Cognizant is seeking a Principal Cloud Architect for a full-time remote opportunity in the US. Qualified applicants must be physically located and authorized to work in the US. Please note, this role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future.

The salary range for this role is between $142,000 and $166,000 depending on skills and qualifications of the candidate. Applications will be accepted till 3/21/2025.

Responsibilities:

The Principal / Lead Cloud Infrastructure Architect will provide enterprise‑level architectural leadership for designing, governing, and scaling secure, multi‑tenant cloud platforms supporting business‑critical and regulated workloads.
This role requires 20+ years of overall IT experience with deep expertise in AWS cloud architecture, SaaS multi‑tenancy, security & compliance, and enterprise transformation, along with the ability to lead architecture strategy, mentor senior architects, and influence C‑level stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise & Multi‑Tenant Architecture Leadership

· Define enterprise‑wide reference architectures and design standards for multi‑tenant SaaS platforms on AWS

· Lead the architecture of tenant isolation, data segregation, shared services, and platform governance

· Establish and govern account strategy using AWS Organizations, Control Tower, SCPs, and landing zones

· Define patterns for tenant onboarding, lifecycle management, and cross‑tenant services

· Review and approve architecture designs produced by solution and delivery teams

Platform & Data Architecture

· Architect multi‑tenant data models using Amazon Aurora (schema‑per‑tenant, database‑per‑tenant, hybrid patterns)

· Define data residency, sovereignty, and isolation strategies aligned to regulatory requirements

· Design tenant‑aware routing, throttling, and traffic segregation using ALB, API Gateway, and CloudFront

· Drive platform resiliency patterns (multi‑AZ, multi‑region, DR, and failover strategies)

Security, Compliance & Risk Architecture

· Own the security architecture for multi‑tenant environments, including zero‑trust and defense‑in‑depth models

· Define encryption, key management, and secrets management strategies using AWS KMS and enterprise HSMs

· Architect IAM and identity federation models for tenants, partners, and internal teams (SSO, RBAC, least privilege)

· Lead compliance architecture for SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and enterprise audit requirements

· Act as the final escalation authority for security and compliance architecture decisions

Scalability, Performance & Cost Governance

· Define platform‑level scaling strategies using ECS/Fargate, Lambda, and event‑driven architectures

· Architect tenant‑aware caching and performance optimization using ElastiCache and CloudFront

· Establish cost governance, chargeback/showback, and FinOps practices for multi‑tenant platforms

· Review platform KPIs related to availability, performance, security posture, and cost efficiency

Lead Architect & Practice Leadership

· Serve as Lead / Enterprise Architect guiding multiple solution architects and delivery teams

· Mentor senior and junior architects define architecture review and approval processes

· Partner with product, engineering, security, and business leadership to align architecture with business strategy

· Support pre‑sales, RFPs, SOW creation, and executive architecture presentations

· Contribute to practice growth, accelerators, reusable frameworks, and thought leadership

Required Qualifications

Experience & Leadership

· 20+ years of overall IT experience, with 10+ years in cloud and distributed systems architecture

· Proven experience as Lead Architect / Principal Architect / Enterprise Architect for implementing modernization on AWS Cloud.

· Extensive experience designing largescale, multi‑tenant SaaS platforms in AWS

AWS & Cloud Architecture Expertise

· Deep hands‑on and architectural expertise across:

o AWS Organizations, Control Tower, Landing Zones

o Networking, Security, Identity, and Database services

o High‑availability, DR, and global architectures

· Strong experience with Infrastructure as Code at enterprise scale

Security & Compliance

· Deep knowledge of cloud security frameworks and enterprise risk management

· Hands‑on experience with SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and audit‑driven environments

· Expertise in encryption, key management, identity federation, and data protection

Preferred Qualifications

· AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional

· AWS Certified Security – Specialty

· Experience with Kubernetes/EKS multi‑tenancy strategies

· Experience operating in regulated and highly audited environments

· Prior experience influencing CIO, CISO, and VP‑level stakeholders

The Cognizant community:
We are a high caliber team who appreciate and support one another. Our people uphold an energetic, collaborative and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

• Cognizant is a global community with more than 300,000 associates around the world.
• We don’t just dream of a better way – we make it happen.
• We take care of our people, clients, company, communities and climate by doing what’s right.
• We foster an innovative environment where you can build the career path that’s right for you.

About us:
Cognizant is one of the world's leading professional services companies, transforming clients' business, operating, and technology models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build, and run more innovative and efficient businesses. Headquartered in the U.S., Cognizant (a member of the NASDAQ-100 and one of Forbes World’s Best Employers 2025) is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world. Learn how Cognizant helps clients lead with digital at www.cognizant.com

Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. Your application and candidacy will not be considered based on race, color, sex, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Disclaimer:
Compensation information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.

Applicants may be required to attend interviews in person or by video conference. In addition, candidates may be required to present their current state or government issued ID during each interview.