Platform Cloud Architect

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You’ll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you’ll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You’ll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Your Role And Responsibilities

As an IBM Consulting Architect, you will act as a trusted technical advisor to our clients, shaping architecture decisions that enable complex business and technology transformation. You will operate across the lifecycle - from early discovery and design through delivery and transition - providing architectural leadership to ensure solutions are coherent, fit‑for‑purpose, and aligned to client objectives.

You will work closely with clients, delivery teams, and partners, bringing industry insight and structured architectural thinking to complex environments. This role requires strong stakeholder engagement, the ability to operate in multi‑supplier or ‘rainbow’ teams, and confidence guiding teams through ambiguity, trade‑offs, and change.

Core Responsibilities (Common Across All Architect Roles)

• Build strong relationships with client stakeholders and act as a trusted advisor, providing clear architectural guidance aligned to business outcomes.
• Lead and influence architectural decision‑making across teams, ensuring design integrity, quality, and consistency throughout delivery.
• Apply industry best practices, architectural patterns, and standards to shape pragmatic, sustainable solutions.

Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers, architects, and delivery leads, supporting capability development within teams.

Collaborate effectively across architecture, engineering, security, and platform communities to deliver cohesive outcomes.

Support architectural governance activities, including design reviews, assurance, and risk management where appropriate.

Operate effectively within consulting environments, balancing client needs, delivery constraints, and long‑term sustainability.

In addition to the core responsibilities above, a Consulting Platform Architect will primarily focus on:

Key Responsibilities

• Design cloud and platform architectures supporting application, data, and integration workloads.
• Lead platform design activities across cloud migration, hybrid environments, and cloud native enablement.
• Define target and transitional platform architectures, including landing zones, networking, identity, and security foundations.
• Support migration planning and execution for legacy and on premises environments.
• Work closely with security architects to ensure platforms meet organisational and regulatory requirements.
• Provide architectural guidance to delivery teams using platform services and cloud tooling.
• Produce platform architecture artefacts, standards, and reference designs.
• Support governance, cost optimisation, and operational readiness considerations.
  
  

Preferred Education

Bachelor's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• Strong experience as a Platform, Cloud, or Infrastructure Architect.
• Hands on experience with cloud platforms (e.g. AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud, Oracle OCI).
• Understanding of hybrid and multi cloud architectures and migration strategies.
• Experience designing secure, resilient, and scalable platforms.

Ability to work with delivery teams, security specialists, and programme leadership.

Consulting or large scale transformation experience.

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personal Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NVS) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV).

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Experience with cloud security, identity, or network architecture.
• Background in large migration or modernisation programmes.
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code, automation, or platform engineering concepts.
• Exposure to regulated or public sector environments.