Cloud Architect – Platforms Engineering

Xona Space Systems • Burlingame, CA

3d • $173,000 - $197,000

About The Position

We are seeking an experienced Cloud Architect to join our growing Platform Engineering team. In this role, you will be the technical owner of our core cloud infrastructure and network topology on AWS. You will iterate, build, and scale the foundational systems that empower our software engineering teams to deploy applications rapidly, securely, and reliably. While the position is titled Cloud Architect, the scope combines high-level architectural strategy with deep platform ownership, bridging the gap between traditional architecture and hands-on operational excellence (CloudOps).

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in IT, with at least 4+ years specializing in cloud architecture and infrastructure engineering within AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Deep hands-on knowledge of AWS or equivalent networking services (VPC, Transit Gateway, Route 53, Direct Connect) and on-prem connectivity.
• Extensive experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and some knowledge of CI/CD pipelines (Terraform, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI).
• Solid understanding of container technologies and orchestration platforms, specifically Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS.
• Demonstrated experience designing secure cloud environments adhering to the Principle of Least Privilege and Zero Trust principles.
• Proficiency in at least one modern programming language (Python, Bash, etc.) for automation and tooling.

Nice To Haves

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (or equivalent hands-on enterprise experience) is strongly preferred.
• Additional industry certifications like AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty or Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).
• Experience implementing cloud cost-management frameworks, reserved instance/savings plan strategies, and granular resource tagging policies.
• Software Experience working on software engineering deliverables & languages at different levels of the stack.
• For U.S. Roles: To comply with U.S. Government space technology export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the United States (i.e. Green Card holder), or other protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).
• For U.K. Roles: To comply with U.K. regulations, this role requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks, and successful candidates must be eligible to obtain UK Security Clearance (SC).
• For Canada Roles: Successful candidates must obtain and hold a security clearance at the reliability status level, and pass security assessment for the Canadian Controlled Goods Program (CGP) and ITAR.

Responsibilities

• Own, evolve, and scale our AWS multi-account cloud architecture, ensuring high availability, disaster recovery, and cost optimization.
• Architect and manage complex enterprise networking topologies (VPC design, Transit Gateways, Direct Connect, VPNs, and routing policies) ensuring secure segmentation and low-latency connectivity.
• Drive the standardization and automation of infrastructure provisioning using tools like Terraform and AWS CDK.
• Collaborate with Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) to implement robust monitoring, logging, and tracing across all cloud environments using frameworks like OpenTelemetry or AWS CloudWatch.
• Act as an internal consultant for product engineering teams, providing self-service infrastructure templates, launch reviews, and capacity planning.

Benefits

• We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed