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The Cloud Architect (RHEL & Hybrid Cloud Specialist) is a senior-level technical leadership role designed for a visionary engineer who excels at the intersection of enterprise Linux stability and modern cloud agility. As organizations in 2026 increasingly move toward sophisticated hybrid-cloud models to balance performance, cost, and data sovereignty, this role serves as the primary architect and governor of our foundational technology stacks.
1 Position Specifications
Attribute
Details
Official Job Title
Cloud Architect (RHEL & Hybrid Cloud Specialist)
Location
Remote
Required Experience
Minimum 5+ years in Cloud Architecture or Senior Systems Engineering
The core mission of the Cloud Architect is to design, implement, and govern a world-class hybrid-cloud infrastructure that prioritizes the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) ecosystem as its operational backbone. In the current landscape, where financial and technological sectors demand extreme reliability and automated scalability, this role is responsible for ensuring that our infrastructure is not just a collection of servers, but a cohesive, self-healing platform.
By treating infrastructure as code (IaC) and leveraging high-level automation via Ansible, the Cloud Architect will bridge the gap between legacy virtualization (KVM/VMware) and public cloud hyperscalers. The incumbent is expected to move the organization away from manual interventions toward an autonomous, policy-driven environment that supports rapid product iterations without compromising security or performance.
Strategic Importance:
In 2026, Cloud Architecture is defined by the ability to manage complexity through automation. This role is pivotal in reducing "Toil" across engineering teams, optimizing cloud spend through intelligent resource orchestration, and maintaining compliance with data privacy regulations through strict RHEL-based security hardening.
3 Key Objectives
The successful candidate will be evaluated on their ability to achieve the following high-level objectives:
Architectural Governance: Establish and enforce best practices for RHEL deployments across hybrid-cloud environments (AWS, Azure, and GCP).
Automation Leadership: Drive the 100% automation goal for server provisioning, configuration management, and patching using Ansible.
Modernization Orchestration: Lead the transition of legacy workloads into containerized environments (Docker/Kubernetes) while maintaining deep-level OS integrity.
Efficiency Optimization: Proactively identify and resolve system inefficiencies, performance bottlenecks, and resource waste to drive a lean infrastructure culture.
DevOps Integration: Seamlessly integrate infrastructure pipelines with application CI/CD workflows (Jenkins/GitLab) to facilitate a true DevSecOps model.
4 Candidate Profile
We are seeking a proactive technologist who refuses to accept manual work as the status quo. The ideal candidate possesses the analytical depth to troubleshoot a kernel panic on a RHEL instance and the architectural breadth to design a multi-region failover strategy. As a senior member of the team, you will act as a mentor to engineers and a strategic advisor to leadership, ensuring our technology choices align with the long-term scalability requirements of the target markets.
Key Responsibilities
The Cloud Architect (RHEL & Hybrid Cloud Specialist) is tasked with the strategic design and technical oversight of the organization's infrastructure. This role requires a blend of high-level architectural vision and deep-dive technical implementation to ensure that our cloud ecosystems are resilient, automated, and high-performing. The responsibilities are categorized into the following strategic domains:
1 Hybrid-Cloud Infrastructure Design & Strategy
The Architect is responsible for the end-to-end design of scalable and secure hybrid-cloud solutions across major hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
Architectural Blueprints: Develop and document robust high-level and low-level designs (HLD/LLD) that integrate on-premise data centers with public cloud environments.
Security by Design: Implement rigorous security architectures, including VPC/VNet segmentation, IAM policy governance, and encryption standards, ensuring compliance with global and local (POPIA) security frameworks.
Multi-Cloud Orchestration: Evaluate business requirements to determine the optimal placement of workloads, facilitating seamless portability between different cloud providers and on-premise virtualization stacks.
Disaster Recovery: Design high-availability and disaster recovery (DR) strategies that leverage cloud-native services to ensure business continuity for mission-critical RHEL workloads.
2 Enterprise Automation & RHEL Orchestration
A primary focus of this role is the elimination of manual configuration through enterprise-grade automation solutions, specifically optimized for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Ansible Framework Development: Architect and maintain a scalable Ansible automation framework to handle provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment across the RHEL estate.
RHEL Lifecycle Management: Design automated workflows for OS patching, kernel tuning, and security hardening (STIG/CIS benchmarks) to ensure all RHEL instances remain performant and compliant.
Self-Healing Infrastructure: Implement automated remediation scripts using Python and Ansible to detect and fix common system issues without manual intervention.
Standardization: Establish "Golden Image" pipelines for RHEL, ensuring consistency across development, staging, and production environments.
3 Systems Optimization & Proactive Problem Resolution:
Beyond standard maintenance, the Cloud Architect is expected to be a proactive agent of change. You must continuously monitor the ecosystem to identify systemic inefficiencies and performance bottlenecks. This involves designing architectural interventions—such as right-sizing cloud resources, optimizing network latency, or re-architecting underperforming components—before they impact business operations.
4 CI/CD Strategy & Pipeline Governance
The Architect bridges the gap between infrastructure and application development by designing robust delivery pipelines.
Pipeline Architecture: Design end-to-end CI/CD strategies using Jenkins or GitLab CI, focusing on Infrastructure as Code (IaC) deployment workflows.
Deployment Guardrails: Integrate automated security scanning, unit testing, and compliance checks into the deployment pipelines to "shift-left" security and quality.
Release Orchestration: Architect advanced deployment patterns such as Blue-Green, Canary, and Rolling updates to minimize downtime during application releases.
As a senior leader, the Cloud Architect provides the necessary governance to ensure all technology initiatives align with the broader organizational strategy.
Mentorship: Provide technical leadership and hands-on guidance to DevOps and Infrastructure teams, uplifting the organization's overall RHEL and cloud competency.
Architectural Standards: Define and enforce the organization's cloud and automation standards, participating in Architectural Review Boards (ARB) to vet new technologies.
Vendor Management: Collaborate with partners like Red Hat and public cloud providers to stay ahead of technical roadmaps and leverage new features for competitive advantage.
Cost Governance: Monitor cloud consumption metrics and architect cost-optimization strategies to ensure efficient utilization of the organizations technology budget.
Strategic Objective
Expected Outcome
Cloud Adoption maturity
Transition from siloed infrastructure to a unified hybrid-cloud model.
Automation coverage
Reduction of manual deployment errors by >90% through Ansible.
System Resiliency
Achieving 99.99% uptime for RHEL-based core services.
Required Technical Skills & Qualifications
The successful candidate must possess a deep and diverse technical background, combining traditional systems engineering excellence with modern cloud-native architectural patterns. This role requires the ability to navigate the entire stack, from low-level kernel tuning to high-level cloud service orchestration.
1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Mastery
As the foundational operating system for our hybrid-cloud strategy, expert-level knowledge of the RHEL ecosystem is mandatory. The architect must demonstrate:
Advanced Administration: Expert proficiency in RHEL 7, 8, and 9, including lifecycle management, software packaging (RPM/DNF), and systemd orchestration.
Enterprise Security & Compliance: In-depth experience with SELinux (policy management, troubleshooting, and enforcement), firewalld, and implementing OpenSCAP for automated compliance auditing.
Performance Analysis & Tuning: Ability to diagnose and resolve complex system bottlenecks using tools such as top, iostat, vmstat, sar, and perf , alongside managing tuned profiles for specific workloads.
Infrastructure Services: Strong experience with Red Hat Satellite for content management and Red Hat Identity Management (IdM) / FreeIPA for centralized authentication.
2 Automation, Scripting & Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
The architect must be an automation-first professional, capable of abstracting complex manual tasks into repeatable, version-controlled code.
Ansible Expertise: Expert-level capability in developing modular Ansible Playbooks, Roles, and Collections. Experience with Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) or AWX is highly desired.
