuring infrastructure environments are scalable, reliable, secure, cost-efficient and resilient. Working closely with senior IT and infrastructure leadership, you will play a key role in delivering a robust hybrid-cloud strategy across Microsoft Azure and AWS, while ensuring seamless application performance across legacy and modern cloud-native environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Cloud Management – Azure:

  Lead the management and optimisation of Azure cloud infrastructure, ensuring scalability, availability, performance and cost efficiency. Support and execute cloud migration strategies for on‑premise workloads into Azure, using Azure Migrate and associated tooling. Manage key Azure services including Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Blob Storage, Azure SQL Database, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Active Directory / Entra ID, Azure Monitor, Azure ExpressRoute and Azure DevOps. Drive cloud cost optimisation through right‑sizing, reserved instances, savings plans, auto‑scaling and effective resource tagging. Establish effective cloud resource governance, including provisioning, monitoring, capacity management and de‑commissioning. Manage secure, reliable and high‑performance hybrid connectivity between on‑premise infrastructure and AWS/Azure environments, including AWS Direct Connect and Azure ExpressRoute.

• Infrastructure Operations & Management:

  Lead the management of on‑premise and hybrid infrastructure covering servers, storage, virtualisation, networks and data‑centre environments. Ensure high availability, reliability, security and performance across infrastructure services. Ensure seamless application performance across legacy on‑premise systems and modern cloud‑native architectures. Establish proactive infrastructure monitoring and alerting using Azure Monitor and third‑party monitoring platforms. Lead infrastructure capacity planning to meet current and future business requirements. Oversee patching, vulnerability remediation and infrastructure maintenance to ensure security and compliance. Develop and maintain disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities, including Azure Site Recovery.

• Security, Governance & Continuous Improvement:

  Implement and enforce cloud and infrastructure security controls across Azure and AWS environments. Manage identity and access controls, encryption, network security, security monitoring and cloud security policies. Manage cloud governance frameworks using technologies such as AWS Control Tower, Azure Policy, IAM and Network Security Groups (NSGs). Partner closely with cybersecurity teams to ensure cloud environments meet regulatory and organisational security requirements. Identify opportunities to improve resilience, performance, automation and operational efficiency while reducing infrastructure costs. Drive Infrastructure‑as‑Code and automation using Terraform, AWS CloudFormation and Azure ARM/Bicep. Leverage appropriate AI/ML and cloud‑native AI capabilities to improve infrastructure monitoring, anomaly detection and operational efficiency.

• Strategy, Reporting & Governance:

  Contribute to the development and execution of cloud strategy and infrastructure roadmaps aligned with business and digital transformation objectives. Ensure infrastructure services and operational activities comply with approved policies, procedures, processes, controls and delegation‑of‑authority requirements. Prepare and manage periodic management reports, progress reports and infrastructure performance updates for senior management. Support informed decision‑making through accurate, timely and effective reporting. Maintain appropriate governance over cloud resources, infrastructure operations, costs, capacity, security and service performance.

• Leadership & People Management:

  Provide strategic and technical leadership to cloud and infrastructure teams. Build a high‑performing, cloud‑capable function through coaching, knowledge sharing and professional development. Promote a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability and continuous improvement. Support talent development and career progression within the team. Communicate effectively with senior stakeholders and ensure alignment with organisational objectives. Demonstrate integrity, transparency and a strong commitment to organisational values.

• HSE, Security & Risk:

  The successful candidate will be expected to comply with all applicable HSE, security and risk management policies and procedures, including: Taking reasonable care of their own health, safety and security. Taking reasonable care of colleagues and others who may be affected by their actions or omissions. Cooperating with organisational HSE and security requirements. Identifying and reporting risks, hazards or security concerns that cannot be resolved directly. Reporting HSE, security and work‑related incidents and injuries. Not intentionally or recklessly interfering with workplace arrangements or equipment supporting HSE, security and employee welfare.

Required Competencies

Technical Competencies

• Advanced to Expert‑level proficiency in Azure Cloud Services Management: Virtual Machines, AKS, Azure SQL Database, Azure AD / Entra ID, Azure Monitor, ExpressRoute and Azure DevOps.
• Hybrid Cloud Architecture & Connectivity: Designing and managing enterprise hybrid environments across on‑premise infrastructure, Azure and AWS.
• Cloud Cost Optimisation & FinOps: Right‑sizing, reserved instances, savings plans, auto‑scaling, resource tagging, cost analysis and cloud financial governance.
• Cloud Security & Governance: AWS Control Tower, Azure Policy, IAM, NSGs, identity and access management, encryption and security controls.
• Infrastructure Operations, Monitoring & Capacity Planning: Enterprise servers, storage, virtualisation, monitoring, availability, performance management and capacity forecasting.
• Infrastructure‑as‑Code & Automation: Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM/Bicep and cloud‑native automation.
• Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity: Infrastructure resilience, disaster recovery planning and Azure Site Recovery.

Strategic & Business Competencies

• Cloud Strategy & Infrastructure Roadmap Development: Developing and executing cloud and infrastructure strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Vendor & Cloud Partner Management: Managing relationships with Azure/AWS account teams, cloud resellers, technology partners and infrastructure vendors.
• Financial Management & Cloud Cost Governance: Managing infrastructure budgets, cloud expenditure, financial controls and cost optimisation.
• Stakeholder Management & Technical Communication: Communicating complex technical matters clearly to senior management and business stakeholders.
• Continuous Improvement & Digital Transformation Enablement: Driving automation, modernisation, operational improvement and adoption of emerging technologies.

Candidate Profile

Essential Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent.
• Minimum 9 years of relevant working experience in cloud infrastructure, enterprise infrastructure, IT architecture or a related field.
• Advanced to Expert‑level technical competency across the core infrastructure and cloud disciplines outlined above.
• Strong enterprise experience with Microsoft Azure and AWS, particularly hybrid cloud environments.
• Proven experience in cloud migration, infrastructure operations, security, governance, monitoring, capacity planning and disaster recovery.
• Strong experience with Infrastructure‑as‑Code and automation, including Terraform, ARM/Bicep and/or CloudFormation.
• Experience managing cloud costs and implementing FinOps and cost optimisation practices.
• Experience working with senior stakeholders, vendors and cross‑functional technology teams.
• Demonstrated technical leadership and people‑management capability.

Desired Requirements

• Master's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent.
• 12 years of relevant working experience.
• Relevant professional certifications in Microsoft Azure and/or AWS.
• Experience working within a large‑scale, regulated, utility, energy or critical‑infrastructure environment.
• Experience applying AI/ML or cloud‑native AI services to infrastructure monitoring, anomaly detection and operational efficiency.

REF: FL V‑207809