[Hiring] Staff Cloud Architect @Robots and Pencils

Role Description

We’re looking for a Staff Cloud Architect to lead the design and delivery of complex, multi-domain systems spanning cloud, data, and AI. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who can define technical strategy, own end-to-end architecture for major engagements, and provide technical leadership across teams.

In this role, you will work as a delivery-embedded technical leader on cross-functional teams, defining architecture across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and AI/ML workloads. You’ll act as a technical escalation point on complex challenges, mentor mid-level engineers, partner with leadership on technical direction, and ensure systems are scalable, secure, and built to last.

What You’ll Do

• Craft & Delivery
  • Define technical strategy and lead architectural design across cloud, data, and AI/ML systems for end-to-end engagements
  • Architect scalable cloud-native solutions, including multi-cloud and hybrid strategies (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes)
  • Design data architectures including warehouses, data lakes, and pipelines for batch and streaming workloads (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, Spark, Kafka)
  • Design AI/ML systems including model serving, MLOps pipelines, feature stores, and LLM-based applications (e.g., SageMaker, Vertex AI, MLflow, Hugging Face)
  • Define infrastructure as code, CI/CD, and DevOps standards across engagements (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation, GitHub Actions)
  • Drive performance, scalability, cost, and reliability optimization across deployed systems
  • Ensure architecture meets security, governance, and compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2)
  • Lead cloud migrations and platform modernization initiatives
  • Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace
• Collaboration & Communication
  • Partner with leadership and clients on technical direction, translating business goals into architectural decisions
  • Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to engineering and non-engineering stakeholders alike
  • Engage closely with engineering, data, AI, and product teams to align architecture with broader business priorities
  • Develop and maintain architecture documentation, standards, and guidelines
• Leadership & Influence
  • Establish architectural standards and best practices that lift quality and consistency across the team
  • Mentor junior and mid-level engineers, helping them grow their architectural thinking and craft
  • Act as a technical escalation point on complex architectural and integration challenges
  • Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend tools, frameworks, and patterns that improve architecture over time

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years in architecture or technical leadership roles
• Deep expertise in cloud platforms and cloud-native architectures (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Strong background in microservices, serverless, containers, and event-driven systems (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker, Lambda, EventBridge)
• Proficiency with infrastructure as code and CI/CD (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi, GitHub Actions)
• Strong data architecture expertise across relational, NoSQL, and big data systems (e.g., PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Snowflake, BigQuery, Spark, Kafka)
• Hands-on experience with data modeling, ETL/ELT pipelines, and orchestration (e.g., Airflow, Prefect, dbt)
• Strong experience designing AI/ML systems for production, including LLMs, MLOps, and model serving (e.g., SageMaker, Vertex AI, MLflow, Hugging Face, PyTorch, TensorFlow)
• Solid understanding of networking, security, identity, and access management in cloud environments
• Experience with governance, compliance, and observability frameworks
• Strong software engineering skills (Python, APIs, containerization)
• Demonstrated leadership and technical mentoring experience
• Strong stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to translate technical depth across audiences
• Demonstrable usage of AI-forward tools such as Claude and Cursor
• Multi-cloud architecture experience, AI ethics or responsible AI experience, or enterprise architecture certifications (e.g., TOGAF, AWS/Azure/GCP) is a plus

Benefits

• Comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off
• Medical/dental/vision insurance
• 401(k) to eligible employees