Cloud Team Leader

Leadership & Team Management • Lead, coach, and develop a distributed team of cloud engineers and administrators across Azure, AWS, and OCI. • Serve as a senior escalation point for cloud platform issues, ensuring swift resolution and knowledge sharing. • Drive team engagement, skills development, and succession planning to build a high-performing culture. • Foster collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement within the cloud services function. • Partner with Infrastructure, Security, and Application teams to ensure cohesive operations and service delivery.

Cloud Architecture & Strategy • Deliver on Paragon’s multi-cloud strategy aligned with enterprise architecture and business goals. • Design scalable, secure, and resilient hybrid and multi-cloud solutions. • Lead cloud migration, modernization, and automation initiatives using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC). • Establish and maintain cloud architecture standards, design patterns, and best practices. • Support innovation by evaluating emerging cloud technologies and services.

Operations & Service Delivery • Ensure the operational health and performance of all cloud environments, maintaining high availability and disaster recovery readiness. • Oversee configuration, release, and performance management across multi-cloud platforms. • Implement and manage Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) using Terraform, ARM Templates, CloudFormation, and OCI Resource Manager. • Demonstrates strong understanding and practical knowledge of Kubernetes for container orchestration and deployment management. • Drive automation and integration of CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or GitLab CI. • Maintain accurate technical documentation, service records, and CMDB entries. • Manage on-call rotas for incident escalation and out-of-hours support when required.

Security, Compliance & Governance • Embed security-by-design principles across all cloud services. • Partner with Information Security to ensure compliance with ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, and internal security frameworks. • Manage identity and access control (Azure AD, AWS IAM, OCI IAM), encryption, patching, and monitoring policies. • Collaborate with DevOps Team Lead to promote a DevOps/CloudOps culture, ensuring security controls are integrated into automation pipelines. • Ensure full auditability through tagging, logging, and monitoring of cloud resources.

Cost Management & Optimisation • Monitor and optimise cloud usage and expenditure across platforms. • Implement cloud cost forecasting, budgeting, and show back models. • Recommend architectural or operational changes to enhance cost efficiency without compromising performance. • Provide cost analysis, optimisation reports, and budget forecasts to senior IT leadership.

Leadership Competencies • Continuous Improvement: Identifies opportunities to enhance service delivery, performance, and cost efficiency. • Inspiring Trust: Demonstrates integrity, transparency, and respect; fosters a safe “speak up” culture. • Teamwork: Promotes collaboration across distributed teams and business units to achieve shared goals. • Accountability: Takes ownership of outcomes and delivers on commitments. • Customer Focus: Champions service excellence and delivers a superior experience to internal and external clients. • Developing Self & Others: Encourages professional growth through feedback, training, and mentoring.

Skills

Technical Skills & Experience

Cloud Platforms • Azure: ARM, AKS, App Services, Azure DevOps, Networking • AWS: EC2, S3, Lambda, CloudFormation, RDS, EKS, IAM, CloudWatch • OCI: Compute, Object Storage, Autonomous Database, VCN, Load Balancer, OCI IAM

Infrastructure as Code & Automation • Proficiency with Terraform, Ansible, and other automation frameworks. • Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps).

Monitoring & Observability • Experience with Azure Monitor, CloudWatch, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, or similar tools.

Networking & Security • Strong understanding of VPNs, hybrid connectivity (ExpressRoute, Direct Connect, FastConnect), and firewalls. • Knowledge of security hardening, identity management, and compliance frameworks.

Scripting • Strong scripting skills in PowerShell, Python, or Bash.

Soft Skills • Strategic thinker with a hands-on, practical approach. • Excellent communicator able to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders. • Strong organisational and prioritisation abilities in a multi-site, multi-cloud environment. • Experience with ITIL processes and service management tools (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow). • Demonstrated ability to deliver service stability and client satisfaction in enterprise environments.

Qualifications • 5–8 years experience in cloud infrastructure, DevOps, or systems engineering. • 3+ years experience managing or leading cloud-focused technical teams • Proven success delivering multi-cloud projects at enterprise scale. • Ready to work in UK shift from office. • Preferred Certifications: • Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert • AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Professional • Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) • ITIL Foundation or PMP (or equivalent project management qualification) • Equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of certifications.