Principal Architect

ACI Worldwide•Norcross, GA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

ACI powers the payments ecosystem – globally, and you power ACI. You’ll innovate, collaborate, and grow – in an energetic technology culture with decades of proven success. ACIers – in all roles and levels – are truly your colleagues and many are your friends. Our size and reach allow you to see the global impact of your work. You are visible, your talents are valued, and you are empowered to shape the future of payments. JOB PURPOSE The Principal Cloud Architect is a senior technical leader responsible for designing, implementing, and governing enterprise cloud architecture strategies across multi-cloud environments. Reporting to the Head of Platform Engineering or CTO, this role defines cloud architecture standards, drives cloud adoption initiatives, and provides technical leadership for complex cloud transformations. This position combines deep technical expertise with strategic vision to optimize cloud infrastructure for scalability, security, cost-efficiency, and business value.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related technical field
Master's degree preferred
Equivalent experience (8+ years) may substitute for degree requirement
8-12+ years in cloud architecture, infrastructure engineering, or enterprise architecture
5+ years of hands-on experience with major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
3+ years in technical leadership or principal engineer roles
Experience designing and implementing large-scale cloud transformations
Experience with multi-cloud or hybrid cloud architectures
Experience in payments, financial services, or regulated industries preferred
Track record of architecting solutions supporting thousands of concurrent users
Cloud Platform Expertise:
Expert-level knowledge of AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, ECS/EKS, VPC, IAM, CloudFormation)
Strong proficiency in Azure (VMs, Storage, SQL Database, Functions, AKS, VNet, Azure AD, ARM)
Working knowledge of GCP (Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Cloud SQL, GKE, VPC)
Deep understanding of cloud-native services and managed offerings
Experience with cloud migration tools (AWS Migration Hub, Azure Migrate, CloudEndure)
Infrastructure & Automation:
Expert in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM templates, Pulumi)
Strong scripting skills (Python, PowerShell, Bash, Go)
Proficiency with configuration management tools (Ansible, Chef, Puppet)
Experience with GitOps practices and tools (ArgoCD, Flux)
CI/CD platforms (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps)
Container & Orchestration:
Deep expertise with Kubernetes and cloud-managed Kubernetes services
Container technologies (Docker, containerd)
Service mesh architectures (Istio, Linkerd, Consul)
Helm charts and Kustomize for configuration management
Networking & Security:
Advanced networking concepts (VPCs, subnets, routing, load balancing, DNS)
VPN, Direct Connect/ExpressRoute, and hybrid connectivity solutions
Web Application Firewalls, DDoS protection, and security best practices
Certificate management and secrets management (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
Zero Trust architecture and microsegmentation
Data & Databases:
Architecture experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server)
NoSQL databases (DynamoDB, Cosmos DB, MongoDB)
Data warehousing solutions (Redshift, Snowflake, BigQuery)
Database migration strategies and replication technologies
Backup, recovery, and high-availability architectures
Observability & Monitoring:
Cloud-native monitoring (CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Cloud Operations Suite)
APM solutions (Datadog, New Relic, Dynatrace)
Logging platforms (ELK Stack, Splunk, CloudWatch Logs)
Distributed tracing (Jaeger, X-Ray, Application Insights)
Methodologies & Frameworks:
Enterprise architecture frameworks (TOGAF, Zachman)
Well-Architected Framework principles (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Twelve-Factor App methodology
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices
FinOps and Cloud Financial Management principles
Agile and DevOps methodologies
Exceptional communication skills with ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences
Strategic thinking and business acumen
Strong leadership and mentorship capabilities
Ability to influence and drive consensus across diverse stakeholder groups
Executive presence and presentation skills for C-level audiences
Collaborative mindset with ability to work across organizational boundaries
Problem-solving and critical thinking under pressure
Customer-focused approach with emphasis on business outcomes

