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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Cloud Consultant

💰 $90,000 - $160,000

CloudConsultingInfrastructureDevOpsArchitecture

🎯 Role Definition

As a Cloud Consultant you will advise enterprise clients on cloud architecture, migration, optimization, and operations across public and hybrid cloud platforms. You will design secure, scalable, cost‑effective cloud solutions, drive technical delivery from assessment to production, and act as a trusted advisor to technology and business stakeholders. This role blends hands‑on implementation with strategic consulting, solution design, governance, and knowledge transfer.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Systems Engineer, Cloud Engineer, or DevOps Engineer transitioning from hands‑on infrastructure roles.
  • Solutions Architect or Application Architect with experience in cloud migrations.
  • IT Consultant or Technical Project Manager with significant cloud project exposure.

Advancement To:

  • Senior Cloud Consultant / Lead Cloud Consultant
  • Cloud Solutions Architect / Principal Cloud Architect
  • Head of Cloud Strategy / Cloud Practice Lead
  • Director of Cloud Infrastructure, VP of Cloud Services

Lateral Moves:

  • Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) / Platform Engineer
  • DevOps/DevSecOps Lead
  • Multi‑cloud Architect / Security Architect

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Conduct comprehensive cloud readiness assessments and technical discovery workshops, producing detailed lift‑and‑shift, replatform, and refactor migration plans that include cost estimates, risk analysis, dependencies, and milestone schedules for AWS, Azure, and GCP migrations.
  • Architect end‑to‑end multi‑tier cloud solutions (networking, compute, storage, databases, identity, and security) that meet business requirements for availability, resiliency, compliance, and performance, including design of VPCs/subnets, routing, firewalls, and hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, VPN).
  • Design and implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) templates and modules using Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or ARM templates to provision repeatable, version‑controlled, and auditable cloud infrastructure across environments (dev/test/prod).
  • Lead migration execution and cutover activities for critical workloads — including lift‑and‑shift, rehosting, replatforming, and refactoring strategies — coordinating data migration, application modernization, and minimal downtime approaches using tools such as AWS DMS, Azure Migrate, Velero, or third‑party migration platforms.
  • Define cloud security architecture and enforce best practices around IAM, least privilege, RBAC, network segmentation, encryption (at rest and in transit), key management (KMS), and secrets management (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault).
  • Build and operationalize scalable container orchestration platforms (Kubernetes, EKS, AKS, GKE), including cluster provisioning, cluster autoscaling, CI/CD integration, namespace and RBAC strategies, and GitOps patterns for application delivery.
  • Implement CI/CD pipelines and release automation using Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or equivalent tools to accelerate secure deployment, automated testing, and rollback procedures for cloud native and legacy applications.
  • Design and implement observability, monitoring, and logging solutions (CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Stackdriver/Cloud Operations, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/EFK) with alerting, dashboards, and runbooks to enable SRE practices and reduce mean time to detection and recovery (MTTD/MTTR).
  • Develop governance frameworks and landing zone blueprints that standardize subscription/account structure, tagging, cost allocation, policy enforcement (AWS Organizations, Azure Policy, GCP Organization Policies), and resource lifecycle management for enterprise adoption.
  • Perform cloud cost optimization and financial governance activities: analyze spend, create budgets and alerts, implement reserved instances/savings plans, right‑size resources, and recommend FinOps practices and tools (AWS Cost Explorer, CloudHealth, Azure Cost Management).
  • Lead security and compliance assessments, produce remediation plans, and support audits to meet industry standards and frameworks such as SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and NIST, including implementation of logging retention, access reviews, and vulnerability management processes.
  • Design disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plans, including backup strategies (S3 Glacier, Azure Backup), cross‑region replication, RTO/RPO definitions, and DR runbooks tested via scheduled failover drills.
  • Collaborate with application and database teams to refactor monoliths into microservices or cloud native designs, advise on serverless patterns (Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Functions) where appropriate, and guide usage of managed platform services (RDS, Cloud SQL, Cosmos DB).
  • Execute POC (proof of concept) and prototype exercises to validate architecture choices, performance projections, and integration approaches, producing technical whitepapers and recommendation reports for client decision making.
  • Provide technical leadership and mentoring to client teams and internal engineers, transfer knowledge via workshops, training sessions, and documentation, and coach teams on cloud best practices, platform engineering, and operational excellence.
  • Define and implement secure networking topologies for hybrid and multi‑cloud environments, including transit gateways, service mesh, private connectivity, hybrid DNS, and zero trust network access considerations.
  • Evaluate and select third‑party vendors and managed services, craft RFP responses, and provide technical input for procurement decisions and contract negotiations related to cloud products and professional services.
  • Troubleshoot complex production incidents, lead incident response coordination with cross‑functional teams, conduct post‑incident reviews, and implement preventive controls to reduce recurrence and operational risk.
  • Drive automation of operational tasks and repetitive processes through scripting (Python, Bash) and tooling, increasing reliability and reducing manual intervention for patching, scaling, and deployments.
  • Produce high‑quality architecture diagrams, technical specifications, runbooks, and migration playbooks that communicate design decisions, operational runbooks, rollback plans, and responsibilities to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
  • Support change management and adoption plans by working with product owners, PMOs, and business stakeholders to align cloud initiatives with business objectives, SLAs, and KPIs.
  • Maintain up‑to‑date knowledge of cloud vendor roadmaps, new services, and competitive offerings, providing thought leadership on emerging patterns such as edge computing, AI/ML integrations, and serverless architectures.
  • Estimate effort, create work breakdowns, and contribute to project plans, resource forecasts, and delivery timelines; act as a technical lead in client engagements and interface with senior client leadership.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Deep experience with at least one hyperscaler: AWS (Solutions Architect), Microsoft Azure (Solutions Architect), or Google Cloud Platform (Professional Cloud Architect); familiarity with multi‑cloud deployments is strongly preferred.
  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC): expert in Terraform modules and state management, AWS CloudFormation, or Azure ARM/Bicep templates to automate infrastructure provisioning.
  • Containerization & Orchestration: hands‑on with Docker, Kubernetes (EKS/AKS/GKE), Helm charts, and GitOps workflows.
  • Automation & CI/CD: designing and implementing pipelines using Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps with automated testing and deployment strategies.
  • Networking and Hybrid Connectivity: VPC/VNet design, routing, NAT, load balancing (ALB/ELB, Azure Load Balancer), transit gateways, and private connectivity solutions (Direct Connect, ExpressRoute).
  • Cloud Security & Identity: IAM strategy, RBAC, SSO, federation (SAML/OAuth/OpenID Connect), secrets management, and experience enforcing security baselines and policies.
  • Monitoring & Observability: CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/EFK stack, distributed tracing, log aggregation, and alerting frameworks.
  • Scripting & Automation Languages: proficient in Python, Bash, PowerShell, and experience with SDKs/CLIs for cloud automation.
  • Databases & Storage: experience with managed RDBMS (RDS, Cloud SQL, Azure Database), NoSQL (DynamoDB, Cosmos DB), object storage (S3, Blob Storage), and caching (ElastiCache, Redis).
  • Cost Management & FinOps: using cost tools (AWS Cost Explorer, CloudHealth, Azure Cost Management), rightsizing, reserved instances/savings plans, and tagging strategies for chargeback.
  • Migration Tools & Methods: AWS Migration Hub, Azure Migrate, Database Migration Service, replication tools, and data transfer strategies.
  • Observability & Performance Tuning: performance profiling, capacity planning, autoscaling policies, and query/compute optimization for cloud workloads.
  • Disaster Recovery & Backup: designing cross‑region backups, RTO/RPO alignment, backup tools and retention policies.
  • Enterprise Architecture & Governance: landing zones, subscription/account design, policy-as-code, organizational units, and blueprint governance.
  • DevSecOps Practices: integrating security into CI/CD, SAST/DAST tools, container scanning, and runtime protection.

