Principal Cloud Architect - Craft Education

Overview

Principal Cloud Architect – Craft Education at Western Governors University. This role focuses on technical leadership and architecture across Craft Education, applying expert knowledge to ensure best practices and well-engineered architecture. The position involves leading changes to processes, engineering practices, and system administration, working to solve critical issues and initiatives with a deep understanding of cutting-edge practices. This role also contributes to establishing and maintaining a positive and productive culture based on WGU Leadership Principles.

Job Description

The Principal Cloud Architect is a position of technical expertise, influence, and leadership in technology. The role requires applying expert knowledge to ensure best practices and well-engineered architecture across the department. They will be a key stakeholder and initiator of major changes to processes, engineering practices, and system administration. The position involves solving critical issues and initiatives across Craft Education and maintaining a culture aligned with WGU Leadership Principles.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Utilizes AI (LLMs, Agentic, MCP, etc) to gain efficiency in execution of infrastructure modification for greater rates of delivery.
• Big picture thinker who can design and implement solutions.
• Approaches issues strategically, understanding different business and technical requirements and challenges with implementations.
• Participates in architectural reviews from a governance perspective and provides analysis feedback.
• Plans and manages hardware platform design, identifies components, standardizes infrastructure components, ensures serviceability, and creates system solutions and frameworks.
• Performs analysis of systems to identify problem areas, enhances existing systems, and develops viable solutions.
• Develops, mentors, monitors progress towards goals, and trains Engineers on DevOps and CI/CD methodologies and tools for automated infrastructure code test, integration, deployment, and assurance.
• Provides technical support to product teams for testing, validation, sustaining, value engineering, and DevOps activities required for supported products.
• Ensures systems are built on HA architecture and provides native Backup/DR support within defined RTO/RPO requirements.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skill 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 and web-scale software deployments.
• Expertise in infrastructure automation through IaC scripting (e.g., Terraform, shell, PowerShell).
• Strong practical Linux and Windows-based systems administration skills in a Cloud (AWS, Azure, Google) or virtualized environment.
• Experience leading cloud operations, including data assurance, monitoring, alerting and notifications.

Competencies

• Organizational Impact: Works proactively to anticipate and prevent highly complex problems; develops and establishes technical processes; provides solutions for extremely specialized, complex technical issues; understands and quantifies program risks with broad impact.
• Problem Solving & Decision Making: Develops and accomplishes goals independently; leads and integrates multiple project teams; provides strategy and guidance to leadership and technical talent.
• Communication & Influence: Communicates with experts inside and outside the organization; influences senior leadership on strategic matters; conducts briefings to senior leaders.
• Leadership: Provides guidance, coaching, and training across the Craft Technology Organization; manages large, complex projects and cross-functional teams; demonstrates ability to create project plans with Work Breakdown Structure.

Job Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Typically requires a University Degree or equivalent experience.

Department Specific Minimum Qualifications

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

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience creating cloud infrastructure solutions and leading conversations with technology leaders; evaluating pros/cons and risks.
• Expertise in cloud spend optimization.
• Experience designing, developing, and deploying software at scale across infrastructure, network, compute, storage, and virtualization.
• Understanding of SDLC and Agile methodologies.
• Experience with 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 at times.

Disclaimer

This Job Description describes the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees in this classification. It does not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications. Duties may change at any time with or without notice. This Job Description does not constitute a contract of employment and the University may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (40 hours per week). Eligible for bonuses and a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, life insurance, disability, and retirement savings; paid time off, holidays, and parental leave.

How to Apply: Submit your application online. Internal WGU employees should apply through the internal Workday job board.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected characteristics as required by law.