Cloud Architect
US$170,000 – US$195,000 / yr base salary
Posted 7 Oct 2026
Advertised as “AWS Sr. Cloud Architect”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Expected experience
- 15+ yrs
- Management level
- People management
- Employment
- On-Site
- Contract
- Full-time
| Base salary | US$170,000 – US$195,000 / yr |
|---|
CertificationsAWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional
Field of studyComputer Science (or related)
Study levelBachelor's
**About the Role
**The Principal AWS Cloud Architect is a lead-level technical role on our cloud engagements. You'll own the technical direction of a workstream or engagement end to end, working with the customer's technical teams to set strategy and drive it to a documented, agreed target state.
This is a leadership role that stays hands-on. You'll lead and mentor a blended onshore/offshore delivery team. When the project calls for it, you'll roll up your sleeves and build: designing landing zones, running migration waves, and writing and reviewing IaC yourself. You're equally comfortable leading a team of engineers or working independently as the sole architect on a project.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Strategy
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Own the technical strategy for the engagement and drive it to a documented, agreed target state.
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Act as the primary technical point of contact for the customer's technical leadership on architecture, sequencing, and risk; drive discussions to decisions rather than leaving them open.
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Recommend best-fit approaches prescriptively and with conviction, backed by delivery experience. Say so clearly when the customer's preferred path is the wrong one.
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Make and document consequential architecture decisions, including trade-offs considered and those deliberately deferred.
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Set the engineering standard by example: review designs, code, and IaC personally.
Hands-On Delivery
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Work independently as the sole architect on smaller or early-phase engagements, owning design and build without a supporting team.
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Step in hands-on when the project needs it to:
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build foundational environments
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execute migration waves
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troubleshoot replication and cutover issues
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write Terraform/CDK
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Lead remediation personally when a workstream needs stabilization.
Team Leadership & Offshore Coordination
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Lead and coordinate offshore engineering teams across time zones: assign and sequence work, set clear acceptance criteria, and run effective handoffs so progress continues around the clock.
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Review offshore deliverables (designs, IaC, runbooks, migration plans) for quality and consistency before they reach the customer.