Job Description – Cloud & Data Centre Expert

Position

Cloud & Data Centre Expert

Experience

7–10 years of relevant professional experience in cloud computing, data centre infrastructure, architecture, operations, or technology consulting.

Educational Qualification

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Electronics & Communication, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Relevant professional certifications in cloud, data centre, cybersecurity or infrastructure architecture will be an added advantage.

Role Overview

The Cloud & Data Centre Expert will provide technical expertise for the design, assessment, planning and implementation of cloud and data centre infrastructure, with a focus on enterprise and Government workloads. The role will involve evaluating existing infrastructure, defining future-state requirements, developing technology architectures, and providing recommendations on cloud adoption, data centre capacity, security, resilience and operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess existing (As-Is) and future (To-Be) cloud and data centre infrastructure, including compute, storage, network, security, backup and disaster recovery.
• Develop and review cloud and data centre architecture, including public, private, hybrid, community and sovereign cloud environments.
• Assess workload requirements and recommend appropriate cloud deployment and migration models.
• Analyse data centre capacity, utilisation, scalability and future infrastructure requirements.
• Define requirements for compute, storage, network, GPU, backup, DR and other IT/non-IT infrastructure.
• Evaluate data centre availability, redundancy, resilience and disaster recovery architecture, including DC-DR and multi-site configurations.
• Provide expertise on connected, disconnected and air-gapped operational environments, particularly for critical and sovereign workloads.
• Assess cloud/data centre security, data residency, access control, encryption, key management, logging and monitoring requirements.
• Evaluate data centre and cloud service providers, infrastructure capabilities, SLAs, service models and technical compliance.
• Support development of technical specifications, RFPs, SOWs, SLAs and evaluation criteria for cloud and data centre procurement.
• Conduct technical assessments of cloud service providers (CSPs), data centres and infrastructure facilities against defined standards and requirements.
• Support capacity planning, TCO/cost analysis, infrastructure sizing and technology benchmarking.
• Assess data centre facilities from an infrastructure perspective, including power, cooling, physical security, availability and scalability.
• Provide inputs on sustainability and energy/water efficiency of data centre infrastructure, where relevant.
• Coordinate with Government departments, CSPs, data centre operators and technology vendors for data collection, technical assessment and implementation planning.
• Prepare technical reports, assessment frameworks, architecture documents, dashboards and presentations for senior stakeholders.
• Keep abreast of emerging technologies and trends in cloud computing, AI infrastructure, data centres, sovereign cloud and hyperscale infrastructure.

Required Skills

• Strong understanding of Cloud Computing – IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
• Knowledge of AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud or equivalent cloud platforms.
• Strong understanding of data centre architecture and infrastructure.
• Knowledge of compute, storage, networking, virtualisation and containerisation.
• Understanding of high availability, disaster recovery, backup and business continuity.
• Knowledge of cloud and data centre security principles.
• Understanding of sovereign cloud, data residency and data localisation requirements.
• Knowledge of air-gapped/disconnected environments and secure network architectures.
• Ability to undertake capacity planning, sizing and infrastructure requirement assessment.
• Strong analytical, documentation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Good understanding of technical procurement, RFP/RFQ preparation and vendor evaluation.

Preferred Certifications

One or more of the following would be desirable:

• AWS / Azure / Google Cloud certifications
• CCNA / CCNP
• VMware / Virtualisation certifications
• TOGAF
• ITIL
• Data centre-related certifications such as CDCP/CDCS
• Relevant cybersecurity certifications such as CISSP

Key Deliverables

• Cloud & Data Centre As-Is / To-Be Assessment
• Infrastructure Capacity & Utilisation Assessment
• Future 5-year Infrastructure Requirement Plan
• Cloud/Data Centre Reference Architecture
• Technical Specifications and RFP/SOW
• CSP/Data Centre Technical Evaluation
• Capacity, Cost and TCO Analysis
• Security, Resilience and DR Assessment
• Technical reports, dashboards and management presentations