Vice President, Cloud Operations

WatchGuard Technologies•Seattle, WA

9h•Onsite

About The Position

WatchGuard is seeking an experienced Vice President of Cloud Operations to lead its global cloud and infrastructure operations organization. This executive is accountable for the reliability, scalability, security, operational efficiency, and cost effectiveness of the platforms supporting the business and SaaS products. The role calls for experience leading global-scale cloud and hybrid environments at a SaaS or cloud-based software company, and close partnership with Product, R&D, Finance, Security, and business leadership to scale platforms, improve customer experience, and strengthen cloud unit economics. The Vice President will set and execute a multi-year Cloud Operations strategy aligned with WatchGuard’s product and business strategy, manage cloud and infrastructure budgets, and provide executive visibility into reliability, operational risk, cloud consumption, COGS, capacity, and investment needs. The role also leads modernization and M&A-related Cloud Operations work, while developing a globally distributed organization and advancing automation, standardization, and operational efficiency. The preferred location is WatchGuard’s Miami office; the Seattle office is also an option. Both locations are onsite. Compensation includes salary, bonus, and comprehensive benefits.

Requirements

Significant leadership experience in Cloud Operations, Cloud Infrastructure, Platform Engineering, SRE, DevOps, or Infrastructure Operations, including global teams.
Prior leadership experience in a SaaS or cloud-based software company.
Deep experience operating large-scale public cloud environments, preferably AWS and/or Microsoft Azure, along with hybrid infrastructure.
Strong experience with FinOps, cloud financial management, COGS optimization, and product-level cloud economics.
Proven ability to partner with senior Product and R&D/Engineering leaders and influence architecture decisions.
Experience managing infrastructure budgets and delivering measurable cost and efficiency outcomes.
Experience supporting technology integration through M&A.
Strong knowledge of cloud architecture, SRE, DevOps, observability, automation, reliability engineering, disaster recovery, and operational security.
Strong business acumen, executive communication, and stakeholder-management skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting cybersecurity or other mission-critical SaaS products.
Experience implementing product cost allocation, unit economics, forecasting, and cloud cost targets.
Experience transforming traditional infrastructure organizations toward cloud-native, SRE, platform engineering, and automation-driven models.
Experience integrating geographically distributed teams and platforms following acquisitions.

Responsibilities

Lead global Cloud Operations, infrastructure, platform operations, and related capabilities across cloud and hybrid environments.
Ensure platforms are highly available, resilient, secure, scalable, and cost effective.
Establish practices for service levels, observability, incident management, capacity planning, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
Drive automation and engineering-led operations to reduce manual work and operational risk.
Partner with Product and R&D leaders to align infrastructure strategy with product roadmaps and business priorities.
Influence architecture and product decisions so scalability, reliability, security, and cost efficiency are designed into products.
Define operational and economic metrics for cloud-based products and services.
Own and mature the FinOps strategy and operating model, creating accountability for cloud consumption and product economics.
Develop product-level infrastructure cost, COGS, and unit-cost visibility.
Partner with Product, R&D, and Finance to set cost targets and execute optimization roadmaps.
Improve gross margins through architecture, capacity, cloud commitments, storage, compute, networking, licensing, and process optimization without compromising customer experience.
Lead and develop a globally distributed organization with clear ownership, measurable outcomes, and effective collaboration across regions and time zones.
Attract, develop, and retain cloud, platform, infrastructure, and FinOps talent.
Lead Cloud Operations activities for mergers and acquisitions, including assessment, integration planning, platform consolidation, and cost optimization.
Drive modernization, standardization, and simplification while reducing technical debt and operational complexity.
Develop and execute a multi-year Cloud Operations strategy aligned with WatchGuard’s product and business strategy.
Manage cloud and infrastructure budgets with strong forecasting, capacity planning, and investment discipline.
Provide executive visibility into reliability, operational risk, cloud consumption, COGS, capacity, and investment needs.
Partner with the CIO and technology leadership team on broader transformation priorities.