Cloud Platform Enablement Architect

Full Job Description

Cloud Platform Enablement Architect
At the Department of Commerce, we’re reimagining what’s possible in government. We’re builders, thinkers, and change-makers, working at the intersection of innovation, community, and impact. From unlocking critical funding to fueling inclusive economic growth, we’re turning big ideas into real-world solutions that uplift people and places.

Our agency’s strength lies in the diversity of our workforce and the breadth of the lived experiences and perspectives employees bring to the work.

We believe equity is not just a value but a practice, which is reflected in how we design programs, engage communities, and deliver outcomes.

We foster a workplace culture where curiosity is encouraged, bold thinking is welcomed, and collaboration drives our impact.

This job is a commitment to reshape systems so they work better for everyone. If you’re ready to challenge the status quo and build meaningful connections, we want to meet you.

Let’s build what’s next, together.

The Cloud Platform Enablement Architect is responsible for defining and evolving the agency’s cloud platform development architecture and Platform Baseline Standards (PBS). This role ensures that product and application teams can consistently deliver secure, reliable, and cost-effective solutions across state-authorized environments, including state data centers, hybrid/on-premises setups, and government-authorized cloud offerings such as Azure Government or AWS GovCloud (US).

Key responsibilities include producing reference architectures, application landing-zone patterns, and policy-backed guardrails encompassing policy-as-code, identity, observability, and security. The architect operates the platform as a product, complete with a roadmap, templates, documentation, training, and adoption Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Serving as the intermediary between business priorities and delivery teams, the architect facilitates developer enablement through golden paths, which include repository templates, pipeline automation, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) modules, all designed with security and compliance as default features. They lead efforts in application modernization towards cloud-native designs, emphasizing API-first, PaaS-first, serverless/containers, and event-driven patterns. Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) are utilized to ensure transparency and auditability of decisions.

The Cloud Platform Enablement Architect also defines service-level guidance, such as Service Level Objectives (SLOs), and establishes observability/resiliency patterns to guarantee measurable, dependable, and cost-aware services from the outset, irrespective of provider toolsets or the mix of on-premises and cloud capabilities.

It is important to note that this position is focused on defining patterns, PBS, and enablement assets. Implementation or operation of tenant/account resources, servers, pipelines/agents, backups, or daily monitoring/on-call duties remain the responsibility of the existing Cloud Solutions Architect and Infrastructure/Operations teams.

Requirements

Platform Reference Architecture & Patterns
Define and maintain the agency’s reference architectures, application patterns, and Platform Baseline Standards (PBS) so solutions meet security, compliance, reliability, and cost requirements across state-authorized environments. Own the application layer (identity/use in apps, service integration, data protection, resiliency) and collaborate with IT Operations architects on provider landing-zone architecture (e.g., Azure/AWS/GCP networking/infra) and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) integration to avoid overlap.
Tasks include:
• Create and maintain version-controlled reference architectures (web/API, event-driven, scheduled, analytics) with layered diagrams (Context - System - Component - Code) and narrative guidance in the Platform Playbook.
• Define PBS-compliant application patterns that specify app identity and secret use, permitted exposure of endpoints and boundary controls, required encryption in transit/at rest, mandatory app tags/metadata, app-tier backup/restore expectations, and the cost/usage signals apps must emit for reporting and guardrails.
• Partner with IT Operations/Security architects to design and evolve provider landing-zone architecture (e.g., Azure landing zones, shared networking, identity, logging) and consume their IaC modules (e.g., Terraform/Pulumi) inside application templates; supply application-layer requirements and integration points to ensure PBS alignment.
• Convert policy into policy-as-code guardrails (such as location/SKU allowlists, encryption, network exposure, tagging) and outline criteria for enforcement and exceptions.
• Maintain a record of anti-patterns, draft depreciation schedules, create migration documentation, and prepare sunset notifications.
• Develop reference dataflow and trust-boundary models for common patterns, including public web, partner integrations, and low-code extenders.
• Please provide platform compatibility matrices, including approved services and SKUs, as well as version and runtime baselines. Additionally, incorporate a straightforward waiver workflow documented through Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).

