Principal Platform Architect

Job summary

Define the multi-year architecture and technical roadmap for high-performance cloud-native platforms, including Kubernetes-based environments on bare-metal and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Establish identity, security, observability, and reliability architectures while mentoring engineering teams and guiding complex design reviews.

Job details

Principal Platform Architect Location: Toronto, Ontario , Canada - Remote Long Term Contract Department: Cloud Infrastructure & Platform Engineering Job Purpose As a Principal Platform Architect , you will define the architectural blueprint for our next-generation, high-performance cloud platforms. You will bridge the gap between traditional telecom infrastructure and modern cloud-native environments, designing highly resilient distributed systems that power global 5G network functions and enterprise cloud services. Key Responsibilities Architectural Leadership: Define the multi-year technical roadmap for cloud-native platforms, driving the transition from legacy architectures to modern distributed systems. Platform Design: Architect large-scale, high-throughput containerized environments utilizing Kubernetes to run critical cloud-native functions directly on bare-metal and hybrid cloud infrastructures. Security & Identity Governance: Design robust identity management, Zero Trust frameworks, and end-to-end security architectures to secure highly distributed cloud environments. Observability & Reliability: Implement comprehensive observability strategies (metrics, logs, traces) to ensure 99.999% uptime, deep system visibility, and automated fault resolution. Technical Mentorship: Act as a principal subject matter expert, guiding engineering teams through complex design reviews, mentoring senior engineers, and collaborating with global R&D centers. Required Qualifications Experience: 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 4+ years acting as a Principal or Enterprise Architect for massive-scale platforms. Cloud-Native & Containers: Deep, production-proven expertise in Kubernetes, container runtimes, and the broader CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) ecosystem. Distributed Systems: Mastery in designing distributed, fault-tolerant, and horizontally scalable systems with an understanding of consensus protocols, data replication, and low-latency networking. Identity & Security: Advanced knowledge of modern security standards (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, SPIFFE/SPIRE, and Role-Based Access Control). Observability Stacks: Hands-on architectural experience with modern observability tooling (OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger, etc.). Preferred Qualifications Experience working within telecommunications cloud standards (e.g., Cloud Native Network Functions - CNFs). Active participation or contributions to open-source CNCF projects. Familiarity with major hyperscaler environments (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure).

What you’ll do

Define the multi-year architecture and technical roadmap for high-performance cloud-native platforms, including Kubernetes-based environments on bare-metal and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Establish identity, security, observability, and reliability architectures while mentoring engineering teams and guiding complex design reviews.

Requirements

Requires 10+ years of software engineering experience, including at least four years as a Principal or Enterprise Architect for large-scale platforms. Candidates need production expertise in Kubernetes and the CNCF ecosystem, distributed systems, modern identity and security standards, and observability tools.

Listed skills

• Kubernetes · Preferred

Other relevant skills

Identified from the job description. Confirm important requirements above.

• Kubernetes
• Container Runtimes
• CNCF Ecosystem
• Distributed Systems
• Fault-Tolerant Systems
• Consensus Protocols
• Data Replication
• Low-Latency Networking
• OAuth2
• OIDC
• SAML
• SPIFFE/SPIRE
• Role-Based Access Control
• OpenTelemetry
• Prometheus
• Grafana

Job areas

• Technology
• Software
• Engineering
• Management & Leadership
• Security & Safety