Cloud Strategist

Department Summary

The Digital Foundry sets the strategy to accelerate the adoption of industry-leading practices across technology modernization domains, supporting a portfolio of enterprise-wide products and platforms that enable the activities of academic and administrative stakeholders across the university. The Digital Foundry team focuses on three main pillars: 1) Human-Centered Product Strategy and Design, including product discovery, user-research, accessibility, UX, and UI services; 2) Cloud and DevOps Strategy, which supports the evolution of our cloud and engineering capabilities across infrastructure, data, and product delivery teams, championing a cloud-first approach coupled with automation and AI capabilities to deliver features faster and more reliably; and 3) Solutions Architecture, which fosters the implementation of cohesive end-to-end solution architectures, ensuring baseline interoperability, reliability, scalability, and security capabilities are in place when architecting new solutions or updating existing ones.

Position Summary

The Digital Foundry sets the strategy to accelerate the adoption of industry-leading practices across technology modernization domains, supporting a portfolio of enterprise-wide products and platforms that enable the activities of academic and administrative stakeholders across the university. The Digital Foundry team focuses on three main pillars: 1) Human-Centered Product Strategy and Design, including product discovery, user-research, accessibility, UX, and UI services; 2) Cloud and DevOps Strategy, which supports the evolution of our cloud and engineering capabilities across infrastructure, data, and product delivery teams, championing a cloud-first approach coupled with automation and AI capabilities to deliver features faster and more reliably; and 3) Solutions Architecture, which fosters the implementation of cohesive end-to-end solution architectures, ensuring baseline interoperability, reliability, scalability, and security capabilities are in place when architecting new solutions or updating existing ones.

The Cloud Strategist will play a pivotal role in shaping and evolving UCLA's cloud-first strategy, developing the capabilities of our cloud operating model, and accelerating cloud adoption and migration efforts. Collaborating with our enterprise technology teams, this role will define the desired state of our cloud vendor ecosystem, cloud-first placement strategy, and productization of cloud offerings for enterprise customers. This role will align stakeholders on a cloud adoption approach and framework, guiding the organization through migration readiness and execution. The Cloud Strategist will significantly impact efforts to drive cost optimization strategies, ensuring cloud solutions are scalable, reliable, and leverage automation where feasible. Working with domain-specific architects, they will design cloud adoption accelerators and best practices. They will also empower enterprise teams with the skills needed to leverage cloud technologies effectively, and they will be a key member of the Cloud Center of Excellence. The Cloud Strategist will positively impact UCLA’s operations and culture by optimizing software and product development in service of the university’s academic mission. This team member will advance the University’s mission by delivering exceptional information technology services comprehensively and consistently across faculty, staff, and students. This role will execute UCLA’s vision while modeling UCLA’s culture and values.

Qualifications

• Five years experience working in one or more of the following fields: cloud infrastructure, information technology, IT service management, or related field. (Required)
• Seven or more years experience working in one or more of the following fields: cloud infrastructure, information technology, IT service management, or related field. (Preferred)
• Significant experience in cloud computing, including designing, deploying, and managing cloud-based products and applications. (Required)
• Experience working in a project-based environment using leading project management practices including schedule management, status reporting, and communication of project risks and issues. (Required)
• Experience participating in activities to advance an inclusive environment that values equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. (Preferred)
• Experience in complex higher education environments, serving academic and administrative functions of a large public university. (Preferred)
• Strong understanding of cloud computing technologies, such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. (Required)
• Familiarity with various strategies for migrating applications to the cloud, including rehosting, refactoring, revising, rebuilding, and replacing. (Required)
• Understanding of product management principles and methodologies, and how they can be applied in a cloud context. (Required)
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to quickly diagnose and resolve complex technical issues. (Required)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and is able to communicate complex technical ideas to a diverse community of colleagues and stakeholders. Can relay technical information to audiences of technical and non-technical stakeholders. (Required)
• Able to establish and advance positive working relationships and a strong rapport with a diverse community of colleagues including team members, stakeholders, and customers. (Required)
• Advanced organizational skills and is able to balance competing priorities and deliver concurrent projects to various stakeholder types. (Required)
• Advanced problem-solving skills; ability to uncover root of difficult problems and scope solutions based on knowledge of available resources and timelines as well as awareness of vision and strategy. (Required)
• Ability to seek information from multiple and diverse sources to inform solutions. Demonstrated ability to make decisions with integrity. (Required)
• Thinks creatively and introduces innovations such as the incorporation of new technologies or processes. Thrives in an ever-changing, fast-paced environment. (Required)

Education, Licenses, Certifications & Personal Affiliations

• Bachelor's Degree in information technology or computer science OR equivalent combination of experience/training. (Required)

Special Conditions for Employment

The anticipated pay range for this position is $166,100 - $176,000, annually; salary is dependent upon the skills and experience of the selected finalist. NOTE: This position REQUIRES that a RESUME and COVER LETTER be submitted in addition to the application. Please have these two files ready to upload when applying. Background Check: Continued employment is contingent upon the completion of a satisfactory background investigation. Live Scan Background Check: A Live Scan background check must be completed prior to the start of employment.

Schedule

8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Pacific Time, Monday-Friday and/or variable based on operational needs

Key skills/competency

• Cloud Strategy
• Cloud Adoption
• Migration Planning
• Cost Optimization
• Cloud Architecture
• DevOps Principles
• Product Management
• Stakeholder Alignment
• Automation
• AI Capabilities