Principal Engineer, Cloud Architecture

Location: Hybrid - Iselin, NJ

About the Team:

We are seeking a Distinguished Engineer, Cloud Architecture to lead the transformation of our R&D infrastructure into a hyper-automated, AI-driven engine. This is a "deep-dive" technical leadership role for an engineer-leader who views operations not as a series of manual tasks, but as a complex system to be optimized through code, data science, and architectural rigor.

You will go beyond traditional capacity planning and governance. You will be responsible for reengineering the operational backbone of our hybrid cloud, shifting from manual resource allocation and reactive budgeting to a proactive, AI‑augmented, and developer‑centric infrastructure model. You will partner with the VP of Cloud Engineering to ensure our platform is technically sound, fiscally optimized, and ready for high‑scale AI/ML workloads.

• Architect a unified operational framework that spans AWS, Azure, and VMware private cloud environments.
• Define "Golden Paths" for infrastructure provisioning, capacity scaling, and architectural compliance.
• Establish technical standards for hybrid‑cloud workloads, ensuring alignment between R&D roadmaps and physical/virtual infrastructure limits.
• Automate cost‑optimization engines for reserved instances and spot‑market bidding.
• Design self‑healing infrastructure alerts and AI‑assisted root‑cause analysis for portfolio‑wide bottlenecks.
• Build internal tools and scripts (Python, Go, Bash) to automate the lifecycle of resource requests, from approval to deployment.
• Redesign the R&D delivery lifecycle by eliminating "gatekeeper" bottlenecks in the PLM/NPI process through automated guardrails.
• Embed Fin Ops and security signals directly into developer CI/CD workflows.
• Consolidate fragmented tracking tools into a single, automated source of truth for portfolio health.
• Shift the organization from manual, human‑led capacity checkpoints to automated, data‑driven resource orchestration.
• Enable executive leadership to make high‑stakes investment decisions based on real‑time cloud telemetry and predictive risk modeling.
• Deliver a self‑service "Operations‑as‑a‑Product" platform that enables engineering teams to access infrastructure cost‑estimations during the design phase.
• Trigger automated security and compliance reviews for new cloud services.
• Autonomously manage environment life cycles within established budget guardrails.
• Lead the cultural shift from "Admin‑led Ops" to "Engineering‑led Ops."
• Influence cross‑functional stakeholders in Finance, Security, and Engineering to adopt automated governance models.
• Deep‑dive into technical failures or budget anomalies to solve root‑cause architectural issues, rather than just treating symptoms.
• Systematically dismantle manual "gatekeeper" workflows such as ticket‑based provisioning and legacy review boards replacing them with AI‑augmented, self‑service platforms.

• 15+ years of engineering experience, with a proven track record in cloud architecture, platform engineering, or systems optimization at scale.
• Mastery of AWS/Azure core services, VMware virtualization, and high‑performance storage (SAN/NAS/Object).
• Expert‑level proficiency in Infrastructure‑as‑Code (Terraform, Cloud Formation) and CI/CD pipelines (Git Hub Actions, Git Lab CI).
• Hands‑on experience managing the infrastructure requirements for AI workloads (NVIDIA GPU stacks, Kubernetes, vector databases).
• Ability to read and write complex automation scripts and toolsets in Python, Bash, or Power Shell to evaluate and build internal tooling.
• Education:
  
  Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions at Medidata are based on merit, qualifications and abilities. Medidata is committed to a policy of non‑discrimination and equal opportunity for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or medical or common conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, familial status, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, veteran status, military service, application for military service, genetic information, receipt of free medical care, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

Medidata will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.