Advisory Principal - Cloud Architect

CBTS serves enterprise and midmarket clients in all industries across the United States and Canada. CBTS combines deep technical expertise with a full suite of flexible technology solutions--including Application Modernization, Managed Hybrid Cloud, Cybersecurity, Unified Communications, and Infrastructure solutions. From developing and deploying modern applications and the secure, scalable platforms on which they run, to managing, monitoring, and optimizing their operations, CBTS delivers comprehensive technology solutions for its clients' transformative business initiatives. For more information, please visit www.cbts.com . About the Role We are looking for an Advisory Principal - Cloud Architect with a passion for winning business and shaping strategy to join our Presales Advisory & Strategic Pursuits practice. This is not a traditional delivery role — it sits at the intersection of cloud architecture, consultative selling, and executive engagement. You will work alongside sales and account teams to qualify opportunities, define cloud strategies, author compelling proposals and solution narratives, and lead client-facing workshops that establish our credibility and differentiate our offerings. You bring deep multi-cloud expertise across AWS, and Microsoft Azure – ideally with an area of depth in one of the hyperscalers, combined with hard-won experience in enterprise migration, modernization, and digital transformation programs. Clients rely on you as a trusted advisor who can bridge the gap between business ambition and technical feasibility — and you close that gap with confidence, clarity, and commercially savvy guidance. What You Will Do Presales Engagement & Opportunity Development • Partner with presales and account executives to qualify cloud opportunities, assess client readiness, and shape winning pursuit strategies. • Lead discovery sessions and executive workshops to uncover pain points, business drivers, and strategic cloud objectives. • Develop tailored solution narratives, cloud architecture visions, and value propositions that resonate with both technical and business stakeholders. • Own the technical response to RFPs, RFIs, and RFQs — authoring architecture sections, solution summaries, and differentiating content. • Deliver compelling presentations and demonstrations that articulate complex cloud concepts clearly to C-suite audiences and technical evaluators alike. Advisory & Strategic Consulting • Serve as a cloud strategy advisor to prospective clients, helping them define and pressure-test cloud adoption roadmaps aligned to business outcomes. • Conduct cloud readiness assessments, current-state architecture reviews, and opportunity analyses to surface transformation priorities. • Develop point-of-view documents, reference architectures, and strategic frameworks that guide clients through migration, modernization, and transformation decisions. • Provide advisory support on cloud operating model design, including governance, FinOps, organizational structures, and cloud center of excellence (CCoE) formation. • Translate regulatory, security, and compliance constraints (e.g., SOC 2, HIPAA, FedRAMP, GDPR) into cloud architecture requirements during early-stage engagements. Migration & Modernization Solutioning • Define migration strategies and sequencing plans across lift-and-shift, re-platform, and re-architect workloads for complex, heterogeneous enterprise estates. • Scope modernization efforts for legacy applications, databases, and integration layers — including microservices decomposition, containerization, and API-led connectivity. • Construct credible effort estimates, phasing models, and business cases that underpin proposal commercials and client investment decisions. • Draw on delivery experience to ensure that proposed architectures are not only compelling but implementable, risk-mitigated, and operationally sustainable. Digital Transformation Advisory • Shape digital transformation pursuits by connecting cloud-native capabilities to client business strategy — from customer experience to operational efficiency to data monetization. • Advise on platform and ecosystem choices, including data and analytics modernization, AI/ML enablement, and application platform strategy. • Guide clients on DevSecOps adoption, developer experience modernization, and the organizational shifts required to sustain transformation at scale. • Identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities within active pursuits and existing accounts, collaborating with account teams to expand engagement scope. Thought Leadership & Practice Development • Contribute to the development of reusable presales assets including pitch decks, solution blueprints, workshop facilitation guides, and proposal templates. • Represent the organization at industry events, client briefings, and cloud partner forums — building market presence and personal brand. • Maintain deep knowledge of the cloud market landscape, competitive positioning, and hyperscaler programs (AWS, Azure, GCP) to sharpen pursuit differentiation. • Provide feedback loops from presales engagements into delivery and practice teams to inform methodology evolution and offering development. Required Qualifications • 12+ years of experience in IT architecture, cloud consulting, or solutions engineering, with at least 4 years in a presales, advisory, or client-facing architecture capacity. • Hands-on multi-cloud expertise across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, with the ability to architect credibly on all three platforms. • Demonstrated experience leading or architecting enterprise cloud migration and modernization programs, with direct knowledge of program economics and risk management. • A track record of supporting complex, competitive presales pursuits — including RFP responses, executive presentations, and solutioning workshops — and winning them. • Exceptional executive communication and storytelling skills; able to distill technical architecture into a compelling business narrative for C-level audiences. • Strong commercial acumen, including the ability to construct high-level effort estimates, phasing models, and ROI/TCO business cases. • Experience facilitating client workshops, discovery sessions, and cloud strategy engagements in a consultative selling environment. • Ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy across multiple simultaneous pursuits, managing competing priorities without compromising quality. Preferred Qualifications • Professional-level cloud certifications across two or more providers (e.g., AWS Solutions Architect – Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Professional Cloud Architect). • Experience working within a technology consulting firm, cloud systems integrator, managed service provider, or hyperscaler partner ecosystem. • Familiarity with large-scale digital transformation frameworks (e.g., SAFe, TOGAF, cloud adoption frameworks from AWS, Azure, or Google). • Background in regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, or public sector, with practical exposure to compliance-driven cloud architectures. • Experience with data platform modernization, AI/ML cloud services, or generative AI solution positioning in a presales context. • Established relationships within the AWS, Azure, or GCP partner ecosystems and comfort co-selling alongside hyperscaler field teams. • Published thought leadership, speaking engagements, or recognizable personal brand within the cloud architecture community. $139,000-171,000 Base Salary (not including commissions) #LI-Remote #LI-PF2 The compensation range in this posting reflects the Company’s good‑faith estimate at the time of publication. The applicable base pay range for any individual will be determined based on the candidate’s designated primary work location as well as factors including role scope and responsibilities, required qualifications, and the individual’s experience, education, skills, knowledge, and performance. Certain positions may also be eligible for additional compensation such as discretionary merit increases, bonuses, or sales‑based variable compensation in accordance with applicable plans and role requirements. Due to U.S. Government requirements applicable to foreign-owned telecommunications providers, non-US citizens may be required to submit to an extensive government agency background check which will necessitate disclosure of sensitive Personally Identifiable Information.