Solution Architect – Virtual Machine Platform

Solution Architect – Virtual Machine Platform

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands | Cognizant

About Cognizant

Cognizant is one of the world's leading professional services companies, helping organizations modernize technology, reimagine processes, and transform experiences. With a strong engineering culture and global delivery capability, we partner with clients across industries to build resilient, scalable, and secure technology platforms.

About the Role

Are you someone who creates clarity where others see chaos? Can you distill technical complexity into a clear, scalable architecture? Then we are looking for you.

We are seeking a highly skilled and collaborative Solution Architect to lead the design and evolution of our client's Virtual Machine (VM) platform. You will work in close partnership with fellow Solution Architects responsible for related compute and infrastructure services to ensure alignment on guardrails, standards, integrations, and shared functionality across the client's compute ecosystem.

1. As a Solution Architect, you will be part of the leadership triangle — together with the Product Owner and Tech Lead — guiding the squad responsible for shaping the Virtual Machine platform service, driving architectural decisions, platform strategy, and technical excellence. 2. The VM capability is part of Engineering Services, where multi-cloud infrastructure is offered in a structured and curated self-service manner to hundreds of DevOps squads. The technology landscape includes containers, databases, and various SaaS implementations. 3. You bring structure to a flood of information and diverse interests — from technical standards to organizational frameworks. You don't just think in solutions, but in principles, frameworks, and long-term vision.

Key Responsibilities Architectural Leadership

• Define and evolve the architecture of the Virtual Machine platform.
• Ensure scalability, security, reliability, and maintainability of the platform.
• Align platform architecture with enterprise standards and cloud best practices.

Cross-Platform Collaboration

• Co-develop common guardrails, standards, and integration patterns with other compute and infrastructure architects.
• Promote interoperability and consistency across VM environments (Azure, AWS, on-premises).
• Share learnings and innovations across platform teams.

Team Leadership

• Co-lead the VM platform team with the Product Owner and Tech Lead.
• Guide engineers in implementing architectural decisions and platform capabilities.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate with security, compute, storage, networking, and application teams to ensure platform alignment with organisational needs.
• Communicate architectural vision and roadmap to stakeholders and leadership.

Innovation & Strategy

• Stay ahead of industry trends in virtualisation, cloud compute, and platform engineering.
• Drive adoption of automation, Infrastructure-as-Code, and self-service capabilities.
• Design and standardise VM services across Azure, AWS, and on-premises environments.
• Optimise for cost efficiency and operational excellence.
• Promote higher-in-the-stack solutions such as containers to gradually reduce the VM footprint.

What You Need to Succeed

• Proven experience as a Solution Architect in cloud infrastructure and virtualisation environments.
• Strong hands-on knowledge of Azure and/or AWS VM services and multi-cloud architecture patterns.
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tooling (e.g. Terraform, Bicep, Ansible).
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear architectural decisions and stakeholder communications.
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to co-lead cross-functional platform teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience with container platforms (Kubernetes, OpenShift, EKS, AKS).
• Background in platform engineering, DevOps, or SRE practices.
• Familiarity with self-service infrastructure delivery models.
• TOGAF or equivalent architecture certification.
• Experience working in regulated or enterprise-scale environments.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary aligned with your experience and the market.
• Access to Udemy and Cognizant Academy for continuous professional development.
• NS Business Card, 25 vacation days, laptop, and smartphone.
• Pension scheme and comprehensive benefits package.
• International, inclusive, and technology-driven working environment with strong career growth opportunities.

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