Advanced Scripting: Mastery of Python (3.x) for custom tooling and API integrations, and Bash for rapid system-level automation and diagnostic scripts.
Terraform: Practical experience using Terraform for multi-cloud resource provisioning and managing state files across distributed teams.
3 Cloud Platforms & Virtualization Architecture
Domain
Mandatory Technical Proficiency
Public Cloud
Architectural experience with AWS (VPC, EC2, Transit Gateway, IAM), Azure (VNets, ExpressRoute, Entra ID), or GCP (Shared VPC, Cloud IAM). Must understand cloud-native networking and security primitives.
Virtualization
Hands-on experience with KVM/Libvirt for open-source virtualization and VMware vSphere (ESXi/vCenter) for enterprise-grade on-premise infrastructure.
Containerization
Deep understanding of Docker/Podman container runtimes and Kubernetes (K8s) architecture. Specific experience with Red Hat OpenShift is a significant advantage.
4 CI/CD & DevOps Tooling
Experience in designing and maintaining enterprise-scale CI/CD pipelines is critical for modern delivery cycles:
Jenkins: Experience with Pipeline-as-Code (Groovy), shared libraries, and managing distributed build agents.
GitLab CI: Proficiency in designing YAML-based pipelines, utilizing runners, and managing container registries.
Version Control: Advanced knowledge of Git (branching strategies, merge requests, and hook management).
5 Education and Professional Certifications
While we value hands-on experience and a proven track record, the following qualifications are considered highly advantageous in our evaluation process:
Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) or Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) .
Cloud Provider Professional Certifications: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or Google Professional Cloud Architect.
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration.
6 Minimum Years of Experience
Candidates must have a minimum of five (5) years of demonstrable experience in a Cloud Architect, Solutions Architect, or Senior Systems Engineering role, with a clear focus on enterprise Linux and multi-cloud environments.
Desired Soft Skills
Technical prowess in RHEL and automation is only one half of the requirement for a Cloud Architect. To be successful in this role, the candidate must possess the professional maturity and interpersonal acumen required to navigate complex organizational structures, mentor diverse engineering teams, and translate high-level business goals into actionable technical roadmaps.
1 Strategic Thinking & Visionary Leadership
The Cloud Architect must look beyond immediate technical "firefighting" to anticipate the long-term needs of the organization. This involves:
Developing and maintaining a three-year hybrid-cloud roadmap that aligns with the rapid evolution of the technology landscape.
Assessing the long-term implications of choosing specific tools or architectural patterns over others (e.g., proprietary vs. open-source RHEL-based solutions).
Balancing the desire for technical perfection with the pragmatic need for timely business delivery.
2 Exceptional Communication & Stakeholder Engagement
A significant portion of this role involves acting as a bridge between the engineering trenches and the executive suite. Mandatory communication skills include:
Verbal: Ability to articulate complex architectural concepts clearly during stand-ups, town halls, and executive briefings.
Written: Proficiency in drafting comprehensive architectural decision records (ADRs), technical whitepapers, and operational runbooks that are accessible to various skill levels.
Presentation: Skilled at creating visual representations of cloud topologies and automation workflows to gain "buy-in" from stakeholders during review boards.
3 Influencing Without Direct Authority
In our matrixed organization, the Cloud Architect often leads cross-functional DevOps and Infrastructure squads. You must demonstrate the ability to drive technical adoption, enforce RHEL standards, and steer teams toward best practices using technical credibility, empathy, and negotiation skills rather than formal management power.
4 Advanced Analytical Problem-Solving
We are looking for an architect who is not content with simply fixing a symptom but is driven to find the root cause of systemic inefficiencies.
Ability to synthesize data from multiple sources (logs, cloud metrics, financial reports) to identify performance or cost bottlenecks.
A proactive "detective" mindset that seeks out technical debt and designs structured plans to pay it down before it impacts stability.
