Cloud Architect (IT Manager I) - 60024358

Full Job Description

The mission of the South Carolina Department of Education is to serve students, support teachers, empower parents, and engage the community so that every student graduates prepared to reach their full potential.

Job Purpose:

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) seeks an experienced, technically driven Cloud Architect to serve as the technical authority for the agency's cloud infrastructure strategy, architecture, and governance.

This role is responsible for designing, implementing, and evolving a secure, scalable, and cost-effective cloud environment that supports SCDE's full portfolio of technology systems — from Salesforce CRM and MuleSoft integration to Microsoft Azure, AWS, and agency data and reporting platforms.

The Cloud Architect will own the agency's cloud roadmap across all domains — infrastructure, data, application, and security — ensuring cloud investments align with SCDE's multi-year IT modernization strategy and meet federal and state compliance mandates including Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), and applicable National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive multi-year cloud architecture roadmap spanning Infrastructure, Data, Application, and Security domains, aligned to SCDE's IT modernization strategy and agency mission.
• Design, configure, and govern SCDE's multi-cloud environment
• Define cloud standards, architecture patterns, and reference designs for use across all SCDE development teams and implementation vendors.
• Evaluate and recommend cloud platforms, tools, and managed services; produce cost-benefit analyses and architecture recommendations for IT leadership.
• Plan and oversee migration of remaining on-premises infrastructure to cloud-native solutions, including mission-critical applications, data pipelines, and integration layers.
• Collaborate with integration architects to ensure data flows between systems, and cloud data platforms are properly designed and sequenced.
• Develop and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for cloud resource provisioning, consumption, and decommissioning.
• Partner with the SCDE Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to embed security requirements into cloud architecture.
• Ensure all cloud systems comply with applicable federal and state mandates: FERPA (student data privacy), IDEA, COPPA, CIPA, NIST SP 800-53, and SC state IT security policies.
• Implement cloud governance frameworks covering tagging, cost allocation, role-based access control (RBAC), data residency, and audit logging; act as Tier-3 escalation point for cloud platform incidents.
• Monitor cloud resource utilization across all SCDE tenants; identify and implement cost optimization opportunities through rightsizing, reserved instances, and lifecycle policies.
• Track SaaS/PaaS cloud spending against budget and alert Office of Information Technology leadership proactively when usage trends risk exceeding allocations; manage cloud vendor relationships including Microsoft, Salesforce, and MuleSoft.
• Communicate cloud architecture concepts clearly to both technical teams and non-technical agency leadership and program directors; produce architecture diagrams, topology documents, and architecture decision records (ADRs).
• Mentor cloud engineers and junior architects; collaborate with Agile delivery teams to review sprint-level infrastructure tasks for alignment with enterprise cloud standards and the long-term roadmap.

This position is located in the Office of Information Technology.

Requirements

A bachelor's degree in communications, business administration, information technology, mathematics, statistics, management information science or a related field and experience in telecommunications, data processing and/or information technology. Relevant experience may substitute for the bachelor's degree on a year-for-year basis.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Systems Analysis, or a related field.
• Minimum five to seven (5–7) years of progressive IT experience, with at least three (3) years in cloud architecture, cloud infrastructure design, or enterprise systems architecture.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience with at least two (2) major cloud platforms: Microsoft Azure (strongly preferred given SCDE's Microsoft ecosystem), Amazon Web Services (AWS), or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Proven experience leading or significantly contributing to on-premises-to-cloud migration projects at an enterprise or government scale.
• Experience designing secure, highly available cloud architectures — including networking, compute, storage, IAM, and monitoring — in regulated or compliance-driven environments.
• Familiarity with Salesforce platform capabilities and MuleSoft integration architecture sufficient to guide governance and integration design decisions.
• Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code tools (Terraform, Bicep, or Ansible) and scripting languages (Python, PowerShell, or Bash).
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical architecture concepts for non-technical stakeholders.
• At least one (1) cloud architecture certification required: Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) strongly preferred; AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional or Google Professional Cloud Architect also accepted.
• Preferred: Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), Azure Security Engineer (AZ-500), HashiCorp Terraform Associate, TOGAF, or Salesforce Integration Architect certification.
• Preferred experience in K-12 education, state government, or other compliance-driven public sector environments with exposure to FERPA, IDEA, Title I, or EDFacts reporting requirements.

Additional Information

As a part of a generous compensation package, we offer comprehensive benefits that include generous paid time off, preeminent health care benefits, professional development opportunities, pension, and a 401(k).

The South Carolina Department of Education offers an exceptional benefits package that includes:

• Health, Dental, Vision, Long Term Disability, and Life Insurance for Employee, Spouse, and Children.
• 15 days annual (vacation) leave per year.
• 15 days sick leave per year.
• 13 paid holidays.
• State Retirement Plan and Deferred Compensation Programs.

ONLY THOSE APPLICANTS CHOSEN FOR AN INTERVIEW WILL BE NOTIFIED BY LETTER THAT THE POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED.

http://www.ed.sc.gov/jobs/human-resources/title-ix-nondiscrimination/