Principal Cloud Architect - Craft Education

Overview

Principal Cloud Architect - Craft Education

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The Principal Cloud Architect is a position of technical expertise, influence, and leadership. This role applies expert knowledge to ensure best practices and well-engineered architecture across the department. The individual will lead major changes to processes, engineering practices, and system administration, solve critical issues and initiatives across Craft Education, and uphold a positive culture based on the WGU Leadership Principles.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Utilizes AI (LLMs, Agentic, MCP, etc.) to gain efficiency in execution of infrastructure modification for greater delivery.
• Designs and implements with a big-picture perspective; can lead execution.
• Approaches issues strategically, understanding diverse business and technical requirements and challenges.
• Participates in architectural governance reviews and provides analysis feedback.
• Plans and manages hardware platform design, identifying components, standard infrastructure components, serviceability, and system solutions/frameworks.
• Analyzes systems to identify problem areas, enhances existing systems, and develops viable solutions.
• Develops, mentors, monitors progress toward goals, and trains engineers on DevOps and CI/CD methodologies and tools for automated infrastructure code testing, integration, deployment, and assurance.
• Provides technical support to product teams for testing, validation, sustaining, value engineering, and DevOps activities.
• Ensures systems are built on high-availability architecture with native Backup/DR support within defined RTO/RPO requirements.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to travel to client locations when needed.
• Expertise implementing AWS services in distributed computing environments.
• Experience with highly available and fault-tolerant enterprise or web-scale deployments.
• Expertise in infrastructure automation through IaC scripting (Terraform, shell, PowerShell).
• Strong Linux and Windows systems administration in a Cloud or Virtualized environment (AWS, Azure, Google).
• Experience leading cloud operations, including data assurance, monitoring, alerting, and notifications.

Competencies

• Organizational Impact: anticipates and prevents highly complex problems; develops technical processes; provides solutions for specialized, complex issues; understands and quantifies program risks with broad impact.
• Problem Solving & Decision Making: independently develops goals and objectives; leads and integrates multiple project teams; provides strategy and guidance to leadership and technical talent.
• Communication & Influence: communicates with internal and external experts on significant technology advancements; influences senior leadership regarding strategic matters.
• Leadership: provides guidance, coaching, and training within Craft Technology; manages large, cross-functional initiatives; performs work breakdown structure for project plans.

Job Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Typically requires a University Degree or equivalent experience.

Department Specific Minimum Qualifications

• 6+ years IT production workload experience.
• 3+ years in primary AWS services (VPC, DNS, IAM, EC2, ECS, EKS, ELB, RDS, Route53, S3).
• 3+ years in configuration management using CloudFormation, Terraform.
• 3+ years of automation tools (Terraform, Ansible, CloudFormation).
• 3+ years of governance tools (AWS Config, Inspector).
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional or Solutions Architect Professional preferred; strong candidates without certifications must obtain them within 6 months of hire.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience creating cloud infrastructure solutions and leading discussions with technology leaders, assessing risks and best practices.
• Cloud spend optimization expertise.
• Experience designing, developing, and deploying software at scale across infrastructure, network, compute, storage, and virtualization.
• Understanding of SDLC and Agile methodologies.
• Expertise in compliance and risk management (security, PCI, privacy, SOX, HIPAA, etc.).
• JSON and YAML expertise.

Physical Requirements

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds occasionally.

Disclaimer

This job description reflects the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees. It is not a comprehensive inventory of all duties and qualifications. Duties may change at any time with or without notice. This description does not constitute a contract of employment and employment is at-will.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (40 hours/week). Eligible for bonuses and benefits including health, retirement, wellbeing programs, tuition discounts, and paid time off, with various leave provisions.

How to Apply: Submit an online application. Internal applicants should apply via the internal Workday job board.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: This posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements. It is not all-inclusive. Accommodations for applicants with disabilities can be requested from the Talent Acquisition team at

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to protected characteristics as required by law.

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Engineering and Information Technology
• Higher Education

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