We are exclusively partnered to find this person for our client who is a high-growth video platform and cloud services provider that is creating an independent infrastructure. The mission is to restore the internet to its roots by making it free and open once again.

About the Role:

Our partner is seeking an experienced Senior Cloud Architect (OpenStack) to lead the design, integration, and optimization of their cloud infrastructure. This role focuses on developing scalable, secure, and resilient cloud architectures—driving technology strategy across OpenStack, public clouds, and containerized workloads. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise in OpenStack with the architectural vision to design end-to-end cloud solutions that meet performance, cost, and compliance objectives. You will collaborate closely with engineering, operations, and product teams to define and implement a unified cloud strategy for current and future business needs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Install, configure, upgrade, and maintain OpenStack environments (production and development).
• Define cloud strategy, governance, and best practices for scalability, performance, and cost optimization.
• Architect high-availability OpenStack environments and ensure seamless integration with CI/CD pipelines and automation frameworks.
• Provide architectural guidance for network design, storage solutions, and security frameworks across all cloud platforms.
• Evaluate, select, and optimize tools for infrastructure as code, automation, and monitoring.
• Lead design reviews, risk assessments, and cloud readiness analyses for new initiatives.
• Collaborate with development teams to modernize applications for cloud-native deployment.
• Oversee incident response and capacity planning from an architectural perspective.
• Mentor technical teams and establish repeatable design patterns, documentation, and standards.
• Partner with stakeholders to align cloud strategy with business goals and compliance requirements.

Required Skills & Experience:

• Extensive experience in cloud or systems engineering, including a proven track record of leading cloud architecture or design initiatives.
• Deep expertise with OpenStack architecture, deployment, and scaling in enterprise production environments.
• Strong understanding of Linux systems (Ubuntu/RHEL/CentOS) and system performance tuning.
• Mastery of network design principles (TCP/IP, VLANs, VXLAN, BGP, SDN, OVS/OVN).
• Experience with Kolla Ansible, Terraform, and Ansible for automation and IaC.
• Knowledge of Python programming for automation and API integration.
• Practical experience designing cloud-native solutions using containers (Docker/Podman) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Expertise in distributed systems design: Ceph, Cinder, Swift, RabbitMQ, Kafka.
• Proven experience designing and integrating CI/CD pipelines for cloud infrastructure (GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.).
• Strong understanding of security and compliance for cloud environments (TLS, IAM, encryption, federation).

Nice to Have (Preferred Skills):

• Contributions to OpenStack or related open-source projects.
• Familiarity with public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP) and hybrid integration.
• Experience architecting HA and disaster recovery strategies using HAProxy, Keepalived, and load balancers.
• Skills in observability stack design (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, or OpenTelemetry).
• Understanding of hardware and performance optimization for large-scale deployments (Dell, HPE, GPU accelerators).
• Knowledge of IT governance frameworks (e.g., Well-Architected Framework, NIST, CIS).
• Experience aligning cloud architecture with enterprise systems (e.g., ERP, data platforms).

Qualifications:

• 6+ years in infrastructure, systems or cloud engineering roles, with at least 3 years as an architect or technical lead.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strategic thinker with hands-on technical ability and a strong bias for action.

Annual Compensation Range:

• $180,000 - $245,000 USD base + benefits + equity (If based in the United States)
• Note: The salary range listed for this position is a good faith estimate based on experience, qualifications, and internal compensation structure. The actual salary offered varies depending on the candidate's skill level and experience.

Why The Team Loves Working Here:

• Making a significant financial impact for their video creator community; proud of their success stories
• Enjoy challenging the status quo and going head-to-head against Big Tech
• Are note afraid to try new things; act fast and want to win
• Pay competitive salaries and provide great benefits