Location: Anderlecht
Languages: English, French and Dutch
Employment Type: Freelance
Duration: 6-month project (starting September 2025) with potential for extension
Context of the mission/Objective(s) of the job:
As a Senior IT Cloud Technical Architect, you will play a strategic and technical leadership role in designing, governing, and evolving our cloud ecosystem across Azure and multi-cloud platforms. Your focus will be to define scalable, secure, and cost-optimized cloud solutions aligned with enterprise architecture standards, supporting both digital transformation and platform engineering initiatives.
This role demands both technical excellence and cross-functional collaboration, contributing to enterprise-wide cloud adoption, automation, and modernization strategies. You will act as a cloud authority, ensuring best practices in governance, security, compliance, and operational readiness.
Responsibilities.
· Architectural Leadership: Join the Cloud Services team and take a leading role in translating business and IT strategies into scalable, secure, and resilient cloud solutions. Design and govern Azure and multi-cloud reference architectures, aligning technical implementations with enterprise architecture standards. Contribute to the development of reusable components and platform building blocks to enable consistent cloud adoption.
· Cloud Governance and Standards: Define and enforce enterprise-wide cloud standards covering networking, identity, resource organization, cost management, and security. Develop and maintain landing zones and shared service models that ensure compliance, operational efficiency, and scalability. Contribute to the Cloud Design Authority and document decisions using standardized formats such as ADRs.
· Infrastructure Automation and DevOps Enablement : Promote automation-first approaches through Infrastructure as Code. Support the integration of CI/CD pipelines to enable secure and consistent cloud deployments. Collaborate with engineering teams to industrialize cloud provisioning and ensure reusability of components.
· Security and Compliance Integration: Embed security best practices into cloud designs, including Zero Trust principles, network segmentation, encryption, and identity-based access control. Collaborate with CISO teams to ensure cloud environments meet internal and regulatory compliance standards such as NIS2, ISO 27001, and CIS Benchmarks. Support the implementation of guardrails using Azure Policy, Defender for Cloud, and role-based access models.
· Cloud Operations and Optimization: Support the development of operational models and readiness plans, ensuring monitoring, logging, and cost management capabilities are integrated into every solution. Guide workload placement strategies across cloud regions and availability zones, balancing resilience and cost. Collaborate with platform teams to streamline cloud operations through automation and observability practices.
· Data Services and Cloud-native Databases : Support the design and integration of database solutions within cloud architectures, ensuring alignment with performance,to enable managed database services, data encryption strategies, backup policies, and high-availability configurations. Ensure architectural decisions support compliance, DR, and performance SLAs.
· Cloud Financial Management (FinOps) : Implement and promote FinOps practices to ensure financial accountability across cloud environments. Define cost allocation strategies, enforce tagging policies, and establish chargeback/showback models in collaboration with finance teams. Support forecasting and budgeting activities through consumption insights, cost optimization techniques, and continuous monitoring of cloud spend. Engage with stakeholders to drive a culture of cost-awareness and value-driven cloud usage.
· Collaboration and Mentorship: Work closely with cross-functional teams, providing guidance and mentorship to technical staff and ensuring successful project delivery.
Requirements.
Educational Background:
· A master's degree in computer science, information systems, or equivalent hands-on experience managing complex data center operations
Technical Expertise:
· Extensive hands-on experience in Microsoft Azure cloud architecture, including governance, landing zones, network segmentation, identity management, and secure connectivity.
· Strong knowledge of multi-cloud and hybrid integration strategies
· Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code using tools such as Terraform (preferred), ARM templates, with the ability to design modular, reusable, and secure automation components.
· Practical knowledge of DevOps and GitOps approaches for cloud-native workloads, leveraging tools such as Azure DevOps and Flux to enable continuous deployment and ensure environment consistency.
· Familiarity with container orchestration and Kubernetes (preferably AKS), including workload identity and network policy design.
· Solid understanding of cloud-native services (PaaS, serverless, storage, monitoring) and their integration.
· Good grasp of cloud networking and security design, including Zero Trust principles, segmentation, and policy enforcement.
· Experience integrating security and compliance controls into cloud architectures (e.g., NIS2, ISO 27001, CIS Benchmarks, Defender for Cloud).
· Experience designing and integrating database services into cloud architectures, considering availability, security, and performance requirements.
· Practical knowledge of FinOps principles and cloud cost optimization techniques, including tagging, chargeback, and showback models.
Experience:
· Minimum 15 years of IT experience, with at least 10 years focused specifically on cloud architecture.
· Proven experience designing, delivering, and governing enterprise-scale cloud solutions in regulated or large-scale environments.
· Demonstrated ability to define standards, drive architectural decisions, and guide solution delivery across multiple teams and domains.
· Experience working in a Cloud Center of Excellence or similar governance framework is a plus.
Leadership and Communication:
· Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical solutions to business stakeholders and C-level leadership.
· Capable of working autonomously while contributing effectively to cross-functional teams.
· Experienced in mentoring and guiding architects, engineers, and project stakeholders toward successful cloud outcomes.
Soft Skills:
· Analytical and structured mindset with strong decision-making abilities.
· Results-oriented with the ability to manage priorities across multiple concurrent initiatives.
· Strong collaboration skills with a customer-focused and value-driven approach to cloud solutions
General Competencies:
· Language Proficiency: Fluency in French, Dutch, and English is mandatory, both written and spoken.
· Team Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams in a federated IT environment.
· Technical Writing: Strong capability to produce architecture documents, standards, and technical guidelines, tailored to various audiences including technical experts and non-technical stakeholders.