Resilience and methodical thinking during high-pressure troubleshooting scenarios.
5 Business Acumen & Value Alignment
Technology at this scale is a significant investment. The Cloud Architect must understand the business behind the bytes:
Understanding Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) when comparing RHEL on-premise vs. public cloud services.
Aligning infrastructure scaling policies with business growth cycles and seasonal peaks.
Identifying opportunities for technology to provide a competitive advantage, such as faster time-to-market through automated CI/CD pipelines.
Soft Skill Pillar
Expected Behavioral Indicator
Conflict Resolution
Mediates technical disagreements between Dev and Ops teams to reach a stable consensus.
Mentorship
Actively uplifts junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews and design feedback.
Adaptability
Remains open to new methodologies and shifts in cloud provider strategies without rigid adherence to legacy patterns.
Reporting Structure & Collaboration
The Cloud Architect (RHEL & Hybrid Cloud Specialist) occupies a high-impact, senior-level position within the global technology organization. This role is designed to transcend siloed technical functions, acting as a strategic pivot point between executive leadership, architectural governance, and hands-on engineering execution.
1 Organizational Hierarchy
The Cloud Architect operates within the Group Enterprise Architecture division. This positioning ensures that infrastructure decisions are made with a holistic view of the company's long-term digital transformation goals.
Direct Reporting Line: This position reports directly to the Head of Cloud Architecture or the Chief Enterprise Architect .
Functional Oversight: While this is an individual contributor role in terms of direct HR reports, the Architect maintains dotted-line functional authority over technical leads within specific project squads to ensure architectural compliance.
Executive Interaction: The incumbent will periodically present infrastructure roadmaps and cost-optimization strategies to the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) .
Architectural Governance:
The Cloud Architect serves as a permanent member of the
Architectural Review Board (ARB)
, responsible for vetting all major infrastructure changes, RHEL configuration standards, and cloud service adoption across the business units.
2 Key Collaborative Relationships
Successful delivery in this role is contingent upon high-frequency, high-quality collaboration across multiple technical and business domains. The Architect does not operate in isolation but serves as a facilitator of technical excellence.
Stakeholder Group
Nature of Collaboration
DevOps & Platform Engineering
Partnering to implement automated RHEL provisioning workflows and Ansible-based configuration management. Ensuring Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) standards are strictly followed.
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
Collaborating on system observability, defining Service Level Objectives (SLOs), and architecting self-healing mechanisms within the RHEL environment to minimize manual intervention.
Cybersecurity & Risk Teams
Working closely to ensure SELinux policies, kernel hardening, and cloud IAM frameworks meet enterprise security standards and local POPIA regulatory requirements.
Product Managers
Translating product feature requirements into infrastructure capacity plans. Advising on the feasibility and cost-implications of new technical initiatives.
External Vendors (Red Hat/Cloud Providers)
Managing technical relationships with Red Hat and hyperscalers (AWS/Azure/GCP) to escalate complex issues and influence product roadmaps in favor of the organizations needs.
3 Team Integration and Mentorship
While the Cloud Architect focuses on high-level strategy, they are expected to remain "plugged into" the engineering squads. This is achieved through:
Participation in Agile Ceremonies: Attending sprint planning and retrospectives for core infrastructure squads to provide real-time architectural guidance.
Cross-Skilling Initiatives: Leading internal "Communities of Practice" focused on Linux excellence and automation to uplift the skills of junior and mid-level administrators.
Incident Escalation: Acting as the Level 4 architectural escalation point for complex, systemic outages that require deep-level RHEL or cloud networking expertise.
4 Geographical & Working Model Synergy
Given the remote nature of the role in the 2026 global market, the Architect must be proficient in asynchronous collaboration . This includes leveraging digital whiteboarding tools, Slack/Teams for rapid coordination, and robust documentation in Confluence or similar knowledge-sharing platforms to ensure that architectural alignment is maintained across distributed time zones and regions.