Principal Cloud Engineer / Architect

Initialize; Slough; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Initialize is seeking a Principal Cloud Engineer/Architect in Slough to shape our cloud foundation. You will define the strategy, standards and patterns for scalable, secure and automated cloud platforms, working with engineers and security stakeholders to deliver on architecture decisions.

You will drive provisioning, identity, networking, observability and resilience, with a strong emphasis on IaC, CI/CD and platform reusability across complex estates.

Qualifications

• Solid experience designing and implementing cloud architectures.
• Proven expertise in designing and implementing solutions on AWS and Azure cloud platforms.
• Strong understanding of modern cloud architecture and distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Define and roll out cloud strategy and target architecture.
• Create foundations to support scalable, secure workloads.
• Build foundations: cloud account, landing zones, IAM, networking, security governance and IaC.
• Establish CI/CD and deployment patterns for cloud platforms.
• Collaborate with engineers and Solution Designers to turn architecture into working solutions.
• Move between high-level architecture discussions and detailed networking, IAM, Kubernetes, APIs and cloud services.

Skills

Cloud architecture

AWS

Azure

Kubernetes

Infrastructure as Code

Security & IAM

Networking

Automation & CI/CD

Stakeholder influence

Architecture decisions

Tools

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

Azure DevOps

Git

Job description

Principal Cloud Engineer / Architect - Slough (2 days and remote)- 6 months - urgent

Must-Have

• Solid experience designing and implementing cloud architectures.
• Proven expertise in designing and implementing solutions on AWS and Azure cloud platforms.
• Strong understanding of modern cloud architecture and distributed systems.
• Strong networking and Infrastructure as Code experience.
• Experience designing secure, highly available and resilient systems.
• Strong understanding of cloud security and identity.
• Experience with containers and Kubernetes or comparable technologies.
• Experience with APIs, integration, messaging and event-driven architectures.
• Experience influencing cloud or technology strategy at senior level.
• Strong architectural judgement and ability to explain technical trade-offs.
• Experience working closely with engineers and Solution Designers to turn architecture into working
• solutions.
• Ability to work independently and create clarity from ambiguity.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to navigate complex stakeholder
• environments and engage effectively with senior architects, engineering leaders and security stakeholders.

Preferred

• Experience building a cloud platform or foundation from the ground up.
• Experience with CI/CD and cloud automation.
• Experience establishing reusable engineering and architectural patterns.
• Experience working across complex technology estates or highly integrated platforms.
• Telecom/MVNO Experience
• Telecom or MVNO experience is nice to have, not essential.
• Experience with highly integrated, high-volume or customer-facing platforms would also be a plus

Role

Cloud Strategy & Architecture Help define our overall cloud strategy and target architecture. Work with our Architecture community to establish and roll out practical architectural principles and standards. Define the foundations required to support scalable, secure and resilient workloads. Create a pragmatic roadmap from initial cloud foundation through to production. Make architectural decisions based on business and technical requirements. Work with technology leadership, architects, Solution Designers and engineering teams to align on the approach. Build the Cloud Foundation Cloud account/subscription and landing-zone architecture. Identity and access management. Network architecture and connectivity. Security and governance foundations. Infrastructure as Code and automation. CI/CD and deployment patterns. Observability, logging and monitoring. Secrets and key management. Resilience, backup and disaster recovery. The aim is to create a secure, scalable and well-automated cloud foundation that engineering teams can build on. From Architecture to Reality Work directly with engineers to build the initial platform. Create reference architectures and reusable patterns. Develop prototypes and proof-of-concepts where useful. Review and challenge technical designs. Help establish engineering standards and patterns. Get involved in complex technical problems when required. You should be comfortable moving between high-level architecture discussions and detailed conversations around networking, IAM, Kubernetes, APIs, distributed systems, Infrastructure as Code and cloud services.