Cloud Architecture & Engineering, Director in Ottawa

At PwC, our people in infrastructure focus on designing and implementing robust, secure IT systems that support business operations. They enable the smooth functioning of networks, servers, and data centres to optimise performance and minimise downtime. Those in site reliability engineering at PwC will focus on enabling the reliability, scalability, and performance of organisational technology infrastructure. This will include working to automate processes, monitor systems, and resolve incidents to maintain a seamless user experience.

As a Director, Cloud Architecture & Engineering, you’ll work as part of a team of problem solvers, helping to solve business issues, deliver high-quality client service and operational efficiency. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• You will play a pivotal leadership role at the intersection of cloud strategy, architecture, engineering, and client engagement.
• This role combines deep technical cloud expertise with strategic leadership, practice development, and team coaching.
• You will shape and scale cloud capabilities, guide clients through complex transformation journeys, and help drive PwC’s cloud first vision.
• You will be responsible for designing and governing enterprise grade cloud architectures while also driving advisory engagements, leading teams, strengthening client relationships, and contributing to the innovation pipeline for cloud-based solutions and assets.

This role requires a seasoned cloud leader who can operate fluently across business strategy, modern cloud architectures, and hands-on technical depth—while mentoring teams and influencing both internal and client executives.

Cloud Architecture & Engineering Leadership

• Lead the design, governance, and implementation of end-to-end cloud architectures aligned to business goals and industry best practices.
• Architect scalable, secure, and cost optimized cloud solutions across AWS, Azure, and GCP.
• Develop cloud foundation blueprints, reference architectures, and reusable patterns.
• Oversee the design and optimization of Kubernetes platforms (EKS, AKS, GKE) and containerized environments.
• Guide the development and automation of cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, AWS CDK, ARM, etc.).
• Provide technical guidance on compute, storage, networking, security, identity, data services, and DevOps tooling.

Cloud Advisory & Client Engagement

• Serve as a trusted advisor to executive-level stakeholders, helping them define and execute cloud strategies and operating models.
• Assess existing environments, develop modernization roadmaps, and oversee cloud migration programs.
• Lead proposal creation, solutioning activities, statements of work, and client presentations.
• Communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences clearly and effectively.
• Identify and prioritize client use cases and translate business requirements into architectural approaches and execution plans.

Practice & Team Leadership

• Build, lead, and mentor teams of cloud architects, engineers, and technical specialists.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning, experimentation, and cloud innovation.
• Recruit and grow diverse technical talent, ensuring strong career development and retention.
• Collaborate with practice leadership to define strategic direction, emerging offerings, and go-to-market assets.
• Lead initiatives that strengthen practice foundations: capability models, delivery frameworks, accelerators, patterns, and reusable assets.

Innovation, Delivery & Thought Leadership

• Lead technical innovation cycles to evaluate, test, and showcase new cloud technologies, tools, and architectures.
• Drive and participate in hands-on cloud prototyping, labbing, and solution validation.
• Develop technical demos, asset-driven solutions, and market-aligned accelerators.
• Present at internal and external events, contributing to PwC’s thought leadership presence.
• Maintain active engagement with cloud provider alliances and product engineering teams to share early insights and influence product evolution.

Experiences and skills you’ll use to solve Technical Expertise

• Extensive experience in cloud architecture and engineering across AWS (primary), Azure, and/or GCP.
• Deep knowledge of Kubernetes, containers, microservices, serverless architectures, and modern DevOps practices.
• Hands-on experience with IaC tools (Terraform strongly preferred), CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, Argo, etc.), and automated deployment patterns.
• Strong understanding of cloud security, IAM, network segmentation, encryption, monitoring, cost optimization, and governance frameworks.
• Experience supporting modernization programs such as application migration, refactoring, API strategies, and technical debt remediation.
• AI-assisted development and prior experience deploying agentic workloads and MLOps pipelines is an asset.

Leadership & Consulting Skills

• Demonstrated experience leading cloud-focused teams and initiatives in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Strong executive communication skills suitable for client-facing consulting environments.
• Ability to bridge business and technical perspectives and articulate value propositions, architecture decisions, and trade-offs.
• Strategic mindset with a bias toward execution, innovation, and measurable impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Significant cloud architecture and engineering leadership experience.
• Preferred: AWS Solutions Architect (Professional); Azure or GCP Architect certifications; Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or CKAD; Terraform Associate Certification.
• Ability to obtain Government of Canada Security Clearance; Level 2 security clearance is an asset.

This role does not require professional engineering licensure and is not classified as a formal engineering position under provincial regulatory definitions. While individuals with a P.Eng designation are welcome to apply, the responsibilities of this role do not involve the practice of professional engineering as defined by applicable legislation.

PwC Canada is committed to cultivating an inclusive, hybrid work environment. Exact expectations for your team can be discussed with your interviewer.

This position ensures continuity and upholds our standards of excellence following the departure of a valued team member. The salary range for this position is $197,000 - $247,000. The posted salary range represents the expected hiring range for PwC locations in major city centres. Given our national recruiting approach, ranges may vary for positions in other locations. At PwC Canada, base salary is determined by your skills, experience, qualifications and work location. In addition to base salary, eligible employees may have opportunities to participate in variable incentive pay programs which are designed to reward individual and firm-wide achievements. We are committed to offering competitive compensation and adhere to all relevant pay transparency legislation. During the hiring process, our Talent Acquisition team will provide details about our comprehensive total rewards package.

PwC Canada acknowledges that we work and live across Turtle Island, on the land that is now known as Canada, which are the lands of the ancestral, treaty and unceded territories of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples. We recognize the systemic racism, colonialism and oppression that Indigenous Peoples have experienced and still go through, and we commit to allyship and solidarity.