Lead Cloud Architect

Cooley AI; New York (NY); On-site; USD 225,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Health Savings Account

Dental

Vision

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Cooley AI seeks a Lead Cloud Architect to own the technical architecture of a SOC2-compliant SaaS platform on AWS with hybrid Azure/Databricks connectivity. This foundational leadership role shapes infrastructure, security, and delivery decisions across teams.

You will design reusable deployment patterns, mentor engineers, and partner with security and HR to guide staffing and development. Bachelor's degree preferred; 7+ years of cloud infra experience is expected.

Qualifications

• 7+ years direct applicable experience (cloud infra/architecture).
• Extensive hands-on with AWS (IAM, networking, Organizations) and Terraform at scale.
• Experience with multi-cloud or hybrid architectures involving Azure connectivity.
• Ability to set technical direction while remaining hands-on during buildout.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain Terraform modules, CI/CD templates, and cloud infra enforcing SOC 2-compliant patterns by default.
• Own the paved road used by product engineers for deployment.
• Partner with the DevSecOps Engineer to validate security requirements in every template.
• Maintain governance reporting to Head of Information Security and compliance matters.
• Supervise and mentor direct reports; manage staffing, time logs and time off requests.
• Support professional development and HR lifecycle events.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Leadership

Security mindset

Infrastructure as code

Hands-on leadership

Technical direction

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

AWS

Terraform

Azure

Databricks

Job description

Cooley AI is seeking a Lead Cloud Architect to join the Innovation team.

About Cooley AI:

Cooley AI is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Cooley LLP. The frontier development arm of the leading technology law firm in the world. Our mission is to bring the best-in-class practices from the technology field into the legal domain to help lead our firm and the legal industry into the AI era. All employees of Cooley AI are employees of Cooley and are seconded to Cooley AI.

Position Summary:

As a leading technology law firm, Cooley is determined to become a leader in the digital practice of law. The Lead Cloud Architect is responsible for owning the technical architecture and engineering standards for a greenfield SOC2-compliant SaaS platform built on AWS with hybrid connectivity to Azure and Databricks. This is a foundational leadership position that will have input into every infrastructure, security, and delivery decision. Specific duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Position Responsibilities:

• Responsible for designing and maintaining Terraform modules, CI/CD golden path templates, and cloud infrastructure that enforce SOC 2-compliant patterns by default
• Owns the "paved road" used by product engineers for deployment
• Partners with the DevSecOps Engineer to validate security requirements in every template
• Maintains dotted-line governance reporting to Head of Information Security and compliance matters
• Serve as direct supervisor and mentor to direct reports
• Provides day-to-day supervision of direct reports, ensure compliance with assigned work hours and monitor for compliance with all firm and department policies. Manage staffing coverage, review and process time logs/time off requests
• Support business professional development and continued educational opportunities
• In collaboration with immediate supervisor and central HR, participate in hiring, performance appraisals, counseling, termination and other employee lifecycle events
• All other duties as assigned or required

Required:

Skills & Responsibilities:

• After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage and other firm applications; demonstrated ability to learn and adopt new systems quickly
• Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required
• Ability to travel, as required
• 7+ years direct applicable experience (e.g., cloud infrastructure or architecture roles)
• Extensive hands-on background with AWS (IAM, networking, Organizations) and Terraform at scale
• Experience with multi-cloud or hybrid architectures involving Azure connectivity
• Ability to set technical direction while remaining hands-on during the buildout phase
• Strong knowledge of infrastructure-as-code, zero-trust networking, and least-privilege access models

Preferred:

• Bachelor’s degree

Competencies:

• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and project management skills
• Ability to balance best practices with business objectives
• Entrepreneurial by nature
• Excellent attention to detail
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills with ability to facilitate and solve problems
• Ability to organize, prioritize and coordinate multiple activities often under tight timelines
• Ability to drive projects to completion and achieve goals
• Strong judgment
• Team-player with collaborative spirit
• Unwavering ability to handle and maintain confidentiality regarding firm information, projects, client data
• High level of professionalism at all times
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence and develop talent
• Proactive, analytical mindset

Cooley LLP offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits program.

EOE.

The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $225,000 - $300,000. Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate. Senior level candidates may be considered for this position and would be eligible for a higher salary range based on experience.

• We offer a full range of elective benefits including medical
• health savings account (with applicable medical plan)
• dental
• vision
• health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts
• pre-tax commuter benefits
• life insurance
• AD&D
• long-term care coverage
• backup care for children and/or adults
• other parental support benefits
• firm-paid life insurance
• AD&D
• LTD
• short term medical benefits
• 21 days of Paid Time Off (“PTO”)
• 10 paid holidays each year
• generous parental leave
• fertility benefits
• New employees will attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about our many benefits and resources