Private Cloud Architect

Harnham; Town of Texas (WI); On-site; USD 200,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Harnham seeks a senior architect to define and evolve an enterprise private cloud platform, leading the transition from traditional data center infrastructure to a software-defined, Kubernetes-based environment with self-service through APIs and automation.

You will shape hybrid cloud integration with AWS, Azure, and GCP to deliver secure, high-performance infrastructure at enterprise scale, while staying hands-on and guiding long-term platform strategy.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of infrastructure, cloud, platform engineering, or architecture experience.
• Strong Kubernetes experience, ideally including OpenShift or Rancher.
• Experience designing hybrid architectures spanning on-premises and AWS/Azure/GCP.
• Strong Infrastructure as Code and automation experience, including Terraform.
• Understanding of compute, storage, networking, and platform infrastructure.
• Experience with CI/CD, GitOps, and infrastructure automation.
• Ability to define architecture while remaining technically hands-on.
• Experience modernizing established enterprise infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Define the architecture and long-term strategy for enterprise private cloud infrastructure.
• Design cloud-native platforms across compute, storage, networking, and shared services.
• Build and evolve Kubernetes-based environments using OpenShift, Rancher, or similar tools.
• Develop self-service infrastructure capabilities through APIs, automation, and interfaces.
• Design hybrid architectures linking private infrastructure with public clouds.
• Establish Infrastructure as Code and automation standards using Terraform or similar.
• Architect highly available and scalable distributed infrastructure.
• Modernize legacy infrastructure toward cloud-native architectures.
• Support HPC/GPU workloads and complex networking challenges.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on end-to-end platform architecture.
• Establish governance, security, observability, and operational standards.
• Provide architectural leadership while staying close to implementation.

Skills

Kubernetes

Infrastructure as Code

Hybrid cloud

Architecture leadership

Automation

Self-service platforms

Tools

Terraform

OpenShift

Rancher

GitOps

Job description

Compensation: $200,000–$210,000 base + bonus + equity

About the Company

This established enterprise organization is making a significant investment in modernizing its infrastructure and building a next-generation private cloud platform.

The goal is to bring public-cloud-style capabilities into the data center—giving engineering teams secure, automated, self-service access to compute, storage, networking, and platform services while creating a consistent experience across private and public cloud environments.

The engineering culture values technical ownership, automation, strong architectural judgment, and leaders who remain close to the technology while defining long-term platform direction.

About the Role

This is a senior, hands-on architecture role responsible for defining and evolving an enterprise private cloud platform.

You'll lead the transition from traditional data center infrastructure toward a modern, software-defined platform built around Kubernetes, Infrastructure as Code, automation, APIs, and self-service capabilities.

A major part of the mandate is creating an internal cloud experience that gives developers the speed and usability they expect from public cloud while maintaining the control, performance, security, and reliability required within an enterprise data center.

You'll also shape how private infrastructure integrates with AWS, Azure, and GCP to create a cohesive hybrid cloud architecture.

Key Responsibilities

• Define the architecture and long-term strategy for enterprise private cloud infrastructure
• Design cloud-native platforms across compute, storage, networking, and shared platform services
• Build and evolve Kubernetes-based environments using OpenShift, Rancher, or comparable technologies
• Develop self-service infrastructure capabilities through APIs, automation, and developer-friendly interfaces
• Design hybrid architectures connecting private infrastructure with public cloud environments
• Establish Infrastructure as Code and automation standards using Terraform or similar technologies
• Architect highly available and resilient distributed infrastructure at enterprise scale
• Modernize legacy infrastructure and transition workloads toward cloud-native architectures
• Design infrastructure capable of supporting high-performance computing and GPU-intensive workloads
• Partner with networking, security, SRE, and application engineering teams on end-to-end platform architecture
• Establish platform governance, security, observability, and operational standards
• Provide architectural leadership while remaining technically close to implementation

Must Haves

• 8+ years of infrastructure, cloud, platform engineering, or architecture experience
• Strong Kubernetes experience, ideally including OpenShift or Rancher
• Experience designing hybrid architectures spanning on-premises infrastructure and AWS, Azure, or GCP
• Strong Infrastructure as Code and automation experience, including Terraform
• Strong understanding of compute, storage, networking, and platform infrastructure
• Experience with CI/CD, GitOps, and infrastructure automation
• Ability to define architecture while remaining technically hands-on
• Experience modernizing established enterprise infrastructure rather than exclusively working in public cloud

Nice to Have

• Internal developer platforms, private cloud portals, or self-service infrastructure
• Advanced data center networking, including L2/L3 architecture and segmentation
• EVPN/VXLAN or software-defined networking
• Kafka, Spark, Flink, or similar distributed data technologies
• GPU or HPC infrastructure
• Grafana, Prometheus, and modern observability platforms
• IAM, identity integration, or Zero Trust architecture
• Experience operating across multiple public cloud providers

Why Join

• Architect a private cloud platform rather than simply maintain traditional infrastructure
• Build an internal cloud experience that brings automation and self-service capabilities into the enterprise data center
• Own major architectural decisions across Kubernetes, compute, storage, networking, automation, and hybrid cloud
• Lead the modernization of legacy infrastructure into scalable cloud-native platforms
• Remain technically hands-on while having significant influence over long-term platform strategy
• Work on complex infrastructure challenges including hybrid cloud, distributed systems, GPU/HPC workloads, and advanced networking