Platform Architect

Role Summary
We are seeking a Principal Azure Platform Architect to define, own, and evolve our Azure cloud platform at an enterprise level. This role has end-to-end accountability for cloud architecture, platform reliability, security posture, deployment strategies, identity, data platforms, and AI enablement.
The successful candidate will act as the technical authority and platform owner for Azure, setting architectural direction while remaining hands-on where it matters. This role enables multiple engineering teams to deliver securely and efficiently on a stable, scalable, and well-governed cloud foundation.
Scope & Impact

• Enterprise-wide ownership of Azure platform architecture and foundations

• Defines cloud standards, guardrails, and long-term technical direction

• Enables secure and scalable delivery across multiple product and engineering teams

• Trusted advisor to senior engineering and technology leadership

• Direct responsibility for the stability and evolution of mission-critical platforms

Platform Strategy & Architecture

• Own and drive the Azure platform architecture vision and roadmap

• Define and enforce enterprise standards, reference architectures, and best practices

• Make high-impact architectural decisions across security, scalability, reliability, and cost

• Review and guide architecture for critical and high-risk workloads

• Balance long-term platform strategy with short-term delivery needs

Azure Platform & Cloud-Native Services
Design, deploy, govern, and operate Azure services across the platform, including:

Compute & Containers

• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

• Azure Container Apps

• Azure Service Fabric

• Azure App Services

• Azure Container Registry

Identity & Access

• Azure Entra  (Azure Active Directory)

• Managed Identities

• Azure AD B2C

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and conditional access

Messaging & Integration

• Azure Service Bus

• Event-driven and asynchronous patterns

Networking

• Hub-and-spoke architectures

• Virtual Networks, peering, Private Endpoints, Private DNS

• Application Gateway and secure traffic routing

Data Services

• Azure SQL Database and Managed Instance

• Azure Cosmos DB

• Azure Cache for Redis

• Azure Storage

• Backup, replication, failover, and performance optimization

AI & Intelligent Services

• Azure OpenAI Service

• AI platform patterns, governance, and cost controls

Modern Deployment & Release Architecture

• Blue/Green and Canary deployments

• Zero-downtime strategies

• CI/CD pipeline integration

Dev Ops & Infrastructure as Code

• CI/CD standards

• ARM, Bicep, Terraform

• Automated, reproducible environments

Landing Zone & Platform Foundations

• Azure landing zones

• Subscription and management group design

• Secure defaults and governance

Security & Zero Trust

• Zero Trust principles

• Identity-first and least privilege

• Private networking and policy enforcement

Reliability, Monitoring & Operations

• Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights

• Incident leadership and post-mortems

Cost Governance & Optimization

• Platform-level cost strategy

• Efficiency and accountability

Technical Leadership

• Azure SME

• Mentorship and architectural influence

• Promote ownership and quality

Required Skills & Experience

• Enterprise-scale Azure expertise

• Platform ownership experience

• Containers, identity, networking, data

• Blue/Green and Canary deployments

• Azure OpenAI experience

• CI/CD and IaC

Good to Have

• Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF)

• Azure Well-Architected Framework (WAF)

• Azure certifications