Senior Cloud Strategist

The Senior Manager-Infra/Cloud Architect role involves strategic planning, roadmap development, and governance of the organization's global IT infrastructure and cloud landscape.

• Architecture Strategy & Blueprinting
  • Create and maintain a comprehensive infrastructure and cloud architecture blueprint that aligns with business goals.
  • Evaluate designs for scalability, security, and performance.
  • Promote platform simplification and rationalization initiatives.
• Solution Design & Project Enablement
  • Design infrastructure solutions for large-scale projects such as data center transformations and hybrid cloud migrations.
  • Review and approve high-level designs (HLDs) and low-level designs (LLDs) submitted by partners or internal teams.
  • Validate architecture compliance in global IT programs.
• Technology Evaluation & Adoption
  • Assess emerging technologies like Zero Trust, SD-WAN, SASE, Edge Computing, and Infra-as-Code.
  • Develop proof-of-concept initiatives and guide technology onboarding.
• Architecture Governance & Standards
  • Establish and enforce architecture principles, standards, and reference models.
  • Conduct architecture reviews and design approval boards.
  • Ensure compliance with InfoSec, GxP, and SOX frameworks.
• Collaboration & Knowledge Enablement
  • Partner with delivery, cybersecurity, and service teams to translate designs into implementation.
  • Counsel engineering teams and upskill delivery units on architectural best practices.
• Specialized Knowledge Requirements
  • Deep expertise in enterprise architecture across compute, storage, network, identity, and cloud.
  • Advanced knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and hybrid models.
    • Strong grasp of cybersecurity principles and compliance mapping to infrastructure design.
    • Familiarity with automation and orchestration (Terraform, Ansible, CI/CD).
    • Understanding of ITIL, TOGAF, and regulatory requirements in pharma/life sciences.
  • Internal Stakeholders and Nature of Interaction
    • CIO / Head of Infrastructure: Strategy alignment, architecture reviews, funding justification.
    • Infra Ops, Cybersecurity, Cloud & Service Delivery Leads: Design handovers, implementation validations, issue resolution.
    • Project Managers & PMO: Milestone alignment, design dependencies, delivery feasibility.
    • IT Business Partners: Requirement shaping, infrastructure impact assessment, business case support.
  • External Stakeholders and Nature of Interaction
    • OEMs / Technology Partners: Technology roadmap alignment, reference design validation, POC planning.
    • System Integrators / Consultants: Review of partner-delivered HLD/LLDs, infra BoMs, and implementation playbooks.
    • Cloud Providers: Architecture sessions, security compliance mapping, usage optimization.
  • Role Played in Negotiations
    • Key contributor during technology vendor evaluations, TCO/ROI assessments.
    • Leads design-centric discussions in OEM/MSP contract finalizations.
    • Influences technology lock-ins and long-term infra strategy partnerships.
  • Key Decision-Making Expected
    • Selection of infra/cloud technologies and tools for global rollout.
    • Finalization of infra architecture standards, designs, and integration approaches.
    • Review and approval of vendor-delivered infrastructure designs.
    • Build vs. buy vs. hybrid infrastructure decisions.
  • Experience
    • 12+ years of infrastructure experience, with 5+ years in an architecture role across global delivery models.
    • Proven track record of designing and governing large-scale infra/cloud deployments.
  • Education
    • Bachelor's or Masters in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
  • Certifications
    • Cloud Certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, GCP Architect).
    • TOGAF, ITIL Foundation preferred.
    • Network/Security certifications (e.g., Cisco, Palo Alto, Fortinet) beneficial.
  • Skills
    • Architecture modeling and documentation (e.g., Visio, Lucidchart, ArchiMate).
    • Infra stack knowledge across OS, Virtualization, Network, Storage, and Cloud.
    • Vendor engagement and technical negotiation.
    • Cross-cultural communication and stakeholder influence.

This role involves significant travel, estimated at up to 25-30% of working time.