Cloud Platform Architect

Socket.dev; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 118,000 - 143,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual Incentive Program

Medical/Pharmacy Plan

Dental

Vision

Life Insurance

Job summary

Xcel Energy is seeking a Cloud Platform Architect to lead enterprise cloud foundations across GCP, AWS, and Azure. You will design secure, observable, and reusable platforms with automation and governance to enable fast, safe delivery of workloads across cloud, on‑prem, and edge environments.

You will mentor teams, partner with security and operations, and drive best practices in IaC, CI/CD, and platform patterns to ensure reliability and scalability for energy infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Technology, Science, Business or related field, or 4 years of experience equivalent to the position.
• Seven years of related functional experience.
• Exposure to diverse systems, technologies and processing environments in a large Corporate setting.
• Project solution architecture experience.
• Knowledge of core aspects of architecture (Software, Hardware, Network, Integration, Data, hosting models, platform types, etc.)
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Extensive knowledge of future technology trends within area of expertise.
• Excellent communication skills, effective with varying organizational levels and skill sets.
• Excellent Relationship Management and collaboration skills, with a track record of working as one team cross-organizationally to drive innovation and business results.

Responsibilities

• Design enterprise cloud “landing zones” with built-in insecurity, governance, and automation.
• Define standards for networking, identity and access management, logging, monitoring, and platform services.
• Support container based and cloud‑native hosting models, with flexibility for legacy and packaged solutions.
• Embed security into cloud platforms from the start using Zero Trust principles.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and enterprise security requirements.
• Partner with security teams to implement approved controls and services.
• Promote Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD based provisioning.
• Reduce manual configuration and improve consistency through automation.
• Create reusable cloud templates, modules, and patterns.
• Design platforms for high availability, resiliency, and disaster recovery.
• Ensure monitoring, logging, and alerting are built into all platform components.
• Design platforms that can be effectively operated, supported, and maintained over time.
• Work closely with architects, engineers, and business partners across IT and operational teams.
• Participate in architecture reviews and governance forums.
• Mentor and guide teams on cloud best practices and platform usage.

Skills

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Collaboration

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree or 4 years experience

Tools

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Infrastructure as Code

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Are you looking for an exciting job where you can put your skills and talents to work at a company you can feel proud to be a part of? Do you want a workplace that will challenge you and offer you opportunities to learn and grow? A position at Xcel Energy could be just what you’re looking for.

Position Summary

Xcel Energy is transforming its technology landscape to support reliable, secure, and sustainable energy delivery. TheCloud Platform Architectplays a critical role in this transformation by designing and governing the enterprise cloud foundation that supports applications, analytics, andgrid‑adjacentsystems.

This role focuses on thecloud platform itself—not individual applications—ensuring that cloud services are secure, reliable, reusable, observable, and supportable across hybrid andmulti‑cloudenvironments. The positionwill provide design and thought leadership in GCP, AWS, and Azure.

As a Cloud Platform Architect, you will:

• Design, build, and govern enterprise cloud foundations onGCP, AWS, and Azure – serving as a thought leader inprojects, networking, identity, security, and shared services.

• Establish cloud standards, patterns, and guardrails that enable teams to deliver solutions quickly and safely.

• Ensure cloud platforms align with Xcel Energy’s Architecture Tenets, including security, observability, reusability, and supportability.

• Enable workloads to run consistently across cloud,on‑premises, and edge environments.

• Partner with security, infrastructure, operations, and delivery teams to ensure platforms are compliant, resilient, and operationally ready.

• Providetechnical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance across the organization.

Essential Responsibilities

Cloud Platform & Architecture

• Design enterprise cloud “landing zones” withbuilt-insecurity, governance, and automation.

• Define standards for networking, identity and access management, logging, monitoring, and platform services.

• Supportcontainer basedand cloud‑native hosting models, with flexibility for legacy and packaged solutions.
  

Security & Compliance

• Embed security into cloud platforms from the start using Zero Trust principles.

