ArchitectureDesignDevelopment Solutions Architect II

Location - Chicago Illinois
Type - Hybrid 2 days from Office
Interview rounds - 2
Max Rate - 85 per hr

Role Overview
The AWS Cloud Architect will lead the design planning and execution of the Data Center Exit (DC Exit) program. This role focuses on migrating on-premises infrastructure applications and services to AWS Cloud while ensuring performance scalability cost efficiency and compliance with enterprise standards. The architect will partner with cross-functional teams including application owners infrastructure engineers and security teams to define and deliver the end-state cloud architecture.


Key Responsibilities

Assessment & Planning:
o Conduct Migration Portfolio Assessment (MPA) and Migration Readiness Assessment (CAF) across business governance security and operations.
o Define 7R application dispositions build dependency maps and create migration wave plans with TCO and risk analysis.
Cloud Architecture & Design
o Design scalable secure and resilient AWS cloud solutions to replace on-prem data center infrastructure.
o Develop target-state architecture migration blueprints and reference architectures aligned with AWS best practices and the AWS Well-Architected Framework.
o Select appropriate AWS services (e.g. EC2 ECS EKS RDS S3 Lambda CloudFront CloudFormation IAM) for various workloads.
Migration & Execution
o Lead migration assessments application dependency mapping and wave planning.
o Collaborate with migration teams to execute lift-and-shift re-platforming or re-architecting strategies.
o Oversee workload migration validation performance tuning and post-migration optimization.
Governance & Security
o Implement cloud governance compliance and cost-management practices.
o Ensure security controls (IAM KMS VPC security GuardDuty etc.) meet enterprise and regulatory standards.
o Define tagging standards automation templates and operational guardrails.
Collaboration & Leadership
o Partner with application teams networking and operations to ensure a seamless transition from on-prem to AWS.
o Mentor teams on cloud-native practices automation and DevOps adoption.
o Provide executive reporting on progress risks and mitigation strategies for the DC Exit initiative.

Required Qualifications
Bachelor s degree in Computer Science Engineering or related field (or equivalent experience).
12 years of experience in infrastructure cloud or enterprise architecture.
8 years of hands-on AWS Cloud architecture experience including VPC design IAM EC2 RDS S3 CloudFormation/Terraform and monitoring tools (CloudWatch Config).
Proven experience leading large-scale data center migration or exit programs.
Strong understanding of networking security automation (CI/CD IaC) and hybrid cloud connectivity.
Experience with migration tools (CloudEndure AWS Migration Hub Application Discovery Service).
Strong knowledge of networking security and compliance frameworks.

Preferred Qualifications
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional (preferred) or Associate.
Familiarity with multi-account strategy and AWS Control Tower.
Experience in cost optimization and FinOps practices.
Exposure to modernization (containers serverless microservices) and DevOps practices.
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.