Cloud Architect at Sanlam Group

What will you do?

• The successful incumbent will act as technical point of contact for business projects relating to Cloud solutions. The incumbent will also ensure alignment with Sanlam’s Information and Technology strategy through adherence to group wide architecture principles and objectives as well as ensure alignment with Sanlam’s Information and Technology Security Standards through adherence to group wide architecture/security principles and objectives.

What will make you successful in this role?

•  Act as technical point of contact for business projects relating to Cloud solutions.
•  Creation of architecture artifacts for projects relating to Cloud solutions that describe the Cloud solutions and implementation sequence.
•  Provide Cloud consultancy to operations and projects.
•  Develop and maintain Cloud Architecture standards.
•  Define and document Hybrid-Cloud architecture and integration patterns.
•  Develop and maintain Cloud decision tree for Cloud readiness evaluations.
•  Conduct research and positioning of new Cloud technologies, industry trends and industry focus areas.
•  Present new Cloud technologies for use cases in solution architecture approval forum.
•  Provide input to business cases relating to Cloud or Hybrid-Cloud solutions.
•  Assist in optimising Cloud infrastructure, Processes, and Costing.
•  Unlock Cloud infrastructure cost containment.
•  Assist with Cloud infrastructure solutions’ risk assessment and mitigation planning.
•  Partake in Cloud continuity planning, DR architecture, capacity, availability, performance planning and service level management.
•  Cost calculation for Cloud solutions.
•  Deliver health checks on implementations to ensure alignment to Architecture.
•  Perform Cloud migration due-diligence and produce necessary artifacts.
•  Define Cloud RoadMap items and partake in Sanlam RoadMap programme.
•  Assist in the establishment and enforcement of related architectural governance and ensure alignment with the Enterprise Architecture frameworks.
•  Ensure alignment with Sanlam’s Information and Technology strategy through adherence to group wide architecture principles and objectives.  
•  Ensure alignment with Sanlam’s Information and Technology Security Standards through adherence to group wide architecture/security principles and objectives.  
•  Participate in the execution of architectural consultation and review for RFI and RFP investigations.

Qualification

• Relevant IT Diploma, Degree or an equivalent thereof.

Experience

• 5 Years relevant experience in on-prem Infrastructure.
• 5 years relevant experience in Cloud Architecture.
• Solid experience and understanding of Security concepts, Networking, Compute, Storage, Application Architecture, Data Flow of application traffic. 
• Experience in multi-cloud CSP’s like AWS, Azure, and Private Cloud would be an advantage.
• Experience in the following would be an advantage:
•  Disaster planning / recovery and execution.
•  Experience in designing, implementing, and supporting Cloud and Hybrid-Cloud environments (essential).
•  Modern Authentication concepts (SAML, oAuth, OIDC).
•  User provisioning concepts for Cloud Solutions (SCIM).
•  Understanding / Mapping out application dataflow and applying Cloud decision tree (essential). 
•  Cloud Solution Architecture and Design with native Cloud Services.
•  Implementing complex Cloud and Hybrid-Cloud Architectures (advantage).
•  Cloud Infrastructure evaluations and industry research.
•  Fundamental Security knowledge and best practices (advantage)
•  Deep understanding of Cloud Architecture and Design principals
•  Construction of quotations, business cases, benefits calculations, charge out models.
•  Facilitation of meetings and workshops.
•  Presentation and communication skills.
•  Desire to help people exploit leading-edge technology in a fast-paced environment (essential)

Knowledge

• Architectural frameworks, capabilities, disciplines, and technologies.
• Strong Knowledge of Security concepts, Networking, Compute, Storage, Application Architecture, Data Flow of application traffic would be an advantage
• SDLC and Agile
• Design Thinking / System Thinking
• Integration

Security

•  A working knowledge of Identity and Access Management / Directory Services. 
•  Demonstrable knowledge and working experience of Virtual environments (advantage).
•  Demonstrable knowledge and working experience of networking & TCP/IP (advantage).
•  Demonstrable knowledge of Network Integration and Optimisation (LAN and WAN). 
•  Strong and practical understanding of Defence-in-Depth concepts (essential).
•  Comprehensive knowledge of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as Service (SaaS).

 A working knowledge of:

•    Application Lifecycle Management (develop, config, deploy) 
•    Server Component and Technologies
•   Storage and Replication / Mirroring 
•    Information & Perimeter Security
•    High Availability and Clustering Concepts
•  Understanding of the ITIL framework (desirable)
•  Understanding of TOGAF (desirable)

Personal Attributes

• Action orientated - Contributing independently
• Builds effective teams - Contributing independently
• Collaborates - Contributing independently
• Communicates effectively - Contributing independently
• Cultivates innovation - Contributing independently
• Manages complexity - Contributing independently
• Nimble learning - Contributing independently
• Optimises work processes - Contributing independently
• Strategic mindset - Contributing independently