Ottawa (Downtown), ON, CA
Solutions Architect
Take a central role
The Bank of Canada has a vision to be a leading central bank—dynamic, engaged and trusted—committed to a better Canada. No other employer in the country offers you the unique opportunity to work at the very center of Canada’s economy, in an organization with significant impact on the economic and financial well-being of all Canadians. You will be challenged, energized and motivated to excel in our environment.
Building on the principles that have always guided us – excellence, integrity and respect – we strive to be forward-looking and innovative, to welcome people with diverse perspectives and talents, and to earn trust by living up to our commitments and by clearly explaining the intent of our policies and actions.
With our defined-benefit pension plan, benefits, and high flexibility for work life balance - find out more about why we are annually ranked as one of Canada's top employers: Working Here - Bank of Canada
Find out more about the next steps in our Recruitment process.
About the position
We are seeking a Cloud Infrastructure Solution Architect (SA) to join our team! The Automation Tools and Compute Services group is a multi-disciplinary team within the Core Technology Services (CTS) portfolio within the Bank’s IT Services department. Our group is a unified team recognized Bank-wide for being diverse, inclusive, and passionate about the work we do to help the Bank become digital, ready, and resilient.
Our cloud hosting technologies are harnessed through best of breed automation platforms, combined with the knowledge and expertise of staff and strategic partners. We offer opportunities for close collaboration with multidisciplinary colleagues, inside and outside of the team. We reward experimentation, and we drive the change of how we do our IT business.
As a Solutions Architect you will be empowered to champion recommendations on processes and technology evolution, along with the opportunity to utilize state-of-the-art solutions and consistently learn as technology in the industry evolves. You will have the support of your leader to enhance your skills, experiment, and drive your career in many ways (certifications, labs, architecture, leadership etc.).
What you will do:
As a Cloud Infrastructure Solution Architect, you will be a lead technical authority and provide input to activities leading to the development and evolution of the Bank’s cloud hosting ecosystems within hybrid cloud delivery models.
Additionally, you will:
- Lead technical roadmap activities, including documenting Invest, Divest, Sustain and Restrict decisions on technologies and deployment patterns in the areas of Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service.
- Develop and champion cloud deployment patterns for standardized use across Bank of Canada cloud hosted solutions in the form of infrastructure products or services.
- Provide critical technical expertise during all phases of project delivery, from planning/conception all the way through to delivery and operationalization, ensuring alignment to Bank technical roadmaps.
- Work closely with other architects, operational, and project teams to evaluate business requirements and define potential cloud technical solutions.
- Ensure that the integration of services, data flow and infrastructure meet the evolving business and operational requirements as well as standards such as security, maintainability, reliability, scalability, and availability.
- Meet with stakeholders and vendors to stay aligned with industry best practices, develop road mapping and transition strategies.
- Multitask to work on multiple projects, manage conflicting priorities, stakeholder management, and presenting to senior technology leaders.
What you need to succeed
You quickly grasp the essence of complex issues, are self-motivated, require little supervision and function effectively as part of a team. Also, you are an effective communicator, you clearly convey key points, organize content, and write in a style appropriate to the audience and purpose of the document and presentation.
In addition, you have:
- Proven experience as an Azure Solutions Architect (or other relevant role) with significant experience in both server and serverless cloud application architecture.
- Expert knowledge and experience in providing cloud deployment model choice advice to clients, detailing specific considerations for each deployment model choice.
- Significant experience with application architecture on container based commercial platforms such as RedHat Openshift, Azure RedHat Openshift and/or Azure Kubernetes Services.
- Significant experience in Azure IaaS virtual infrastructure, network and security services, along with deep knowledge of cloud data protection strategies.
- A good understanding of workload portability and what it implies in the area of cloud hosted workloads.
- Experience architecting IT solutions for multi-site / multi-region /multi-cloud high availability requirements.
- Expert in cloud high availability and resilience concepts similar to Azure’s Availability Sets, Zones and Site Recovery (e.g.: expertise in Azure’s Well-Architecture Framework).
- Understanding and practical experience with FinOps principles and practices, including cost optimization strategies and cloud financial management.
- Previously provided expert technical operations management support for on-prem virtual infrastructure technologies such as Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware, Nutanix, etc.:
- This includes typical operations management support for monitoring and alerting, resolving incidents and problems, configuration management, standardized request fulfilment, applying and maintaining adequate cybersecurity controls supported technologies, applying and maintaining adequate resiliency controls, planning and performing technology upgrades, capacity management
- Responding to audit and budget forecasting requests (i.e.: adhoc reporting)
Assets:
- Exposure to diverse work environments, with a broad understanding of multiple business sectors, hardware and software technologies and IT security.
- Understanding of ITSM processes and principles / proficiency in ServiceNow.
- Experience with migrating workloads to/from cloud/on-prem datacentre locations.
- Knowledge/experience with DevOps technologies related to programming and scripting, e.g.: YAML, Python, Powershell, Javascript, preferable through the use of enterprise tools such as Ansible Automation Platform, and Terraform Enterprise.
- A high degree of comfort with API-driven integration, understanding of different integration strategies and patterns, and a keen understanding of loosely coupled but tightly integrated technologies within a cloud hosting ecosystem.
Your education and experience
- Your combined education and work experience demonstrate that you have the proficiencies and skills for the role.
- We are ideally seeking candidates with a relevant degree/diploma and 6+ years of relevant experience.
Language requirement
The Bank’s work environment is conducive to the use of both of Canada’s official languages - English and French. Although the position language requirement is English or French essential, we do encourage everyone to improve second their language proficiency for future career growth and to contribute towards fostering a bilingual environment.
What you need to know
- Priority will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents
- Security level required: Be eligible to obtain Secret
- Relocation assistance may be provided, if required
- Please save a copy of the job poster. Once the closing date has passed, it will no longer be available.
Hybrid Work Model
The Bank offers work arrangements that provide employees with flexibility, enable high-performing teams, and support an excellent workplace culture. Most employees can telework from home for a substantial part of each month as part of the Bank`s hybrid work model, and they are expected on site at the Bank location a minimum of eight days per month to help build connections between colleagues. You must live in Canada, and within reasonable commuting distance of the office.
What you can expect from us
This is a great opportunity to join a leading organization and be part of a high-performing team. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package designed to meet your needs at every stage of your life and career. For more information on key benefits please visit A great deal to consider.
- Salaries are based on qualifications and experience and typically range from $124,279 to $146,211 (job grade 18)
- The Bank offers an incentive for successfully meeting expectations at 7 to 10% of your base salary. The Bank offers additional performance pay (5%) for those who exceed expectations. Exceptional performers who far exceed expectations may be eligible for higher performance pay.
- Flexible and comprehensive benefits so you can choose the level of health and dental coverage that meets your needs
- Extra vacation days (up to five each year) that you can purchase to add to your vacation entitlement
- Option to join the indexed, defined-benefit pension plan after 24 consecutive months of service
We wish to thank all applicants for their interest and effort in applying for this position. Only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.