Developer Enablement & Knowledge (Golden Paths)
Manage enablement as a product by providing golden paths, including repository templates, Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) modules. Accompany these with clear documentation and training to ensure PBS-compliant delivery becomes the standard practice.
Tasks include:
• Provide self-service scaffolding, including template catalogs or CLI wizards, that provisions PBS landing zones, pipeline frameworks, and sample applications efficiently.
• Develop and maintain repository templates and CI/CD gates, incorporating security scans, policy checks, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) plans and applications, and approvals, with semantic versioning and release notes.
• Curate the Platform Playbook, offering quick start guides, ten-minute tours, FAQs, and code samples, along with clear decision trees to determine the appropriate pattern usage.
• Conduct office hours and clinics; publish comprehensive how-to labs on authentication, API publishing, event onboarding, secret rotation, and cost tagging.
• Implement developer telemetry for enablement assets, such as template usage and pipeline adoption, to inform backlog priorities.
• Provide onboarding checklists and readiness criteria for new teams, coordinating with Operations and Security for seamless handoffs.

Application & Integration Architecture (Modernization)
Facilitate the migration of priority systems from legacy implementations to cloud-native architectures and implement consistent integration patterns (API-first and/or event-driven) to ensure safe and predictable system interoperability.
Tasks include:
• Conduct modernization assessments and define target-state architectures, such as API-first, serverless/containers, and managed data services, with phased roadmaps.
• Develop migration playbooks that include strategies like strangler-fig, domain decomposition, data offload/dual-write, and blue green/parallel run, along with rollback and contingency plans.
• Establish API gateway standards and publish reusable API skeletons covering aspects such as authorization/authentication, versioning, throttling/quotas, error models, and deprecation policies.
• Define event patterns including schema versioning, idempotency keys, retries, dead-letter queues, outbox/inbox scenarios, and eventual consistency.
• Standardize ETL/ELT processes to analytics, incorporating lineage, quality checks, and PII handling; specify contract tests for interfaces.
• Govern low-code extensibility by developing an environment strategy, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), and patterns for pro-code interoperability.

Reliability, Observability & Performance
Integrate comprehensive observability and resiliency into platform patterns, aligning telemetry with business service objectives and actionable runbooks, while remaining independent of any specific monitoring stack.
Tasks include:
• Define SLO/SLI guidance and establish a cross-platform telemetry model (traces/metrics/logs), including correlation/trace propagation and standard dashboards/alerts.
• Codify resilience practices (timeouts, retries, circuit breakers, bulkheads, caching, hedging) and integrate load/performance testing guidance into templates and pipelines.
• Establish alert routing and severity policies mapped to business impact; provide runbook templates and define escalation paths with Operations/Security teams.
• Provide capacity and scaling guidance (auto scale policies, queue depth budgets, concurrency limits) specific to each archetype.
• Capture post-incident learnings and incorporate improvements back into patterns and best practices.

Governance, Road mapping, Cost & Change
Implement lightweight architecture governance, lead value-driven road mapping initiatives, and manage platform changes to ensure standards coherence, increase adoption, and facilitate evolution with minimal disruption, all while upholding fiscal responsibility.
Tasks include:
• Chair and facilitate architecture reviews, document decisions and conditions in ADRs, and manage waivers with compensating controls and time-boxed expirations.
• Perform thorough trade-off analyses between SaaS, PaaS, and custom solutions, including ROI and TCO rationales. Integrate cloud service cost controls (such as budgets and quotas, tags and labels, right sizing, and idle resource termination) into templates and pipelines.
• Maintain a modernization roadmap sequenced by value and risk, coordinate release communications, opt-in pilots, feature flags, and deprecation timelines with change-advisory practices.
• Operate pattern communities of practice; align with Security, Data, Enterprise Architecture, and Operations on cross-cutting standards.
• Monitor adoption and satisfaction of platform assets; adjust the roadmap based on measurable outcomes and stakeholder feedback.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:
Eight (8) years of professional IT experience in 2 of the following 3 IT disciplines:
1. Cloud Platform Architecture & Enablement: experience independently defining reference architectures, application landing zones, Platform Baseline Standards (PBS), and policy-as-code; producing reusable patterns for identity, networking, encryption, tagging, backup posture, and cost controls.
2. Application & Integration Architecture: experience designing Application Programming Interface (API)-first and/or event-driven solutions (e.g., API gateways, message brokers, publish/subscribe), data movement (ETL/ELT) to analytics, and governed low-code extensibility (e.g., Microsoft Power Platform) with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM).
3. Developer Enablement & DevOps: experience creating repository templates, Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) modules, plus establishing Service Level Objectives (SLOs)/Service Level Indicators (SLIs) and cross-platform telemetry standards (vendor-neutral or equivalent).
OR
Associate’s degree in IT program or closely related field and six (6) years of recent professional experience listed above.
OR
Bachelor’s degree or higher in Information Technology program or closely related field and four (4) years of recent professional experience listed above.

