# Principal Cloud Architect

**Company:** [ZoomInfo](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/zoominfo)
**Location:** Remote
**Role:** Solutions Architecture
**Salary:** $158k – $248k/yr
**Experience:** 10+ years
**Skills:** GCP, AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, GitOps, istio, Kafka, Postgres, MongoDB, Snowflake, BigQuery, Elasticsearch, apache iceberg, MLOps, IAM
**Posted:** 2026-08-03

> Leads cloud and data platform architecture across large-scale engineering systems, developing reference implementations, standards, technology evaluations, and multi-year strategy. Requires deep infrastructure expertise, production GCP or AWS and Kubernetes experience, Terraform proficiency, and 10–15+ years of relevant architecture experience.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities

- Design end-to-end platform patterns, build reference implementations, document architectural rationale, and partner with implementation teams on rollout.
- Participate in weekly architecture reviews using a consistent, documented rubric; expand standards libraries and Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).
- Provide architectural stewardship in cloud infrastructure and/or data architecture, including runtime platforms, networking, service mesh, containers, infrastructure scalability, resilience, security, event streaming, databases, pipelines, warehouses, and lakehouses.
- Evaluate emerging technologies through structured proofs of concept, establish technology onboarding and phase-out standards, and assess vendor changes and consolidation opportunities.
- Partner with FinOps on cost optimization, including AI and model infrastructure spending.
- Host design reviews and workshops, consult with engineering teams on complex infrastructure decisions, and create self-service architectural patterns.
- Contribute to multi-year platform strategy involving developer experience, delivery pipelines, and AI-augmented architecture review tooling.

## Requirements

- Proven experience setting technical direction across large-scale systems used by multiple teams, including cloud, networking, data, or delivery platforms.
- Production experience with GCP and/or AWS and practical Kubernetes experience, such as GKE or an equivalent platform.
- Strong proficiency with Terraform, GitOps workflows, and reusable infrastructure modules.
- Depth in at least one of the following domains:
  - **Cloud infrastructure:** cloud-native networking, Kubernetes, service mesh, mTLS, scalability, resilience, cost efficiency, infrastructure security, AWS transit patterns, GCP Shared VPCs, Private Service Connect, and VPC peering.
  - **Data architecture:** Kafka/Confluent, Pub/Sub, PostgreSQL, Cloud SQL, MongoDB, Snowflake, BigQuery, Solr, Elasticsearch, Dataflow, Cloud Composer, MSK, Kinesis, and Apache Iceberg.
- Ability to write code, build working prototypes, and evaluate system behavior under load, including incidents, on-call impact, capacity, and rollout blast radius.
- Strong technical leadership, writing, presentation, and cross-organizational influence skills without formal managerial authority.
- Experience conducting technology evaluations, proofs of concept, and actionable architectural recommendations.
- Working knowledge of AI/ML infrastructure, including model serving, vector databases, and inference cost and latency trade-offs.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 10–15+ years of cloud infrastructure, platform, DevOps, or data architecture experience.

## Nice-to-Haves

- Depth in both cloud infrastructure and data infrastructure.
- Experience with GCP organization-level policies, folder structures, and IAM inheritance design.
- Confluent Platform experience with Schema Registry, Kafka Connect, or ksqlDB.
- Experience with an Architecture Review Council or equivalent governance body.
- Experience building or applying AI-augmented architecture review workflows, including MCP servers or LLM-based rubric evaluation.
- MLOps experience with MLflow, Kubeflow, Vertex AI Pipelines, or SageMaker.

## Compensation and Benefits

- Base salary range: **$157,500–$247,500 USD**.
- Additional compensation such as bonus, commission, equity, and benefits may apply.
- Benefits include comprehensive programs supporting employees' and families' mind, body, lifestyle, and overall well-being.

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**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/003c63fc-65fe-4180-a13a-15d81682661c
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/003c63fc-65fe-4180-a13a-15d81682661c