Morningstar - Senior Manager - Cloud Services

Description :The Senior Manager, Cloud Services plays a pivotal role in advancing Morningstars cloud-first, platform-driven, and modernization strategy.By leading multiple engineering disciplines and platform services, ensuring strong governance, and maintaining operational excellenceincluding tested DR readinessthis leader enables faster, more reliable product delivery, improved observability, and cost efficiency, while aligning technology outcomes with strategic business goals and global operational priorities.The Team :Fueling the technologies that drive our products and support our companys infrastructure, the Cloud Services team enables public cloud at scale for our application teams to deploy applications securely, reliably, and in a compliant state.Our technologists represent a diverse range of skills and experiences but share a deep passion for craftsmanship and creating impactful user experiences.From Agile methodologies to SaaS platforms, we push the boundaries of technology to build scalable, elegant, and efficient solutions that empower investors and strengthen our enterprise ecosystem.The Role :The Senior Manager, Cloud Services is a strategic leadership position responsible for defining and driving the enterprise cloud vision across AWS, Azure, and GCP, while managing critical platform and operational teams.This individual will lead multiple specialized teams including :.- Cloud Engineering, responsible for public cloud enablement, governance, and multi-cloud standardization.- Core Services (SRE), managing middleware such as Kafka, Varnish, Kong API Gateway, AWS API Gateway, and Jira Insight.- Release Engineering, enabling rapid, secure, and automated software delivery through CI/CD pipelines (Harness).- Observability (SRE), maintaining and improving enterprise monitoring tools such as New Relic, Entuity, Splunk, and others.A primary responsibility of this role is to manage and mentor a team of 20+ engineers and managers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and high performance.This position requires deep technical expertise in AWS and Azure, including knowledge of cloud services, platform engineering, and platform services, with the ability to guide teams in building shared services and scalable platforms that enable multiple product teams.As a senior leader, the individual must possess exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, collaborating effectively with business and technology teams across geographies, particularly with US-based counterparts, to operate as one unified global team.The role requires proven experience in driving large-scale projects efficientlyon time and in fullacross all managed areas, combined with excellent reporting skills to provide clear, data-driven insights to senior leadership.In each area (Cloud, Core Services, Release Engineering, Observability), the person is responsible for ensuring a robust Disaster Recovery (DR) strategy is in place, and that DR is tested and executed at defined intervals to guarantee operational readiness.Key Responsibilities :Cloud, Platform & Governance :- Lead the design, implementation, and management of cloud guardrails, governance frameworks, and compliance scanners to ensure security, standardization, and operational excellence.- Drive standardization of cloud platforms across AWS, Azure, and GCP, ensuring consistent architecture, tooling, and governance.- Oversee FinOps practices to optimize cloud costs, utilization, and visibility.- Evaluate and leverage AI-driven solutions across Cloud, Core, Release, Observability, and Platform Services to enhance automation, predictive capabilities, and operational efficiency.- Maintain deep architectural knowledge of AWS and Azure services, platform engineering, and platform services, guiding teams on leveraging them for scalability, innovation, and cost optimization.- Ensure DR strategies are defined, tested, and executed regularly for all cloud services to maintain business continuity.- Provide executive reporting and insights on cloud adoption, platform performance, compliance, cost metrics, and DR readiness.Core, Release & Platform Services :- Oversee Core Services (SRE) responsible for middleware, APIs, and operational tooling.- Manage the Release Engineering function, enabling CI/CD automation through Harness, enhancing developer velocity and reliability.- Partner with product engineering teams to improve release quality, velocity, and compliance.- Drive delivery of platform engineering initiatives, ensuring scalable, reusable, and high-performing shared services for product teams.- Ensure DR plans are implemented and tested for Core Services and Release pipelines.- Provide clear reporting to leadership on project status, risks, dependencies, DR readiness, and outcomes.Observability & Reliability :- Lead the Observability team managing enterprise monitoring platforms like Entuity, New Relic, Splunk, ensuring platform reliability and actionable insights.- Drive proactive incident detection, root-cause analysis, and resilience improvements.- Ensure DR procedures are in place and tested for observability platforms to maintain monitoring during outages.- Deliver dashboards and reports highlighting system performance, uptime, incidents, DR results, and improvement opportunities.Leadership & People Management :- Lead and mentor a team of 20+ engineers and managers, fostering accountability, technical excellence, and collaboration.- Drive team efficiency, productivity metrics, and performance visibility, ensuring team satisfaction, engagement, and retention.- Represent the team in townhalls and leadership sessions, showcasing innovation, emerging technologies, and delivery outcomes.- Act as a trusted leader and escalation point for technical and operational issues, promoting open communication, innovation, and a culture of ownership.- Collaborate with HR and Learning teams to enhance career progression, capability development, and succession planning.Strategic Alignment & Collaboration :- Collaborate closely with global stakeholders, especially US-based teams, to ensure strategic alignment, shared priorities, and seamless execution.- Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Security, and Product Engineering to ensure compliance, scalability, and innovation.- Provide thought leadership and data-backed insights to influence decisions on cloud modernization, platform services, automation, efficiency, and DR strategy.Qualifications & Experience :- Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (Masters preferred).- 12+ years of experience in IT Infrastructure, Cloud, or Platform Engineering, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership or people management role.- Proven expertise in AWS and Azure, including architecture, governance, cost optimization, and operational best practices.- Strong understanding of platform engineering, shared services, and platform service management.- Strong understanding of DevOps, CI/CD, and automation platforms (Harness, Jenkins, GitHub Actions).- Solid exposure to SRE principles, observability platforms, and middleware management.- Demonstrated ability to drive large-scale projects on time, in full, and efficiently, across multiple technical domains.- Excellent reporting and presentation skills, translating technical and operational performance into executive insights.- Experience implementing and testing Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies across cloud, platform, and operational services.Relevant cloud certifications required :- AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional (or equivalent).- Azure Solutions Architect Expert (or equivalent).- Other relevant multi-cloud or DevOps certifications are a plus.- Experience with AI, ML, or automation in cloud operations preferred.- Scrum Master or Agile certification desirable.Morningstar is an equal opportunity employer.Morningstar's hybrid work environment gives you the opportunity to collaborate in-person each week as we've found that we're at our best when we're purposely together on a regular basis.In most of our locations, our hybrid work model is four days in-office each week.A range of other benefits are also available to enhance flexibility as needs change.No matter where you are, you'll have tools and resources to engage meaningfully with your global colleagues. (ref:hirist.tech)