Experience must include at least one (1) year serving as a technical lead (non-supervisory), such as leading architecture reviews, facilitating design decisions, mentoring engineers, and documenting Architecture Decision Records (ADRs). Experience can be obtained concurrently with other professional experiences listed above. Experience in effectively communicating and aiding a diverse set of information technology peers.

Two (2) years or more of hands-on experience with the following:
• Experience with at least one major cloud platform (for example, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), or Google Cloud Platform (GCP); government-authorized offerings acceptable), with an emphasis on Platform as a Service (PaaS)/serverless and platform services (not only Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) virtual machines).
• Demonstrated proficiency with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and CI/CD automation, including authoring or maintaining reusable modules/templates and pipeline policies/gates.
• Demonstrated experience embedding Security-by-Design and compliance (identity/workload identities, centralized secrets, encryption, data classification/protection, policy-as-code) aligned to state frameworks (for example, NIST 800-53, FedRAMP, HIPAA, CJIS) as applicable.
• Demonstrated experience producing architecture artifacts (reference architecture, PBS, landing-zone patterns, ADRs, playbooks) and maintaining a versioned Platform Playbook or equivalent documentation.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in IT/CS/Cybersecurity/Data/IS, or formal training in TOGAF, ITIL 4, or Prosci/ADKAR
• Certifications in public sector security/compliance (e.g., CCSP, CISSP/CISM), FinOps Practitioner, or training in records/accessibility (e.g., Section 508/WCAG)
• Experience with interagency design, establishing and managing trust boundaries, creating and negotiating data-sharing agreements, and developing and maintaining canonical data definitions.
• Experience in Continuity of Operations (COOP) leadership, including participation in tabletop exercises, development of minimum viable service patterns, and creation of reconstitution playbooks.
• Experience in translating policies and managing control inheritance, including mapping statutes and regulations to technical control sets, creating shared-control matrices, and developing evidence plans.
• Experience in platform product analytics and adoption management, including KPIs/OKRs, usage telemetry for enablement assets, and release impact assessments.
• Experience in managing enterprise change for standards, including deprecation campaigns, migration windows, opt-in pilots, and stakeholder communications.
• Expertise in accessibility, records management, and e-discovery governance, including retention schedules in cloud environments, litigation hold/e-discovery workflows, and 508/WCAG compliance reviews.
• Experience in instructional design for technical audiences, including curriculum development, lab creation, internal badging, and community practice facilitation.

To be considered for this position the following are needed:

• A complete and detailed online application.
• A cover letter (enter online) - that details how your skills and experience make you an ideal candidate for this position
• At least three professional references (enter online).

For questions about this recruitment, please contact our recruitment team via email: comrecruitment@commerce.wa.gov - please reference the job number in your message.

Additional Information

Work from Anywhere in Washington State
This position may be located anywhere within Washington State though occasional travel to a Commerce office building or in-state travel to attend events or meetings may be required. If selected, you will need to travel to pick up equipment and receive instruction. Many Commerce employees work remotely or have a hybrid schedule.

This recruitment may be used to fill future vacancies over the next 60 days.

Technical support is provided by NEOGOV, 855-524-5627 (can't log in, password or email issues, error messages). DES job seeker support may answer general questions regarding the recruiting system at careershelp@des.wa.gov.

Our Commitment to Equal Opportunity
The Washington State Department of Commerce is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a working environment that includes and respects cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of disability, persons over 40 years of age, veterans or people with military status, and people of all sexual orientations and gender identities are encouraged to apply. Persons needing accommodation in the application, testing, or interview process or this job announcement in an alternative format may email Human Resources at Human.Resources@commerce.wa.gov. Applicants who are deaf or hard of hearing may call through the Washington Relay Service by dialing 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388.

Department of Commerce also offers a competitive benefits package including: medical and dental insurance benefits, retirement and deferred compensation plans, 11 paid holidays each year, 14-25 vacation days per year (depending on length of employment), 8 hours of sick leave per month (if full time employed), bereavement leave, an employee assistance program, as well as other benefits. Please see the Benefits Tab for more details.