Cloud Architect
What the work looks like, the stacks behind the title, what each level means and the training that helps, then how interviews run and how to prepare for each step.
What a cloud architect actually does
An engineer who designs how a company runs on the cloud, from accounts and networks to security, costs and migrations, and makes sure teams can build on it.
A cloud architect designs the cloud foundations of a company: the accounts and landing zones, the networks, the identity and access rules, and the way applications run on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
The role is about trade‑offs. Cloud architects weigh cost, security, reliability and speed, work with security and finance teams, and write the standards that engineering teams follow, often as infrastructure as code with Terraform or OpenTofu.
Current topics include migrations to the cloud, multi-cloud setups, FinOps to control costs and GPU infrastructure for AI workloads.
- A design review for a new application or migration
- Work on landing zones, networks or access rules
- A cost review with finance or FinOps
- A meeting with security on a new control
- Writing standards and architecture documents
The same title, very different stacks
Most cloud architect searches are defined first by the cloud provider the company uses, then by the ground every cloud architect shares.
What each level means in practice
Titles vary from one company to the next. What changes from one level to the next is the scope you own and the decisions you take.
- Builds cloud infrastructure designed by an architect
- Learns the provider, the network and the access rules
- Writes infrastructure as code with review
- Designs the cloud setup for a product or a migration
- Takes choices on network, security and cost
- Works directly with engineering and security teams
- Designs the cloud foundations for many teams
- Leads choices across providers and tools
- Mentors other architects and engineers
- Sets the cloud strategy of the company
- Leads choices on vendors, standards and budgets
- Writes the design documents others build on
The paths into the role, and what really counts
Cloud architecture is one of the roles where certifications weigh most. Companies still look first at architectures you have designed and run in production.
- Engineering school or master's in computer scienceThe most common path in France, and often expected by large companies.
- University degree in computer scienceThe most common path in the US, at bachelor's or master's level.
- DevOps or cloud engineering firstMany cloud architects start as DevOps or cloud engineers before designing at a larger scale.
- System and network administrationAdministrators who moved to the cloud early also grow into the role.
Our view: for this role, a certification on the provider of the company helps a lot, and an architecture you designed and can walk through counts even more.
A conversation with a senior tech recruiter
Your first interview is with one of our senior tech recruiters, who knows the role, the stacks and the levels in this guide. The conversation covers your own work through real examples, and the technical exercises come later, with the company. Before the call, we send you the six themes we will cover so you can prepare your examples.
- What you owned yourselfThe cloud architectures, landing zones or migrations you were responsible for, and your own part in the team's work.
- Your environment and its constraintsBudget, security rules, regulation, legacy systems or deadlines: what shaped your technical choices.
- The decisions you madeWhich services, which network design and which security model, the options you compared and the reasons for your choice.
- The impact of your workWhat changed thanks to your work, with numbers when you have them: costs saved, uptime, migration speed or incidents.
- How you work with other teamsYour work with security, finance, engineering teams and leadership, and how you settle a disagreement.
- What you want nextThe kind of cloud environment, scale and scope you are looking for in your next role.
- Architectures designed and run
- Cost and security trade‑offs
- Work with security and finance
The same ground for every candidate. For a given role, every candidate answers the same final questions, built with the hiring manager around what the role really needs.
Ready for the next steps. After our call, we tell you how the company runs its interviews, who you will meet at each step and what each step is meant to assess.
What the company will assess, step by step
Each company runs its own process, and we walk you through its steps before you start. Cloud architecture processes often combine the steps below, and the depth expected at each step grows with your level.
- An architecture caseA system to design on the cloud, such as a landing zone or a migration, with network, security, cost and reliability.
- A deep dive on your past workOne architecture you designed, discussed in depth: the context, your choices and what you would change today.
- A trade‑off discussionQuestions on cost, security and reliability, often with someone from security or leadership.
- Meeting the manager and the teamHow you work, how you take decisions with others and what the team expects in your first months.
- Cloud ArchitectYou design a clean solution, explain each choice in simple words and ask the right questions about the needs.
- SeniorYou lead the design, weigh cost, security and reliability, and point out risks and limits before you are asked.
- PrincipalYou run most of the interview as a peer, connect the design to the strategy of the company and to the needs of several teams.
How to prepare as a cloud architect
Practical advice for each step of a cloud architecture process, from the way you introduce yourself to the questions you ask at the end of each interview.
Start with the cloud architectures you worked on, their scale and your part in them. Mention your stack in one sentence, then close with what you want next.
For each one, prepare the context, the constraints, your decision, the options you set aside, the result and what you would change today. Say "we" for the team and "I" for your own part.
Interviewers often ask you to draw an architecture you designed. Practise drawing it with the accounts, networks, access rules and main services.
In an architecture case, ask about the users, the data, the rules and the budget before you draw anything.
Prepare the monthly costs of the platforms you designed and how you reduced them, with FinOps practices or better choices.
Rules on AI coding assistants differ from one company to the next, and sometimes from one step to the next. Ask before each step, and when they are allowed, explain what you ask the tool and how you check its output.
- Walk us through a cloud architecture you designed.
- How would you design a landing zone for a new company?
- How do you reduce cloud costs and keep teams moving fast?
- How do you plan a migration from a data center to the cloud?
- Which clouds does the company use today, and why?
- Who owns the landing zones and the standards?
- How do architects and security teams work together?
- How does the company follow cloud costs?
- Which migrations or projects are planned this year?
- How does the team use AI coding tools day to day?
Where cloud architects come from, and where they go
The roles people most often hold before this one, and the ones they most often move to.
Some cloud architects also become heads of cloud.