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Chief Cloud Solutions Architect

Richland, WA

Five years ago, our client had about sixty open Cloud projects. Today they have 600. They need a Chief Cloud Solutions Architect who can lead their organization into becoming a mature and even more innovative Cloud laboratory. 

Our client is a legacy scientific institution that is leading the way in providing solutions for issues that affect both our nation and the world — critical infrastructure, climate change, big data, and more. 

The person in this role must be curious, adaptive, and mission-oriented. You will get to apply your deep expertise of Cloud technology in ways that have never been used before. You will collaborate with other experts as they begin to use Cloud technology for their research. 

This is a great opportunity for someone who loves the work but is tired of the grind — someone who is eager to always continue learning new things, collaborate, and make a visible impact on Cloud technology. 

Duties and Responsibilities

  • Use cloud computing to guide and enable our mission in ways never thought possible, while also collaborating with our partners to further develop our technical expertise and innovation
  • Lead proof-of-concept pilots, technical leadership workshops, and strategic implementation projects
  • Consult with research divisions and their engagements with government sponsors and provide focus on critical customer solutions including web and enterprise applications, HPC, big data analytics, AI/ML integration, and disaster recovery
  • Serve as an exemplary technical leader and provide your strategic insight on design and development, architecture, and client-facing solutions
  • Work with a highly-skilled research and engineering staff to develop and execute complex solutions
  • Prioritize building Cloud blueprints that can be leveraged by the broader organization audience with best-in-class reusable assets. This will enable further access to projects that are the first of their kind
  • Transform the use of Cloud for worldwide science, energy, and national security applications while using your expert knowledge of Cloud services across multiple providers  
  • Provide Cloud-first thought leadership and help build a culture of learning within your team and the organization as a whole
  • Develop a great understanding of the needs of research teams, application teams, sponsor  business missions, and facilitate each component’s contribution to Cloud transformation

Minimum Qualifications 

  • Strong track record of implementing Cloud services in a variety of distributed computing environments while also leading highly available and fault-tolerant enterprise and web-scale software deployments 
  • Keen ability to think strategically about business, mission, and scientific challenges and then apply best-fit cloud technical solutions to hard problems in these domains
  • Deep familiarity with Cloud and Cloud-Native Principles, including hands-on experience with Cloud service provider APIs (Azure, AWS, GCP)
  • Proven experience in security design for complex applications, distributed systems, APIs, and services deployed to Cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments including identity and access, network, vulnerability, and change management
  • Strong experience in SW development, including hands-on with machine learning/AI models, big data and analytic frameworks, database management systems, OpenSource communities and Python development
  • Broad familiarity and technical leadership in secure, resilient, robust cloud platform design and architecture including the application of cloud-native solutions, services, and APIs as well as solid foundation in IaaS services
  • BS/BA and 9+ years of relevant work experience, an MS/MA and 7+ years of relevant work experience, or PhD with 5+ year of relevant experience 

Preferred Qualifications

  • BS/BA or MS/MA degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Math 
  • At least nine years in Cloud solution design, Cloud infrastructure/migration, and containerization experience  
  • Experience facilitating discussions with senior leadership regarding technical and/or architectural trade-offs, best practices, and risk mitigation  
  • Direct hands-on experience leading the design, development, and deployment of business software at scale or current hands-on technology infrastructure, network, compute, storage, and virtualization experience  
  • Experience managing and migrating workloads to the Public Cloud  
  • Strong practical Windows-based and Linux systems administration skills in a Cloud or virtualized environment  
  • Expert knowledge of Cloud Security Technologies and practices
  • Cloud Certifications (Azure, AWS, or GCP) 

Selected Benefits

  • Medical, Dental​, Vision​, Travel Medical and Dental Coverage (including international)
  • Dependent coverage​
  • Leave benefits​
  • Relocation coverage 
  • Fertility Support​​
  • 401(k) Plan​
  • Health Savings Account​​
  • Corporate Discounts and Memberships​​
  • Tuition Reimbursement & Loan Forgiveness​

Salary

  • *The base target salary for this role ranges from $150,000 to $255,000 per year. 

Mandatory Requirements

Employees are required to have a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment, subject to accommodation. Applicants are required to disclose their vaccination status following a conditional offer of employment and must attest to being fully vaccinated with a Center for Disease Control (CDC)-approved COVID-19 vaccination, or provide documentation of need for medical or religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement.

Applicants must have an active Federal Q Clearance* and/or the ability to achieve and maintain such a clearance.

*U.S. Citizenship Required.

*Please note that this is a target range and is commensurate with experience. Blackmere actively promotes pay equity and is eager to foster pay transparency in the workplace. If this proposed salary range does not fit your current goals or experience, we still urge you to apply. 

Please reach out to us directly for further details. We understand talent comes in all sorts of different configurations. If you're wondering whether you're qualified or not, contact us directly so we can discuss the relationship between work purpose and prior experience.

At Blackmere, we believe innovation and diversity go hand in hand. We are an equal opportunity employer and 100% committed to maintaining an inclusive and diverse Blackmere. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status, or any other legally protected status.

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