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or MBA in related field
10+ years of enterprise cloud architecture experience
Multi-cloud certifications across AWS, Azure, and GCP
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
TOGAF or Zachman Framework certification
FinOps Certified Practitioner
Experience with infrastructure at massive scale (PB-scale data, millions of transactions/day)
Published thought leadership (blogs, whitepapers, conference presentations)
Open-source contributions to cloud-native projects
Experience with AI/ML infrastructure and MLOps platforms
Terraform or Kubernetes certifications
CISSP, CCSP, or other security certifications

Responsibilities

Cloud Architecture & Strategy
Define and maintain enterprise cloud architecture roadmap aligned with business objectives
Design reference architectures and architecture patterns for multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP)
Establish cloud architecture governance frameworks, standards, and best practices
Lead architecture review boards and provide technical guidance on major cloud initiatives
Drive cloud-native transformation strategies including containerization, serverless, and microservices
Architect hybrid and multi-cloud solutions ensuring interoperability and portability
Evaluate emerging cloud technologies and provide recommendations for adoption
Develop architecture decision records (ADRs) and maintain architecture knowledge base
Technical Leadership & Solution Design
Lead architecture design for complex, mission-critical cloud solutions
Architect high-availability, fault-tolerant systems across multiple availability zones and regions
Design disaster recovery and business continuity solutions with defined RPO/RTO targets
Create technical architecture documentation including HLDs, LLDs, network diagrams, and data flow diagrams
Collaborate with engineering teams to translate architecture vision into implementation roadmaps
Conduct architecture workshops and design sessions with stakeholders
Provide technical mentorship and architectural guidance to cloud engineers and architects
Lead proof-of-concept initiatives for strategic cloud technologies
Cloud Security & Compliance
Design and implement cloud security architecture following Zero Trust principles
Establish identity and access management (IAM) strategies and policies
Architect network security solutions including VPCs, security groups, NACLs, and transit gateways
Implement encryption strategies for data at rest and in transit
Design security monitoring and incident response frameworks
Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements (SOC 2, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, FedRAMP)
Conduct security architecture reviews and threat modeling exercises
Partner with security teams to implement DevSecOps practices
Cloud Cost Optimization & FinOps
Architect cost-efficient cloud solutions optimizing compute, storage, and network resources
Implement FinOps practices and establish cloud cost governance frameworks
Design automated cost optimization strategies including rightsizing, reserved instances, and savings plans
Create cost allocation models and chargeback/showback mechanisms
Monitor cloud spending patterns and provide cost optimization recommendations
Establish cloud cost budgets, forecasting models, and variance reporting
Architect solutions leveraging spot instances, autoscaling, and serverless for cost efficiency
Infrastructure as Code & Automation
Design infrastructure as code (IaC) frameworks using Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM templates, or Pulumi
Establish CI/CD pipelines for infrastructure deployment and configuration management
Architect GitOps workflows for infrastructure and application deployments
Implement policy-as-code frameworks using tools like Open Policy Agent or Cloud Custodian
Design automation solutions for cloud resource provisioning, monitoring, and lifecycle management
Create reusable IaC modules and templates for common architecture patterns
Establish testing frameworks for infrastructure code validation
Cloud Migration & Modernization
Lead large-scale cloud migration programs using 6Rs framework (Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, etc.)
Assess existing applications and infrastructure for cloud readiness
Design migration strategies for databases, applications, and workloads
Architect modernization roadmaps transforming legacy systems to cloud-native architectures
Plan and execute data migration strategies ensuring minimal downtime
Establish migration governance including wave planning, testing, and cutover procedures
Design rollback and contingency plans for migration initiatives
DevOps & Platform Engineering
Architect container orchestration platforms using Kubernetes/EKS/AKS/GKE
Design service mesh architectures for microservices communication and observability
Establish CI/CD platform strategies and reference implementations
Architect observability solutions for logging, monitoring, tracing, and alerting
Design API gateways and event-driven architectures
Implement chaos engineering practices and resilience testing frameworks
Architect developer platforms and self-service infrastructure capabilities