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Job Description
POSITION SUMMARY
The Cloud Architect provides technical leadership for our hybrid, multi-cloud estate—spanning on-premises private cloud and public cloud platforms in Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. This role owns the reference architecture for infrastructure, drives platform automation and reliability, and partners with product, security, and operations teams to deliver secure, cost-effective, and resilient infrastructure foundations. The ideal / preferred location for this role is on-site in Appleton, WI. May consider candidates in the Midwest (with some travel required to Appleton) based on relevancy of experience.
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
Architecture, Design & Delivery Translate reference architectures into detailed designs and implementation plans for landing zones, networking, and IAM. Engineer scalable platforms with high availability and performance aligned to business SLOs and DR requirements. Create golden images/templates and secure baselines for repeatable deployments. Automation, CI/CD & GitOps Build robust Terraform modules; integrate validation, testing, and security scanning into pipelines. Implement GitOps (Bitbucket pipelines) workflows where appropriate; improve release reliability and rollback safety. Guide teams on branching strategies and code review standards. Reliability & Operations Lead complex incident response, perform post‑incident reviews, and drive preventive engineering. Establish capacity planning and performance testing practices for critical services. Evolve runbooks to reduce MTTR and increase operational readiness. Security, Compliance & FinOps Implement Zero Trust principles; design RBAC models and service identities; integrate secrets management. Codify and enforce guardrails via policy‑as‑code; ensure auditability and remediation workflows. Collaborate on cost governance (tagging, budgets, alerts) and drive optimization initiatives. Collaboration & Leadership Mentor Engineer I and II teammates; conduct design and code reviews and provide constructive feedback. Partner with Security, Networking, App, and Data teams; influence roadmaps and standards. Contribute to vendor/tool evaluations and present recommendations with tradeoffs.
Live our values of High Performance, Caring Relationships, Strategic Foresight, and Entrepreneurial Spirit Find A Better Way by championing continuous improvement and quality control efforts to identify opportunities to innovate and improve efficiency, accuracy, and standardization Continuously learn and develop self professionally Support corporate efforts for safety, government compliance, and all other company policies & procedures Perform other related duties as required and assigned
QUALIFICATIONS
Required:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field—or equivalent experience. Progressive IT experience with 7+ years focused on cloud architecture/engineering. Expertise in Terraform and/or Bicep; strong scripting (PowerShell or Python) and automation mindset. Solid networking (VNet/VPC design, DNS, VPN/ExpressRoute/Interconnect, load balancers, firewalls) and IAM. Production experience with containers and Kubernetes (AKS/GKE). Observability design and SRE practices; proven incident leadership and post‑mortem facilitation. CI/CD pipeline design (Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions) with testing, security scanning, and policy gates. Excellent communication, stakeholder management, problem-solving, and mentoring skills. Ability to participate in an on-call rotation and support planned maintenance during off-hours.
Preferred:
Certifications:
Azure Solutions Architect Expert or Azure Administrator + Azure Security Engineer; Google Professional Cloud Architect or Professional DevOps; Terraform Associate;
CKA/CKAD.
Experience with Packer, service mesh/Ingress, and secrets management at scale. Background applying policy‑as‑code (Azure Policy, Org Policy, OPA) and compliance frameworks; FinOps experience.
DIVISION
IGEN U.S. Venture will not offer sponsorship for employment status (including, but not limited to, H-1B, TN, E-3, F1, CPT, OPT, STEM OPT, visa status and other employment‑based nonimmigrant visas) for this position. Accordingly, all applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full‑time basis and must not require U.S. Venture's sponsorship to continue to work legally in the United States. In general, U.S. Venture does not sponsor candidates for nonimmigrant visas or permanent residency except when there is a specific business need. U.S. Venture will not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies. In the absence of an executed recruitment Master Service Agreement, there will be no obligation to any referral compensation or recruiter fee. In the event a recruiter or agency submits a resume or candidate without an agreement, U.S. Venture shall reserve the right to pursue and hire those candidate(s) without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers, shall be deemed the property of U.S. Venture. U.S. Venture, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We ensure equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or other protected characteristic. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may call Human Resources at (920) 739-6101. 91-00-911-0000 For 75 years, U.S. Venture, Inc. has been recognized as an innovative leader in the distribution of renewable and traditional energy products, lubricants, tires, parts, and using data-driven insights to manage energy and information in the global movement of goods. U.S. Venture delivers creative, sustainable solutions that give their customers a competitive edge, and enable the company to support the communities in which they live, work, and play. Through the values lived by their businesses, U.S. Energy™, U.S. AutoForce, Breakthrough®, U.S. Lubricants, and IGEN®, U.S. Venture seeks new ways to drive business success while being steadfast in its commitment to making the world a better place. Our Culture Our success is our people. We live for the pursuit of bold ideas, making a positive impact, and achieving our full potential. Our work inspires us to find a better way to change the world. Great Place to Work-Certified™ We've been recognized as a top organization for the positive culture and team member experiences we've built and grown over time. Click here to learn more of what makes our company culture stand out.