• Ensure compliance with regulatory and enterprise security requirements.

• Partner with security teams to implement approved controls and services.
  

Automation & Standardization

• Promote Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD basedprovisioning.

• Reduce manual configuration and improve consistency through automation.

• Create reusable cloud templates, modules, and patterns.
  

Reliability, Observability & Supportability

• Design platforms for high availability, resiliency, and disaster recovery.

• Ensure monitoring, logging, and alerting are built into all platform components.

• Design platforms that can be effectivelyoperated, supported, andmaintainedover time.
  

Collaboration & Leadership

• Work closely with architects, engineers, and business partners across IT and operational teams.

• Participate in architecture reviews and governance forums.

• Mentor and guide teams on cloud best practices and platform usage.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Technology, Science, Business or related field, or 4 years of experience equivalent to the position.
• Seven years of related functional experience.
• Exposure to diverse systems, technologies and processing environments in a large Corporate setting.
• Project solution architecture experience.
• Knowledge of core aspects of architecture (Software, Hardware, Network, Integration, Data, hosting models, platform types, etc.)
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Extensive knowledge of future technology trends within area of expertise.
• Excellent communication skills, effective with varying organizational levels and skill sets.
• Excellent Relationship Management and collaboration skills, with a track record of working as one team cross-organizationally to drive innovation and business results.

Preferred Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in infrastructure, platform, or enterprise architecture roles.
• 5+ years ofhands-onexperience with public cloud platforms.
• Strong experience withGoogle Cloud Platform, including:Identity and access management, networking and connectivity, security and logging/monitoring services.
• Experience designing and operating cloud platforms in large, complex environments.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code andautomation tools.
• Experience in regulated or mission‑critical industries (utilities, energy, financial services, healthcare).
• Experience with hybrid and multi‑cloud environments (Azure and/or AWS).
• Familiarity with security and compliance frameworks (e.g., NERC CIP, NIST).
• Cloud certifications such as: Google Professional Cloud Architect, Azure or AWS architect certifications, CISSP, CISM, or similar.

As a leading combination electricity and natural gas energy company, Xcel Energy offers a comprehensive portfolio of energy-related products and services to 3.4 million electricity and 1.9 million natural gas customers across eight Western and Midwestern states. At Xcel Energy, we strive to be the preferred and trusted provider of the energy our customers need. If you’re ready to be a part of something big, we invite you to join our team.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

Individuals with a disability who need an accommodation to apply please contact us at [e-mail].

Non-BargainingThe anticipated starting base pay for this position is: $118,000.00 to $142,500.00 per yearThis position is eligible for the following benefits:

• Annual Incentive Program
• Medical/Pharmacy Plan
• Dental
• Vision
• Life Insurance
• Dependent Care Reimbursement Account
• Health Care Reimbursement Account
• Health Savings Account (HSA) (if enrolled in eligible health plan)
• Limited-Purpose FSA (if enrolled in eligible health plan and HSA)
• Transportation Reimbursement Account
• Short-term disability (STD)
• Long-term disability (LTD)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Fitness Center Reimbursement (if enrolled in eligible health plan)
• Tuition reimbursement
• Transit programs
• Employee recognition program
• Pension
• 401(k) plan
• Paid time off (PTO)
• Holidays
• Volunteer Paid Time Off (VPTO)
• Parental Leave

Benefit plans are subject to change and Xcel Energy has the right to end, suspend, or amend any of its plans, at any time, in whole or in part.

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information including but not limited to dates of school attendance and graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Deadline to Apply: 09/18/26

EEO is the Law | EEO is the Law Supplement | Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination | Equal Opportunity Policy (PDF) | Employee Rights (PDF)

All Xcel Energy employees and contractors share responsibility for protecting the company's information and systems by adhering to cybersecurity policies, standards, and best practices, recognizing that cybersecurity is everyone's responsibility.

ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT

Xcel Energy endeavors to make https://www.xcelenergy.com/ accessible to any and all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact Xcel Energy Talent Acquisition at [e-mail]. This contact information is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.