Senior AWS Cloud Architect

Cognizant; Charlotte (NC); Remote; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off

401(k) plan and contribution

Long-term/Short-term Disability

Paid Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Senior AWS Cloud Architect to drive end-to-end VMware-based datacenter migrations to AWS using AI-driven migration solutions. You will define cloud architecture, governance standards, and migration execution while leading architects, engineers, and stakeholders through the transformation program.

The role emphasizes AWS landing zones, security, and scalable designs, with modernization toward ECS/EKS and IaC practices.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in cloud architecture and migrations.
• Proven experience leading VMware-to-AWS migrations.
• Strong IaC and automation background.
• Experience with AI-driven migration and cloud modernization.

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery and assessment for AWS migration readiness.
• Define target AWS landing zone architecture and migration roadmaps.
• Lead AI-driven migration enablement and automation tooling.
• Provide technical leadership for VMware workload migrations using AWS MGN.
• Drive modernization including containerization to ECS/EKS and related services.
• Establish and enforce IaC standards with Terraform and ensure governance.

Skills

Cloud Architecture

AWS Enterprise Architecture

Migration Strategy

Leadership

AI-driven Migration

Tools

Matilda

AWS Discovery

Device42

AWS MGN

AWS Transform

Terraform

Amazon ECS

Amazon EKS

Route 53

Transit Gateway

PrivateLink

API Gateway

Lambda

Claude LLM

Claude API

Claude Code

AWS Bedrock

Draw.io

MS Visio

Job description

Senior AWS Cloud Architect

Location: Remote

Experience: 15+ years

Please note, this role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future*

Role Summary

Lead the end-to-end migration of VMware-based datacenter workloads to AWS using Agentic AI-driven migration solutions. Define cloud architecture, migration strategy, governance standards, and technical execution while providing leadership to architects, engineers, and stakeholders throughout the transformation program.

Key Responsibilities

1. Discovery & Assessment

• Lead infrastructure and application discovery using tools such as Matilda, AWS Discovery, Device42, or similar platforms.
• Assess servers, applications, databases, storage, and network dependencies for AWS migration readiness.
• Analyze infrastructure inventory, utilization, business criticality, risks, and remediation requirements.
• Perform migration strategy assessment using the AWS 6R framework (Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, Re-Architect, Retire, Retain).

2. AWS Architecture & Migration Strategy

• Define target AWS landing zone architecture aligned with enterprise security, networking, and governance standards.
• Develop migration roadmaps, migration waves, sizing recommendations, and cost models.
• Design AWS infrastructure solutions leveraging services such as EC2, ECS/EKS, FSx, EFS, Route 53, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, API Gateway, and Lambda.
• Ensure architecture decisions support scalability, resiliency, security, and operational excellence.

3. Agentic AI-Driven Migration Enablement

• Lead migration execution using Agentic AI platforms powered by Claude and AWS AI services.
• Design and implement AI agents, skills, workflows, and automation tools to accelerate migration activities.
• Utilize AI-driven dependency analysis and business prioritization to optimize migration wave planning.
• Drive automated migration validation, testing, cutover, and post-migration verification activities.

4. Migration Execution & Modernization

• Provide technical leadership for VMware workload migration using AWS MGN and related migration services.
• Lead modernization initiatives including containerization and migration to ECS or EKS where appropriate.
• Oversee Windows and Linux upgrades, security hardening, patching, and compliance remediation for migrated workloads.
• Resolve complex migration challenges and ensure successful workload transition to AWS.

5. Cloud Engineering Standards

• Define and enforce Infrastructure as Code (IaC) standards using Terraform.
• Establish cloud architecture patterns, reusable modules, migration standards, and deployment best practices.
• Integrate CI/CD, automation, and configuration management tools to support cloud operations.

6. Governance & Leadership

• Act as trusted advisor to client executives, technical leadership, and Architecture Review Boards.
• Lead architecture governance, technical reviews, risk management, and migration decision-making.
• Collaborate with application, infrastructure, network, security, and business stakeholders.
• Mentor architects and engineering teams across cloud, network, security, and platform domains.

Core Skills

Cloud Architecture

AWS Enterprise Architecture, Landing Zones, AWS Organizations

Migration Tools

Matilda, AWS Discovery, Device42

Migration Services

AWS MGN, AWS Transform

Infrastructure as Code

Terraform

Containers

Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS

Networking

Route 53, Transit Gateway, PrivateLink

Storage

Amazon EFS, Amazon FSx

Serverless

Lambda, API Gateway

AI & Agentic Automation

Claude LLM, Claude API, Claude Code, Prompt Engineering, AWS Bedrock

Architecture Tools

Draw.io, MS Visio

Good to Have

CI/CD & Automation

Jenkins, Ansible

ITSM / CMDB

ServiceNow

Monitoring & Observability

Splunk, Dynatrace

OS Administration

Linux, Windows

Applications will be accepted until 10/5/2026

The annual salary for this position is between $110,000- $160,000 depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant's discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and is subject to the terms of Cognizant's applicable plans.

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contribution
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.

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