AWS Resident Architect - Senior Cloud Solutions Architect

Location: Remote / Hybrid / Customer Site (Albany, NY) Travel: TBD - depending on customer engagements Employment Type: Full Time / Contract Security Clearance: Ability to obtain Public Sector clearance preferred Candidates must reside in the state of NY preferably within 2 hours of Albany. Position Overview We are seeking a Senior AWS Solutions Architect to serve as a Resident Architect for enterprise and public sector customer engagements. The Resident Architect operates as a strategic cloud advisor rather than an implementation engineer, focusing on architectural governance, platform maturity, and adoption enablement rather than direct workload delivery. The Resident Architect provides ongoing architectural advisory, governance, and optimization guidance following cloud implementation projects. This role sustains AWS adoption momentum by ensuring architectures remain aligned with AWS best practices, operational maturity goals, and regulatory requirements. The Resident Architect works closely with customer engineering teams, AWS account teams, and Strategic’s Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) to support cloud platform maturity, modernization initiatives, and operational readiness. Unlike traditional staff augmentation roles, this position focuses on strategic advisory, architectural validation, and adoption enablement, helping organizations extend and operationalize AWS architectures implemented during major transformation programs. Key Responsibilities Cloud Architecture Advisory Serve as the primary cloud architecture advisor for assigned customer environments. Validate evolving architectures against the AWS Well-Architected Framework. Identify architectural drift and recommend remediation strategies. Develop and maintain current-state and target-state architecture diagrams. Support architecture governance processes and design decision documentation. Platform Engineering Enablement Provide guidance on: Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) CI/CD pipeline architectures Containerization strategies (Kubernetes / ECS / EKS) Landing zone design Multi-account governance Recommend automation strategies to improve operational efficiency and reliability. Operational Readiness & Cloud Optimization Conduct Well-Architected Reviews and operational readiness assessments. Support observability, monitoring, logging, and incident response improvements. Assist teams in improving reliability, scalability, and performance of cloud workloads. Identify cost optimization opportunities and FinOps alignment. Cloud Migration & Modernization Advise on migration strategies including: Rehost Replatform Refactor Replace Retire Support phased modernization roadmaps aligned to business objectives. Security & Compliance Advisory Provide architectural guidance aligned to: FedRAMP CJIS HIPAA FERPA NIST frameworks Support DevSecOps integration and IAM best practices. Guide secure architecture patterns including encryption, network segmentation, and logging. Customer Enablement & Knowledge Transfer Mentor internal engineering teams on AWS architecture best practices. Conduct architecture workshops and technical briefings. Support backlog prioritization for cloud improvements and adoption initiatives. Stakeholder Coordination Coordinate with: AWS account teams AWS TAMs Strategic delivery leadership Customer engineering leadership Provide monthly and quarterly architecture reviews and reporting. Engagement Model Resident Architects operate within a structured advisory delivery model, typically supporting customers through monthly architectural capacity engagements. Typical activities include: Architecture reviews Platform engineering advisory Governance and compliance alignment Migration advisory AWS service adoption guidance This model enables customers to access senior cloud architecture expertise without requiring a full-time internal hire while maintaining alignment with AWS architectural best practices. Required Qualifications Education Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience. Certifications Required: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Preferred: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional AWS DevOps Engineer Professional AWS Security Specialty Kubernetes certifications (CKA / CKAD) FinOps Practitioner Required Experience 8+ years cloud architecture experience 5+ years designing and deploying AWS architectures Experience supporting regulated or public-sector cloud environments (e.g., FedRAMP, CJIS, HIPAA, NIST frameworks, or GovCloud) Proven experience in: AWS networking architecture Identity and access management Multi-account governance Infrastructure-as-code automation Cloud security architecture Experience supporting environments involving: AWS Organizations Landing Zone frameworks DevSecOps pipelines Hybrid architectures Cloud migrations and modernization programs Technical Skills Core AWS Services VPC networking architecture IAM and security architecture EC2 / EKS / ECS S3 / storage architectures RDS / Aurora / data platforms CloudWatch / observability AWS Config / Security Hub Platform & DevOps Terraform / CloudFormation CI/CD platforms Container orchestration (EKS / Kubernetes) GitOps workflows Security & Compliance Encryption architectures Network segmentation Logging and audit frameworks Regulatory cloud environments Preferred Experience Public Sector / SLED cloud programs AWS Professional Services engagement support FedRAMP / GovCloud environments AI/ML and data platform architectures Amazon Connect or digital service architectures Large-scale migration programs Soft Skills The ideal candidate will demonstrate: Executive-level communication skills Ability to influence architecture decisions Customer advisory mindset Strong technical documentation ability Ability to translate business outcomes into architecture strategies Travel Expectations Travel requirements may range from fully remote to periodic on-site customer engagement, depending on the needs of the assigned account. Typical travel expectations range from 25-100%, with occasional higher travel during key architecture or program milestones. Physical Demands The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job. Work is primarily performed in an office environment. Regularly required to sit. Regularly required use hands to finger, handle, or feel, reach with hands and arms to handle objects, and operate tools, computer, and/or controls. Required to speak and hear. Occasionally required to stand and walk. Exposed to general office noise with computers, printers and light traffic. Job description is not all encompassing. Ad hoc duties may be assigned as deemed appropriate by management. Benefits: Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, Life Insurance, Vision Insurance, Short and Long-term Disability Insurance, Pet Insurance, 401k Plan, Paid Vacation Days, Paid Sick Days, Paid Holidays, Wellness Incentives, Referral Bonuses Screening Requirements: Background Check - must be US citizen and possess or be capable of obtaining a security clearance, Drug Testing