Deputy Director - Cloud Solution Architect

Overview

Main Purpose of the Role:

The Cloud Solution Architect will be responsible for the end-to-end integrated solution design and architecture for cloud-native applications and applications transitioning from on-premises to PepsiCo’s public cloud. This position is part of PepsiCo’s Cloud and SAP Infra Engineering organization—a multidisciplinary team responsible for setting infrastructure standards, designing solution patterns, providing automated deployment of services, and architecting secure, robust, and innovative solutions aligned with PepsiCo’s standards. The candidate will collaborate with the Enterprise Solution Architecture, Infrastructure Engineering, and Capability Teams to develop cloud solutions. As a member of the Cloud Solution Architecture team, the Cloud Solution Architect will design, validate, and approve cloud architectures based on PepsiCo’s approved networking and security patterns while supporting key operational aspects such as availability, reliability, performance, monitoring, and integration of on-premises and public cloud infrastructure.

Other Relevant Scope/Measures:

This role will be key to driving a multi-year Cloud First Strategy and Cloud Transformation for PepsiCo, including cloud adoption at scale with Cloud Velocity.

Responsibilities

Accountabilities:

• Provide architecture guidance, interacting with business users and migration teams to plan, develop, improve, and maintain complex data tier technology standards.
• Participate in cloud solution architecture review boards to review, govern, and approve solutions, ensuring compliance with platform standards defined by the cloud engineering and Enterprise Solution Architecture teams.
• Design, validate, and implement complex architectures, coordinating across areas such as application development, identity and access management, networking, data management, and security.
• Develop and maintain cloud solution architecture patterns and standards, incorporating security principles and best practices.
• Perform application portfolio analysis to identify candidate applications and workloads for cloud migration and lead application modernization efforts during this transition.
• Act as a consultant to understand application topologies, recommending advanced cloud data tier and integration platforms/services.
• Drive technical design and execution for migrating on-premises infrastructure, server workloads, data, and applications to cloud IaaS and PaaS architectures.
• Drive innovation by staying current with emerging cloud technologies and fostering infrastructure automation using IAC, CI/CD pipelines, and automated configuration management.
• Work closely with the Cloud Engineering team and collaborate with application and business teams to provide optimal environments for applications and deliver business functionality.
• Communicate and socialize architectural decisions with senior leaders and stakeholders, discussing problems and recommending solutions and improvements.
• Deliver technical architecture design and reviews using PepsiCo-approved infrastructure and security patterns.
• Design efficient, secure, adaptable, scalable, and reliable cloud solutions across data, networking, and application domains.
  
  

Qualifications

Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 5+ years of experience in IT architecture.
• 5+ years of experience with public cloud architecture, cloud strategy, networking, security, migration patterns, and tools.
  
  

Mandatory Technical Skills:

• Well-versed in interpreting business requirements and translating those into technology architecture decisions.
• Knowledge of cloud design patterns, cloud operations, and cloud cost models with experience implementing best practices or suggested improvements.
• Deep knowledge of cloud architecture, cloud-native patterns, container management, and cloud computing capabilities.
• Experience in re-architecting/refactoring applications for cloud platforms.
• Experience designing and implementing solutions in a multi-cloud environment.
• Experience with various enterprise applications and IT services, as well as software development, compliance and security, and IT operations disciplines.
• Experience and understanding of large-scale applications portfolio in an enterprise-wide environment (including migrating on-premises workloads to the cloud) required.
• Experience working on large-scale cloud assessments and migrations.
• Experience operating complex multi-datacenter, multi-cluster environments and a strong understanding of multi-tenancy and security.
• Sound knowledge of data security and compliance.
• Deep domain expertise in cloud application development solutions (e.g., IaaS, Serverless, API Management), container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes, Cloud Foundry), continuous integration technologies (e.g., Jenkins, Spinnaker, Azure DevOps, Chef, Puppet), web application server technologies, cloud application design, software architecture and practices (design/development/deployment, Agile, SCRUM, ALM), breadth of technical experience, and technical aptitude to learn and adjust to new technologies and cloud trends required.
• Experience implementing architectures to support containerized applications, including but not limited to Kubernetes, Docker, and Containers.
• Experience integrating CI/CD development pipelines with Cloud Infrastructure elements.
  
  

Mandatory Non-Technical Skills:

• Excellent communication and strong interpersonal skills.
• Solid foundation in IT operational concepts and procedures.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and demanding work environment.
• Strong analytical skills to support problem troubleshooting, resolution, and root cause determination for complex technology issues.
• Requisite skills to influence others to gain consensus and alignment for key deliverables that span multiple teams and organizations.
• Managing project interdependencies and assessing implications for programs based on the consideration of other projects.
• Experience with managing a hybrid multi-cloud environment.
• Strong documentation skills and the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical personnel.
• Good collaboration and partnership skills to foster key relationships with other technology, application, and business teams.
  
  

Soft skills:

• Ability to understand business requirements and develop innovative cloud solutions while ensuring compliance with cloud engineering standards and solution guidelines.
• Skill in navigating complex IT landscapes and consistently delivering results while collaborating across various teams such as Cloud Architecture and Engineering, Finance, Asset Management, Cloud Migration, and Cloud Services.
• Experience in orchestrating workshops with IT/Business teams and facilitating interactive sessions on cloud operating models, business value, cost optimization, DevOps processes, and application/infrastructure modernization.
• The capability of conceptual selling to present recommendations compellingly and business-relevantly, with effective analysis and excellent collaboration and influencing skills to ensure enterprise-wide compliance with IT standards and guidelines.
• Proficiency in developing business cases and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analyses, drawing tangible connections between strategy and financial-success metrics.