Principal Cloud and Infrastructure Architect - Digital

At Intuitive, we are united behind our mission: we believe that minimally invasive care is life-enhancing care. Through ingenuity and intelligent technology, we expand the potential of physicians to heal without constraints.
As a pioneer and market leader in robotic-assisted surgery, we strive to foster an inclusive and diverse team, committed to making a difference. For more than 25 years, we have worked with hospitals and care teams around the world to help solve some of healthcare's hardest challenges and advance what is possible.
Intuitive has been built by the efforts of great people from diverse backgrounds. We believe great ideas can come from anywhere. We strive to foster an inclusive culture built around diversity of thought and mutual respect. We lead with inclusion and empower our team members to do their best work as their most authentic selves.
Passionate people who want to make a difference drive our culture. Our team members are grounded in integrity, have a strong capacity to learn, the energy to get things done, and bring diverse, real world experiences to help us think in new ways. We actively invest in our team members to support their long-term growth so they can continue to advance our mission and achieve their highest potential.
Join a team committed to taking big leaps forward for a global community of healthcare professionals and their patients. Together, let's advance the world of minimally invasive care.

Position Summary / Primary Function of Position

The Principal Cloud Architect will drive the design and implementation of cloud architectures engineered for modular, horizontal, and regional scalability. Ensure all infrastructure components, services, and data flows are optimized for scaling, geographic expansion, and dynamic demand. Strategically align the cloud architecture with industrial-scale product infrastructure requirements, partnering with product and data architects to facilitate global growth, operational efficiency, and consistent standards adoption.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Own the end-to-end cloud architecture vision and ensure alignment with business goals, growth plans, and compliance needs.
• Cloud Solution Design: Architect reliable, scalable, and secure cloud systems (public, private, hybrid, multi-cloud) that meet current and future requirements.
• Governance & Best Practices: Define cloud governance, cost optimization, and security frameworks; establish and enforce cloud best practices across teams.
• Technology Evaluation: Recommend and select cloud providers and tools suitable for enterprise needs (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Facilitate organizational adoption of the cloud and manage migration and modernization initiatives, often managing related cultural and process changes.

Architectural Partnership:

• Work in close partnership with Data Architects to ensure robust data flows, storage, governance, and analytics integration in all cloud environments.
• Partner with Product Architects to design solutions that align seamlessly with product roadmaps and user experience vision.
• Partner with Software Design Architects to ensure cloud infrastructure helps scalable and compliant application development, reviewing designs for optimal leverage of cloud-native services.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Guide engineering, DevOps, cybersecurity, data engineering, and compliance teams in cloud-related initiatives.
• Act as the technical SME in vendor selection, contract reviews, and establishing KPIs tied to uptime, performance, and cloud spend.

Technical Leadership

• Manage cloud modernization efforts, and refactoring legacy workloads for cloud optimization.

Define and Maintain Reference Architectures

• Develop and periodically update reference architectures for cloud environments that codify industry standards, best practices, regulatory requirements, and lessons learned from organizational experience.
• Create high-level and detailed architecture models that address networking, security, scalability, interoperability, and compliance requirements across public, private, hybrid clouds, and edge interoperability models.
• Ensure reference architectures are usable for product development, data services, software design, and security teams.

Standards Development

• Establish and document technical standards for cloud implementations and architectural guardrails.
• Vet proposed exceptions or deviations from standards, acting as technical authority for risk review and remediation pathways.

Standardization & Change Management Responsibilities

• Own the architectural change management process for all cloud-related initiatives, documenting impact analysis, communication plans, approval processes, and rollback strategies.
• Facilitate collaborator reviews and cross-functional meetings to evaluate proposed changes to reference architecture or standards, stabilizing agility and risk.
• Manage post-implementation reviews, capturing feedback to iterate on standards and architectural models.

Continuous Improvement and Standard Evolution

• Monitor emerging cloud technologies and industry trends; evaluate their impact on existing architectures and standards.
• Run periodic standards review cycles to ensure the organization’s reference models and guardrails remain current, relevant, and market-leading.
• Educate and mentor teams on the rationale and benefits of standards, fostering a culture of mutual architectural ownership.

Required Skills:

• Minimum of 10 years of demonstrated experience in developing and maintaining cloud architectures for complex global infrastructure delivery
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, IT, or related technical discipline
• Deep experience architecting across leading cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Proven comprehension of networking, security, and microservices/container orchestration
• Proven record leading cross-functional teams and complex cloud migrations
• Prior proficiency in automation, scripting, and Infrastructure-as-Code
• Outstanding communication and collaborator management skills
• Track record of successful change management for large-scale architectural standards or platform upgrades.
• Familiarity with industry-standard frameworks for cloud governance and architecture (TOGAF, NIST, ISO).
• Familiarity with regulated environments (e.g., FDA, ISO 13485, IEC 62304) and how to architect for compliance.

Preferred:

• Current proficiency in automation, scripting, and Infrastructure-as-Code
• Experience in highly regulated industries, Digital Health, Medical Devices, or Health Tech.
• Advanced certifications highly preferred (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect Professional)

Due to the nature of our business and the role, please note that Intuitive and/or your customer(s) may require that you show current proof of vaccination against certain diseases including COVID-19. Details can vary by role.

Intuitive is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, genetic information or any other status protected under federal, state, or local applicable laws.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with fair chance laws.

We provide market-competitive compensation packages, inclusive of base pay, incentives, benefits, and equity. It would not be typical for someone to be hired at the top end of range for the role, as actual pay will be determined based on several factors, including experience, skills, and qualifications. The target salary ranges are listed.

Due to the nature of our business and the role, please note that Intuitive and/or your customer(s) may require that you show current proof of vaccination against certain diseases including COVID-19.  Details can vary by role.

Intuitive is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, genetic information or any other status protected under federal, state, or local applicable laws.

Mandatory Notices

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with fair chance laws.

Preference will be given to qualified candidates who do not reside, or plan to reside, in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, or Tennessee.

We provide market-competitive compensation packages, inclusive of base pay, incentives, benefits, and equity. It would not be typical for someone to be hired at the top end of range for the role, as actual pay will be determined based on several factors, including experience, skills, and qualifications. The target compensation ranges are listed.