Staff Cloud Platform Architect — Automation & Security

International Business Machines Corporation; Lowell (MA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) seeks a Staff Systems Engineer to lead cloud, network, and automation architecture across AWS, Azure, and GCP. You will define IaC pipelines, security postures, and trusted workflows while mentoring engineers and guiding IBM's multi-cloud integration.

This role emphasizes durable, cross-functional impact and strong governance. You will shape automation platforms, work with identity and security pillars, and drive reductions in toil by building

Qualifications

• Staff-level technical leadership with a track record of durable, cross-team outcomes.
• Hands-on cloud architecture across AWS, Azure, and GCP with strong governance.
• Experience designing IaC patterns and GitOps pipelines at scale.
• Solid knowledge of VPN, ZTNA, SASE, and zero-trust networking.
• Ability to design maintainable automation in Python/Go/shell and orchestrate CI platforms.
• Working knowledge of Vault or similar secrets platforms and workload identity.
• Production experience with Kubernetes, managed databases, DNS, and TLS.
• Strong incident management, monitoring, and SOC 2/ISO 27001 familiarity.
• Experience guiding large cross-team initiatives and integration post-acquisition.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; mentorship across time zones.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction for cloud, network, and automation architecture.
• Define reference patterns and pipelines for IaC and GitOps across teams.
• Architect secure remote access, zero-trust networking, and FedRAMP-compliant environments.
• Own automation platforms and set standards for secure, tested software delivery.
• Define patterns for secrets management and workload identity federation.
• Oversee operational patterns for DNS, load balancers, Kubernetes, and observability.
• Set admin standards for GitHub Enterprise and VDI environments, balancing security and developer experience.
• Drive cloud security posture, SSPM findings, and compliance evidence collection.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives; communicate tradeoffs to engineers, auditors, and executives.

Skills

Staff leadership

Cloud architecture

IaC GitOps

Zero Trust

Automation engineering

Secrets management

Cloud-native ops

Reliability & security

Compliance risk

Strategy & mentorship

Education

Master's Degree

Tools

Terraform

Atlantis

Argo

Semaphore

GitHub Enterprise

Job description

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) seeks a Staff Systems Engineer to lead cloud, network, and automation architecture across AWS, Azure, and GCP. You will define IaC pipelines, security postures, and trusted workflows while mentoring engineers and guiding IBM's multi-cloud integration.

This role emphasizes durable, cross-functional impact and strong governance. You will shape automation platforms, work with identity and security pillars, and drive reductions in toil by building