Vice President | Enterprise & Cloud Architecture

100 Raymond James & Associates, Inc.; Saint Petersburg (FL); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Life insurance

PTO & parental leave

Job summary

Raymond James is seeking a Senior Cloud Architect to own enterprise cloud and data center strategy, including multi-cloud target state, workload placement, and AI-driven migration planning.

The role partners with Infrastructure, Cloud Engineering and Platform teams and requires strong executive presence to communicate with engineers and Finance on cost and strategy. Hybrid work at St. Petersburg, FL.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of hands-on depth across cloud, data center, networking, storage and resiliency.
• Experience leading large migrations or data center exits end-to-end.
• AI-forward by habit with daily use of agentic tools.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain enterprise cloud and data center target architecture and the roadmap from current to target state across AWS, Azure, private cloud and SaaS.
• Own workload-placement framework balancing cost, resiliency, data residency, latency and regulatory obligations.
• Set landing-zone and platform standards for identity, networking, guardrails, tagging and observability with security teams.
• Architect resiliency, disaster recovery, and regulatory resilience with RTO/RPO standards and multi-region patterns.
• Embed FinOps in architecture through cost models, rightsizing, and run-cost transparency.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Infrastructure design

Executive communication

AI tool usage

Education

Bachelor’s in Computer Science or related

Tools

AWS

Azure

Kubernetes

Terraform

Job description

Job Description Summary Note

This position follows our hybrid-friendly schedule, so you get the best of both worlds – flexibility and collaboration. In office days are 3 days per week (including a Monday or Friday), in our St Petersburg, FL Corporate Office. This role is not eligible for Work Visa sponsorship, either currently or in the future.

Job Description

This senior technology leader will own the architecture of where and how the firm runs its technology: the hybrid and multi-cloud target state, workload-placement standards, landing zones, the data center modernization and exit roadmap, and the resiliency architecture underneath it all. The role is accountable for speeding up cloud adoption while controlling run cost and meeting the resiliency and regulatory expectations of a financial services firm. The role is built for an AI-forward practitioner. The leader in this seat uses AI coding agents such as Claude Code every day in their own work: portfolio and dependency analysis, infrastructure as code, migration planning and architecture documentation. They bring that speed to the firm’s migration program. They also architect the platforms that let the firm run AI workloads well, including model hosting and inference, accelerated compute capacity, and data placement that keeps AI near the data it needs. This is an individual-contributor role with no direct reports. It partners closely with Infrastructure, Cloud Engineering and Platform teams, who keep ownership of build and run. This role owns the target architecture, the standards and the placement decisions they build against. It demands strong executive presence, and the credibility to hold a deep technical conversation with senior engineers and a cost conversation with Finance in the same day.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the enterprise cloud and data center target architecture and the roadmap from current state to target, across AWS, Azure, private cloud and SaaS.
• Own the workload-placement framework: one published decision method for cloud, on-premises or SaaS, weighing cost, resiliency, data residency, latency, regulatory obligations and exit risk. Apply it consistently, not project by project.
• Set landing-zone and platform standards for identity, networking, guardrails, tagging and observability, in partnership with Enterprise Security Architecture, so new workloads start compliant by default.
• Own the data center modernization and exit roadmap. Sequence migrations by business value and risk, retire capacity on purpose, and make stranded cost visible.
• Architect resiliency and disaster recovery: application tiering with RTO/RPO standards, multi-region and hybrid failover patterns, and architecture evidence for BCP/DR testing and regulatory resilience expectations.
• Embed FinOps in the architecture: unit-cost models, rightsizing and commitment strategy, and run-cost transparency, in partnership with IT Finance, who keep ownership of the numbers.
• Use AI coding agents and agentic tooling hands-on to speed up architecture and migration work, including estate discovery, dependency mapping, infrastructure-as-code generation and review, and decision records. Set the pattern for how architecture teams use these tools safely.
• Architect the firm’s AI infrastructure: model hosting and inference patterns, accelerated compute capacity strategy, and data placement for AI workloads.
• Partner with Developer Experience to make the infrastructure paved road (infrastructure as code, containers and Kubernetes, CI/CD) the default way teams consume cloud.
• Run architecture review for major infrastructure and platform decisions. Use published criteria, record decisions, and track exceptions to closure.
• Collaborate with senior executives on strategy, investment cases, and executive-level communications and presentations.
• Keep a strong external view of cloud provider roadmaps, infrastructure economics and emerging platform patterns.

What We're Looking For

• A recognized subject-matter expert in cloud and infrastructure architecture, with 15+ years of hands‑on depth across public cloud, data center, networking, storage and resiliency. Proven where the stakes are highest. Experience at a hyperscaler or large technology company running at internet scale, or at a major Wall Street or capital-markets firm running always‑on, highly regulated infrastructure. Has led a large migration or data center exit end to end. AI‑forward by habit, not by title. Uses ClaudeCode or similar agentic tools daily, and can show how AI changed the speed or quality of their architecture and migration work. Builder credibility. Writes and reviews infrastructure as code, and can defend a placement decision line by line with both engineers and Finance.
• Certifications: TOGAF and AWS or Azure professional‑level certification preferred, not required.

Certifications

• TOGAF and AWS or Azure professional‑level certification preferred, not required.

Education Bachelor’s: Computer and Information Science, High School (HS) (Required)

Work Experience General Experience - More than 15 years, Manager Experience - 10 to 15 years

Certifications Travel Less than 25% Workstyle Hybrid

The total compensation for this position includes base salary or wages, and may include components such as additional compensation (cash or equity), discretionary bonuses, or commissions.

• medical, dental, and vision;
• life insurance;
• critical illness insurance and accident insurance;
• disability benefits;
• retirement savings;
• paid time off (including vacation, holidays, and sick leave);
• and parental leave.

Eligibility for benefits and specific offerings may vary based on position and employment status. To view more details of the benefits offered, visit Myrjbenefits.com.

At Raymond James our associates use five guiding behaviors (Develop, Collaborate, Decide, Deliver, Improve) to deliver on the firm’s core values of client-first, integrity, independence and a conservative, long-term view. We expect our associates at all levels to:

• Grow professionally and inspire others to do the same
• Work with and through others to achieve desired outcomes
• Make prompt, pragmatic choices and act with the client in mind
• Take ownership and hold themselves and others accountable for delivering results that matter
• Contribute to the continuous evolution of the firm

When associates bring their best authentic selves, our organization, clients, and communities thrive.

The Company is an equal opportunity employer and makes all employment decisions on the basis of merit and business needs.

Raymond James is a diversified financial services company providing wealth management, capital markets, asset management, banking and other services to individuals, corporations and municipalities. Founded in 1962 in St. Petersburg, Florida, rather than on Wall Street, we have always embraced being a different kind of financial services firm. Today, Raymond James has locations and subsidiaries across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RJF.

We invest in you with wide-ranging benefits and the support of leaders and colleagues who care. From development opportunities and enriching networking groups to prioritizing diversity, inclusion and the power of different perspectives, Raymond James is where good people grow. Our people-first culture is outlined in our Culture Blueprint. Check it out to see why many choose to work at Raymond James – and why they stay.