Principal Architect, Compute & Storage Infrastructure

Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group (CC&L); Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 140,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group (CC&L) seeks a Principal Architect, Compute & Storage Infrastructure to own the Compute & Storage domain within Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering. This role balances hands-on depth with platform ownership, defining architecture, standards, and guardrails for scalable, secure and cost-efficient platforms in a hybrid environment.

You will drive workload placement, disaster recovery, AI/ML and GPU platforms, while collaborating with security, operations and

Qualifications

• 8+ years designing, implementing, and operating enterprise compute/storage platforms.
• Hands-on with virtualization, storage, backup/recovery and hybrid infrastructure.
• Strong Kubernetes and container platform experience.
• Experience with AI/ML, GPU platforms is highly desirable.
• Ability to define architecture standards and guide technical direction.
• Excellent stakeholder communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience integrating on-premises and cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Own the Compute & Storage platform domain, including compute, virtualization, storage, backup/recovery and GPUs.
• Define and evolve platform architecture, standards, guardrails, and service offerings for scalability, resilience, security and cost efficiency.
• Establish workload placement, hosting, performance, capacity and lifecycle management across on-prem and hybrid environments.
• Lead design and evolution of platforms supporting large-scale data, analytics, AI/ML, and research workloads.
• Manage GPU capacity planning, scheduling, and brokerage to support compute-intensive demand.
• Collaborate with Security, Operations, Architecture and other Platform Owners to ensure integrated solutions.

Skills

Compute platforms

Storage

Virtualization

Kubernetes

AI/ML & GPU workloads

Platform architecture

Stakeholder management

Job description

Interested in joining one of Canada’s top performing asset managers? We are seeking a Principal Architect, Compute & Storage Infrastructure to own the Compute & Storage domain within the Infrastructure & Cloud Engineering organization. This includes compute infrastructure, virtualization platforms, enterprise storage, backup and recovery services, container platforms, and specialized compute environments that support modern application, data, and engineering workloads. This is not a pure management role. The focus is platform ownership: defining architecture, standards, and guardrails, and ensuring platforms are scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-efficient. At the same time, strong delivery experience and hands-on technical depth are essential. You are expected to bring practical expertise, make sound technical decisions, and guide complex platform work with credibility. Our offices currently operate on a hybrid model with a combination of in-office and remote working days throughout the week.

What You Will Do

• Own the Compute & Storage platform domain, including compute, virtualization, storage, backup/recovery, Kubernetes, and specialized AI/ML and GPU platforms.
• Define and evolve platform architecture, standards, guardrails, and service offerings to ensure scalability, resilience, security, and cost efficiency.
• Establish workload placement, hosting, performance, capacity, and lifecycle management strategies across on-premises and hybrid environments.
• Develop storage, data lifecycle, backup, and disaster recovery strategies that balance performance, recoverability, compliance, and cost.
• Lead the design and evolution of platforms supporting large-scale unstructured data, advanced analytics, AI/ML, and research workloads.
• Own GPU capacity planning, scheduling, and brokerage capabilities to support growing compute-intensive demand.
• Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies, including open-weight LLMs, modern compute architectures, and future infrastructure models.
• Partner with business, engineering, and technology teams to translate workload needs into platform capabilities, roadmaps, and investment priorities.
• Collaborate with Security, Operations, Architecture, and other Platform Owners to ensure aligned, integrated platform solutions.
• Guide SMEs and vendors by setting technical direction, reviewing designs, and driving key platform decisions and outcomes.
• Manage platform health through capacity forecasting, performance optimization, availability, recovery readiness, and cost management.

What You Bring

• 8+ years of experience designing, implementing, and operating enterprise compute, storage, and infrastructure platforms.
• Deep expertise in virtualization, compute, storage, backup/recovery, and hybrid infrastructure technologies.
• Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes, container platforms, and modern workload hosting environments.
• Experience supporting high-performance, large-scale, or data-intensive environments, including AI/ML, GPU, grid, or research computing platforms.
• Demonstrated success designing storage and compute architectures for large volumes of structured and unstructured data.
• Strong understanding of datacenter technologies, including servers, storage, networking, rack infrastructure, power, and cooling considerations.
• Experience integrating on-premises and cloud platforms and driving long-term infrastructure modernization strategies.
• Proven ability to define architecture standards, influence technical direction, and lead through expertise rather than direct authority.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business outcomes.
• Experience working with technology vendors on solution design, lifecycle management, and strategic roadmap planning.
• Builder mindset with the ability to balance standardization, innovation, and flexibility in rapidly evolving environments.
• Curiosity and interest in emerging infrastructure technologies, including GPU orchestration, open-weight AI models, and custom compute approaches.

The expected salary for this position is $140,000 - 150,000 CAD. The salary range provided reflects the base salary range for this position as required by legislation. In addition, there is an annual performance bonus which contributes to the total compensation for this position. Further questions may be directed to the HR team during the interview process.

For a closer look at how you can build your career with us, we invite you to explore cclgroup.com.

CC&L Financial Group is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or expression, disability, or age.

Your application will be reviewed by a member of the hiring team - AI is not used in the screening, assessment or selection of applications at this time.