Cloud Architect
- Location: Dublin City Centre (Hybrid working model)
- Salary: €89,000 per annum
- Contract Type: 2-Year Agency Contract
- Reporting to: Head of Cloud Services Regulation
About the Data Act Team & The Client
The EU Data Act establishes clear obligations for Data Service Providers to remove barriers to cloud switching and support cross-platform interoperability. The client expects to be designated as the responsible authority for enforcing compliance across a significant proportion of Europe’s Data Processing Service industry.
Following a robust planning phase, this newly formed team will manage proactive investigations, customer complaints, disputes, and industry rights awareness. As a Data Act Cloud Architect, you will be a pivotal resource building operational and technical capabilities, drawing on expert support from our internal Strategy, Economics, and Wholesale divisions.
Role and Responsibilities
The Data Act Cloud Architect will provide deep technical expertise to the Cloud Services Regulation Team. Key responsibilities include:
- Technical Expertise: Providing cloud engineering insights for market investigations, customer complaint resolutions, disputes, and regulatory policy papers.
- Infrastructure Support: Leading the implementation of technical infrastructure for the organisation's supervisory functions, including data testing, analysis, and secure evidence-handling systems.
- Compliance Investigation: Reviewing regulated entities to ensure adherence to the Data Act’s strict interoperability and cloud-switching requirements.
- Engineering Guidance: Mentoring Cloud Engineers through complex technical documentation reviews, testing procedures, and compliance assessments against harmonised EU standards.
- Financial Assessment: Assisting with the technical evaluation of switching charges and data egress fees applied by providers.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Contributing to briefing papers and presenting findings to government departments, industry fora, consumer groups, and European institutional bodies.
Requirements & Qualifications
Essential Criteria
- Education: Minimum of a 3rd level qualification (Level 7/8 NFQ) in Cloud Services, Cloud Engineering, or a directly relevant STEM discipline.
- Experience: At least 3 years’ hands-on experience in dedicated cloud architecture or engineering roles.
- Azure Proficiency: Strong working knowledge managing core services including Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Virtual WAN, Cosmos DB, and Entra ID.
- GCP Proficiency: Working knowledge of Google Cloud services including GKE, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and Anthos.
- Multi-Cloud Expertise: Proven track record managing cross-cloud connectivity and executing workload/data migrations between disparate cloud service providers.
- Containerisation & IaC: Deep expertise in Kubernetes, Docker, and cross-cloud platforms (e.g., Azure Arc, Google Anthos) alongside proficiency in Terraform or OpenTofu.
- Networking & Data: Advanced knowledge of hybrid networking (VPN, ExpressRoute, Interconnect), CI/CD pipelines, storage replication, APIs (JSON, GraphQL), and open standards (CDMI, OAuth).
- Communication: Exceptional drafting and presentation skills with experience creating formal technical documents for internal and external publication.
Desirable Criteria
- Advanced Compute: Familiarity with heterogeneous compute environments, hardware accelerators, and custom platforms optimized for AI workloads.
- Sector Experience: Previous experience working within a regulated industry or a public/state compliance environment.
- Certifications: Professional certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect, or HashiCorp Terraform Associate.
Core Professional Competencies
- Technical Knowledge & Continuous Improvement: Command over discipline-specific technical skills with a strong commitment to continuous learning in an evolving legislative landscape.
- Analytical & Critical Thinking: Ability to objectively evaluate highly complex cloud environments, identify hidden data patterns, and articulate clear solutions to technical compliance issues.
- Teamwork & Collaboration: Fosters a respectful, high-trust environment while collaborating across interdisciplinary teams to achieve organisational goals.
- Decision Making & Judgement: Builds a data-backed evidence base to support findings and adapts judgment to handle complex, high-stakes verification environments.
- Technical Drafting: Translates highly complex, architectural cloud layouts into clear, concise, and robust written reports for non-technical stakeholders.
Full right to work in Ireland is required (Stamp 4 / EU citizen)
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