Principal Cloud Architect – AWS & Azure

GTN Technical Staffing; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 190,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

GTN Technical Staffing is seeking a Principal Cloud Architect to set the technical direction for AWS and Azure platforms. This role is hands-on with architecture decisions, Terraform standards, and complex escalations, spanning cloud networking, managed Kubernetes, data platforms, and AI infrastructure.

You will work with the Director of Cloud Platform and mentor engineers through design reviews, with a focus on guardrails, security, governance, and scalable cloud patterns.

Qualifications

• Progression to principal-level architecture from hands-on infra.
• Experience across AWS and Azure, with governance across multiple accounts.
• Experience designing AKS and EKS at scale.
• Strong cloud networking skills and hybrid connectivity.
• Hands-on Terraform with policy-as-code and compliance controls.
• Certifications: Azure Solutions Architect Expert or AWS SA.

Responsibilities

• Define reference architectures and enforce guardrails across AWS accounts and Azure subscriptions using policy-as-code controls.
• Design landing zones, hub-and-spoke networks, and routing across regions and clouds.
• Design AKS and EKS platforms at scale, including cluster lifecycle management and scheduling.
• Design cloud data platforms with ingestion, transformation, and consumption layers with governance.
• Design AI inference gateways for model routing, security, cost attribution, and monitoring.
• Own Terraform standards and CI/CD patterns; document architecture decisions and runbooks.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews and workshops; explain trade-offs to leadership.
• Contribute to technical interviews and help resolve complex platform issues.

Skills

Terraform

Azure

AWS

Kubernetes

Cloud Networking

Policy as Code

Security Architecture

Leadership Communication

Education

Degree in Engineering or Computer Science

Tools

Terraform

Azure Policy

AWS Control Tower

ExpressRoute / Direct Connect

AKS / EKS

Job description

We’re looking for a Principal Cloud Architect to set the technical direction for our AWS and Azure platforms. You’ll define how cloud environments are designed, secured, and governed, then work with engineering teams to put those decisions into practice.

This is a principal-level individual contributor role with hands‑on responsibility for architecture decisions, Terraform standards, and complex technical escalations. Your scope spans cloud networking, managed Kubernetes, data platforms, and AI infrastructure. You’ll work alongside the Director of Cloud Platform, who leads the team and owns its budget and delivery commitments.

What you’ll do

• Define reference architectures and enforce guardrails across AWS accounts and Azure subscriptions using AWS SCPs and RCPs, Azure Policy, and other policy-as-code controls. Turn Cloud Adoption and Well-Architected frameworks into practical standards, including tagging and cost attribution for FinOps reporting.
• Design AWS and Azure landing zones, hub-and-spoke networks, and routing across regions and clouds. Establish patterns for peering, private DNS, private endpoints, and corporate connectivity through ExpressRoute and Direct Connect.
• Design AKS and EKS platforms at scale, including cluster lifecycle management, multitenancy, workload scheduling, batch and workflow orchestration, service networking, and workload identity.
• Design cloud data platforms with separate layers for ingestion, transformation, and consumption. Enable distributed querying across curated data sources and set standards for access, governance, and observability.
• Design AI inference gateways for model routing, security, cost attribution, and monitoring. Architect self-hosted inference for open-weight models on cloud GPUs so teams can work with sensitive data in controlled environments.
• Design agentic AI workflows that serve as quality gates for Terraform pull requests, deployment reviews, and platform operations.
• Own Terraform standards, bring existing cloud resources under version control, and define secure CI/CD patterns. Document architecture decisions and write runbooks that engineers can use to operate and extend the platforms.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews, pairing, and workshops. Contribute to technical interviews, help resolve complex platform issues, and explain architecture trade-offs and risks to senior leadership.

Required qualifications

• Career progression from hands-on infrastructure or cloud engineering into principal-level architecture.
• Production experience across AWS and Azure, including landing zones, managed services, security architecture, and governance across multiple accounts and subscriptions.
• Experience designing and operating AKS and EKS at scale, including cluster lifecycle management and workload scheduling.
• Strong cloud networking skills covering hub-and-spoke design, peering, private DNS, private endpoints, and hybrid connectivity.
• Hands-on Terraform experience in complex cloud environments and a track record of implementing policy-as-code and compliance controls.
• Ability to guide engineering teams without direct reporting authority and communicate technical decisions clearly to engineers and senior stakeholders.
• At least one of the following certifications is expected — Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert or AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate or Professional.

Preferred qualifications

• Production experience with cloud data platforms, layered data architecture, or AWS data services.
• Experience with AI inference gateways, model serving, cloud GPU infrastructure, ML platforms, or agentic workflows for infrastructure engineering.
• Cloud HPC experience, including scientific or engineering workloads, job schedulers, or high-speed interconnects such as InfiniBand.
• Experience in regulated or high-availability environments.
• Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• CCNA or equivalent networking knowledge.