Solution Architect - Java with Microservices, Any Cloud, Kubernetes & Kafka

EPAM Systems; India; Hybrid; INR 2,500,000 - 4,000,000; Full time

Job summary

EPAM Systems is seeking a seasoned architect to lead the development of cloud-native systems. The role involves driving performance optimization, defining architectural standards, and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

Candidates should have 15–20 years of software engineering experience, with a focus on architecture and significant hands-on coding. The ideal individual will demonstrate deep expertise in Kubernetes along with proven experience in cloud environments.

Qualifications

• 15–20 years of experience in software engineering with 10+ years in architecture and a strong preference for hands‑on coding.
• Proven experience with at least one major cloud provider in production environments.
• Deep expertise in Kubernetes and container orchestration.

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead the development of cloud-native systems using microservices and event-driven paradigms.
• Define and enforce architectural standards across engineering teams.
• Guide teams through cloud adoption and modernization initiatives.

Skills

Software engineering

Architecture

Cloud computing

Kubernetes

AI use cases

Tools

Kubernetes

Terraform

Azure

GitHub Actions

Job description

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead the development of cloud-native systems using microservices and event-driven paradigms.
• Design and implement solutions leveraging Kubernetes (preferably AKS) and service mesh technologies like Istio.
• Define and enforce architectural standards, patterns and best practices across engineering teams.
• Drive performance optimization initiatives by leading fine-tuning efforts through end-to-end performance testing, ensuring system scalability, responsiveness and reliability across complex, distributed architectures.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment between business goals and technical solutions.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Create and maintain architectural diagrams and documentation using industry-standard tools (e.g., Miro, Gliffy, Draw.io).
• Guide teams through cloud adoption, modernization and optimization initiatives.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and evaluate their applicability to business needs.
• Provide deeper subject matter expertise on SDLC topics during the initial discovery phase, identify potential AI use cases, design them and assist team members to build, deploy and embed AI use cases to generate productivity gains.
• Identify and design potential AI use cases (agents/skills) using Copilot correctly into the Cordant ecosystem while showing productivity gains.
• Support the design, configuration and adoption of AI-enabled workflows across all identified bottlenecks/stages of PDLC/SDLC for the participating Cordant teams.

Requirements

• 15–20 years of experience in software engineering with 10+ years in architecture and a strong preference for hands‑on coding.
• Proven experience with at least one major cloud provider (Azure, AWS or GCP) in production environments.
• Deep expertise in Kubernetes and container orchestration.
• Hands‑on experience with NFR, architecture governance and documentation, plus system design and architectural design trade-offs.
• Knowledge of CosmosDB, PostgreSQL and Redis, as well as Oracle.
• Proficiency in messaging and eventing technologies including Kafka and EventHub.
• Strong understanding of cloud networking, IAM and security, plus infrastructure as code (Terraform, ARM, Bicep).
• Experience with DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines.
• Demonstrated ability to lead architectural discussions and influence technical direction.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Proficiency in diagramming tools to convey architectural concepts effectively.
• Nice to have: Experience with hybrid or multi-cloud environments; familiarity with FinOps, observability and cloud governance.
• Background in supporting production workloads with high availability and disaster recovery considerations.
• Skills in Hybris e-commerce.
• Showcase of Istio or other service mesh experience.
• Competency in GitHub Actions.