Senior Cloud Tranformation Architect

About the role

Are you looking for an opportunity to play a key role in Swiss Re's Cloud Transformation aimed at utilising world leading cloud services to make the world more resilient?  Would you like to apply your excellent architecture skills to combine Azure and other platforms and help application teams easily and securely adopt public cloud? Are you an expert in Azure and other providers cloud services with the required knowledge to help Swiss Re identify, design, and adopt differentiating capabilities with optimum efficiency? Do you love working in a recognised expert team where you still have the space to grow and thrive?

Then you are exactly the person we are looking for!

We are searching for a Cloud Transformation Architect to join our growing Public Cloud Transformation team reporting to the Cloud Transformation Delivery Director. Working very closely with our Business Unit application teams and architects to realise the benefits of moving to Public Cloud Services and enabling a robust feedback loop to prioritise our platform and engineering roadmap accordingly.

Your main responsibilities:

Our goal is to be the trusted advisor or 'enabler' for the IT Domain for all Public Cloud services. Representing the Public Cloud Transformation (PCT) Unit we bring the knowledge, skills, and products of our teams to the IT Domains ensuring solutions are valuable, secure, resilient, performant, and compliant.

70% Advisor Activities:

Seventy percent of a Cloud Transformation Architect's role is focussed on activities that support their respective IT Domain. The remaining 30% is collaborating centrally with the team to evolve the strategy, share cross-unit practices, patterns, and learnings, and develop the overall knowledge of Public Cloud Transformation.

The advisor role encompasses four distinct responsibilities:

Cloud Architect:

Gain a deep understanding of the IT Domain's context and plans and provide Public Cloud services to meet the needs of that domain including advising and consulting on the domain's cloud design and implementation, providing guidance and coaching on Cloud economics, strategic alignment, and common practices & patterns. Share information on other SR implementations and drive adoption of the Public Cloud standard.

In collaboration with IT Domains, work with Group Governance teams such as CSO, DSO, Enterprise Architecture, GTS, and Data governance to ensure Cloud implementations are secure, resilient, and performant and provide a continuously improving Developer Experience.

Analyze and understand business unit and application team architectures and requirements to deliver cloud infrastructure design patterns and critical capabilities.

Design and propose cloud native solution architecture based on workload and business requirements.

Apply technical knowledge and customers' insights to create cloud modernization roadmaps. Architecting solutions to meet business and IT needs, ensuring technical viability of new projects and successful deployments.

Work with application teams to modernize their applications according to the new solution architecture including design, implementation and testing of the changes to the application and dependent services.

IT Domain Plan Transparency:

Ensure that an up-to-date view of the domains' change plan is available to the Cloud Transformation team. Understand the demand for Cloud products and services and represent the IT Domain within the Cloud team e.g., prioritizing IaC templates, new cloud services, features for existing managed services and tools.

The plan information should include an overall project or backlog view, any timelines, milestones or release cadence, along with associated risks, dependencies or impediments.

Collaborate with Hyperscaler vendors working within the IT Domain on their products, integration and compliance.

Resource coordinator:

Work with the IT domain representative to understand their demand requirements of the Public Cloud unit for the domain and coordinate and organize any Cloud transformation people or products for that domain. The aim will be to ensure we are efficient with our collective time and add value whenever we engage with the domain.

Engage with Public Cloud platform and product teams to specify and deliver required services and capabilities in a secure and cost-effective manner for application teams and supporting the Business Unit's cloud roadmap.

Primary Point of Contact:

To ensure and improve communication, act as the key contact point for everything taking place within that domain on behalf of Cloud Transformation working very closely with the Domain IT Lead.

Cultivate a strong presence within the Business Units by delivering sound, pragmatic guidance, advice and POCs, providing critical hands-on support when needed.

Maintain an active stakeholder map detailing all the contacts within the IT Domain, to enable continuity of service in case of emergencies / absences.

30% Central Team Activities:

The purpose of central team activities is to further drive the Public Cloud strategy and adoption across Swiss Re, this encompasses three main activities:

Strategy & Framework

Continuously collaborate to evolve the Public Cloud strategy by sharing knowledge and insights from IT Domain developments as well as industry trends and product innovations.

Contribute to the PCT framework to further educate, inform, and structure the understanding and approach to Public Cloud adoption.

Patterns, Practices & Standards

Collaborate with the other Cloud Transformation Architects to identify and promote synergies between Business Units, promoting patterns for effective adoption.

Through collaboration with group governance teams, IT domains, and teams within PCT, evolve a set of patterns, practices, and standards to support the on-going adoption of PCT within Swiss Re.

Knowledge Sharing & Communities of Practice

Attend, encourage, and publish value stories, information, knowledge, and learnings about Public Cloud through all communication channels including blogs, communities of practice, SharePoint, knowledge sessions and townhalls.

About the team

You will be joining a small group of Cloud Architects who are experts in their field.

Our mission is to enable access to public cloud technologies at Swiss Re in a secure, compliant manner and partner with domain ITs in delivering business value through effective cloud adoption.

We work as a central team within the central IT function focusing on cloud and infrastructure collaborating both with business IT units and governance and compliance teams to ensure a low-risk, consistent and quality adoption of cloud technologies.

About you

We are happy to meet you if you possess:

• University degree in Engineering, Computer Science (or comparable education/experience)
• >8 years of relevant development and architectural experience.
• Ability to understand overall application portfolios, IT and business priorities and success measures to design comprehensive services and solutions on Cloud.
• Extensive and proven experience working with Azure and/or AWS Cloud and Cloud Native architectures including ability to quickly learn and understand new cloud services to achieve optimum efficiency.
• Practical experience and expertise in at least one of the areas – Data analytics and storage services, Core Infrastructure and networking, Automation using cloud services, Serverless Functions and Event Driven architecture solutions in cloud.
• Strong understanding of cloud security including application and network level security best practices, able to apply and contribute to cloud security standards.
• Passion to guide others in turning technology capabilities into business outcomes by applying right architecture and building right solutions for addressing business needs.
• Excellent communication skills with ability to influence stakeholders at multiple levels while building strong trust relationships.
• Very strong analytical & conceptual skills.
• At ease working in a transformational and complex environment at a fast-pace and getting things done.
• Proficiency in English is required.