Soft Skills

  • Excellent client‑facing communication: translate complex technical concepts into business outcomes and executive summaries.
  • Strong stakeholder management and influencing: guide decisions across engineering, product, finance, and compliance teams.
  • Strategic thinking and business acumen: align cloud architecture with cost, risk, and revenue objectives.
  • Problem solving and analytical mindset: deconstruct ambiguous problems and propose practical, measurable solutions.
  • Team leadership and mentoring: coach junior engineers and client teams to build sustainable operational capabilities.
  • Project and time management: estimate effort accurately, prioritize work, and deliver on timelines under ambiguity.
  • Presentation and workshop facilitation: run technical workshops, training sessions, and executive briefings.
  • Adaptability and continuous learning: stay current on cloud innovations and translate them into client value.
  • Negotiation and vendor management: evaluate third‑party solutions and negotiate technical and commercial terms.
  • Documentation and knowledge transfer: produce clear runbooks, SOPs, and architecture documents for long‑term client success.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline OR equivalent practical experience in cloud technologies.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's degree in Computer Science, Cloud Computing, Business Administration (MBA) with technology focus, or related advanced degree.
  • Industry certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate or Professional), Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect, Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect, Terraform Associate, CISSP, or PMP are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology / Systems
  • Software Engineering
  • Cloud Computing / Distributed Systems
  • Electrical or Network Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 4–10 years of IT experience with 3+ years focused on cloud architecture, migrations, or consulting engagements.

Preferred:

  • 5+ years designing and implementing cloud solutions in at least one major public cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP) and experience leading multi‑cloud or enterprise migration projects.
  • Prior consulting or client‑facing experience delivering cloud transformation programs, with a proven track record of successful migrations, cost savings, or improved operational metrics.
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