Senior Cloud Architect

Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for our clients. We're all in on AWS, combining deep UX capability with senior engineering talent to get AI into production fast and keep it there. 
We’ve earned the trust of leaders across Consumer Products and Retail, Education, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Manufacturing and more, and earned a reputation as the nimble alternative to traditional global systems integrators. Founded in 2009, with delivery centers in Canada, the United States, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, we are smaller, faster, and more senior by design. Our teams average 15+ years of experience. We move fast, sweat the details, and build things that actually ship. 

Position Overview 

We’re looking for a Senior Cloud Architect to contribute to the design and delivery of complex, multi-domain systems spanning cloud, data, and AI. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer growing into architectural ownership — someone who enjoys hands-on development, contributes to system design decisions, and is ready to take on larger pieces of the architecture. 

In this role, you will work as a delivery-embedded contributor on a cross-functional team, helping shape architecture across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and AI/ML workloads. You’ll collaborate closely with senior architects, engineers, and product partners to deliver solutions that are scalable, secure, and maintainable, and develop the technical instincts that come from shipping things that matter. 

Why This Role Matters 

At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate. 
 
Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on. 

What You’ll Do 

Craft & Delivery 

• Contribute to architectural design across cloud, data, and AI/ML systems, taking ownership of meaningful components 

• Build and integrate cloud-native solutions including microservices, serverless, and containerized workloads 

• Implement infrastructure as code and CI/CD pipelines 

• Design and contribute to data architectures including pipelines, warehouses, and modeling 

• Support AI/ML system design, including model serving, MLOps pipelines, and integration of LLM-based capabilities 

• Implement monitoring, logging, and observability across deployed  

• Bring an AI-forward mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace 

Collaboration & Communication 

• Collaborate with engineers, data, AI, and product teams to translate requirements into sound technical solutions 

• Communicate technical tradeoffs and design decisions clearly across functions 

• Maintain architecture documentation that supports reproducibility, onboarding, and shared understanding 

• Participate actively in design reviews, raising concerns and offering constructive feedback 

Leadership & Influence 

• Take ownership of system components end-to-end with growing scope of architectural responsibility 

• Contribute to architectural standards and best practices that lift the quality of work across the team 

• Begin mentoring more junior engineers, sharing knowledge and supporting their growth 

What You’ll Bring 

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with hands-on exposure to architectural decision-making 

• Strong software engineering background, with proficiency in Python and at least one other language commonly used in modern stacks (e.g., Java, Scala, TypeScript) 

• Working knowledge of cloud platforms and cloud-native architectures 

• Hands-on experience with microservices, serverless, containerization, and event-driven systems 

• Experience with infrastructure as code and CI/CD pipelines 

• Working knowledge of relational and NoSQL databases, plus data pipelines and ETL/ELT concepts 

• Familiarity with AI/ML system design, including model deployment, MLOps, and LLM integration 

• Awareness of networking, security, identity, and access management fundamentals in cloud environments 

• Understanding of security, compliance, and observability fundamentals (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2) 

• Demonstrable, day-to-day usage of AI-forward tools such as Claude and Cursor 

• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to navigate ambiguous technical challenges with sound judgment 

Helpful Extras and Unique Skills 

You’ll Do Well Here if You Are 

• A doer. You see something broken and fix it. You'd rather move on clarity than wait for certainty. 

• A fast learner who knows you don't know everything. The AI landscape changes weekly. You're senior enough to know better and curious enough to keep learning anyway. 

• Direct in a way that makes the work better. You give honest feedback. You'd rather have the hard conversation than blow smoke. 

• Obsessed with craft. You know genius is in the details. You ship exceptional, not perfect, and you don't put your name on work you wouldn't stand behind. 

• Built for ownership. You honor commitments, admit mistakes fast, and back your teammates when a decision costs something. No handoffs, no finger-pointing. 

• All in. You treat clients' businesses like your own. You take the work seriously without taking yourself seriously. 

• Resourceful when the budget, timeline, or team is tight. Constraints don't slow you down. They sharpen you. 

• Glad to be in the room with people who care as much as you do. Our teams average fifteen-plus years of experience. We hire people who push each other to do better work.