Western Governors University · 1 day ago
Principal Cloud Architect
SLC Metro Area
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$157K/yr - $243K/yr
4+ years expWestern Governors University is committed to expanding access to higher education through innovative online programs. The Principal Cloud Architect will lead technology initiatives, ensuring robust architecture and best practices while mentoring engineers and driving process improvements in cloud solutions.
Higher Education
Responsibilities
Demonstrates big picture thinking and can not only design but more importantly implement
Approaches customer issues strategically, understanding different business requirements and challenges with implementations
Participates in new systems architectural reviews from a governance perspective and provides analysis feedback in post deployment critiques
Plans and manages hardware platform design, such as identifying components, standardized infrastructure components, serviceability, and creating systems solutions and frameworks
Performs analysis of systems and identifies problem areas, identifies ways to enhance existing systems, and develops viable solutions
Develops and trains Engineers on DevOps, AiDevOps, and CI/CD methodologies and tools for automated infrastructure code test, integration, deployment, and assurance
Provides technical support to education segment product teams for various activities such as with testing, validation, sustaining, value engineering, and DevOps required for the products we support
Publishes white papers, how-to articles, training materials, and presents at our internal summits annually
Ensures our systems are built on HA (High Availability) Architecture that provides native Backup/DR and Active/Active support within our defined RTO/RPO requirements
Mentors one or more Associate Level Engineers within our Platform Services group and motivates them to produce innovative solutions to the University’s architectural obstacles
Performs other job-related duties as assigned
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in information technology or related field or equivalent experience
4 years of experience using fundamental AWS services: VPC, IAM, LB, RDS, DynamoDB, Route53, and S3
4 years focusing on container management using Kubernetes at enterprise scale
3 years of combined experience in CI/CD pipelines using Octopus, Jenkins, and Argo CD
3 years of experience in Configuration Management using CloudFormation, Ansible, Terraform, Chef, and Puppet
3 years of experience using automation tools such as, Terraform, Ansible, and CloudFormation
3 years of experience using governance tools such as AWS Config, Inspector, and Lambda
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional or Solutions Architect Professional
Certified Kubernetes Administrator and/or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer
Expertise with the standard software development life cycle (SDLC) and Agile/iterative methodologies
Extensive hands-on experience engineering, architecting, and administering in a multi-Cloud (AWS, Azure, OCI) environment using virtualized operating systems
Deep knowledge of utilizing GenAI/AgenticAI tooling to automate and expedite engineering delivery
Experience with highly available and fault-tolerant enterprise software deployments
Expertise in infrastructure automation through DevOps scripting (e.g. shell, Python, Node, Ruby, Powershell) and programming (Java, Node.js)
Strong practical Linux and Windows-based systems administration skills in a Cloud (AWS, Azure) or Virtualized environment
Experience leading cloud operations, including assurance, monitoring, alerting, and notifications
Understanding of DevOps, Scrum, and ITIL concepts
Understanding of GitFlow or Trunking methodologies and Continuous Integration with Travis or Jenkins
Experience using Configuration Management Tools such as Chef and SaltStack
Experience using observability tooling like Dynatrace, Prometheus/Grafana, CloudWatch, or New Relic
Experience and ability to work directly with customers creating cloud infrastructure solutions, leading conversations with key business stakeholders reviewing pros and cons, risks, and best practices
Ability to lead the design, development, and deployment of business software at scale or current hands-on technology infrastructure, network, compute, storage, and virtualization experience
Effective communication and documentation skills
Self-starter with a drive to work autonomously as a member of a collaborative team
Strong service-oriented focus with a customer service attitude
Strong analytical skills
Preferred
Strong experience with distance education and distance learning students
Expertise in at least one programming language
Expertise in cloud spend optimizations and serverless technology such as AWS Lambda
Expertise with the integration of cloud services with on-premises technologies from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, HP, SAP, etc
Expertise with compliance and risk management requirements related to PII, PCI, SOX, HIPAA, FTI, and FERPA
Extensive expertise in JSON and YAML based configuration
Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist
Benefits
Bonuses
Medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare
Health savings account and flexible spending account
Basic and voluntary life insurance
Disability coverage
Accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages
Legal and identity theft coverage
Retirement savings plan
Wellbeing program
Discounted WGU tuition
Flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual
Flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual
11 paid holidays
Other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave
Company
Western Governors University
Western Governors University focuses on improving lives by creating pathways to opportunity for its students.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Western Governors University has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (6)
2024 (4)
2023 (12)
2022 (30)
2021 (17)
2020 (37)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknownKey Investors
Kauffman Foundation
2025-05-08Grant
Leadership Team
Stephen Herzig
Vice President of Enterprise Solutions
Kacey Thorne
Senior Director, Academic Strategic Initiatives
Recent News
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