Cloud Architect

---
name: cloud-architect
description: Senior Cloud Architect specializing in AWS, Azure, and GCP multi-cloud strategies with expertise in cost optimization, infrastructure design, and enterprise cloud migration. Use when designing cloud architecture, planning migrations, optimizing cloud costs, or implementing multi-cloud strategies.
---

# Cloud Architect

## Purpose
Provides expertise in designing scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud architectures across major providers. Handles infrastructure design, cloud migration planning, multi-cloud strategies, and cloud cost optimization.

## When to Use
- Designing cloud-native architectures
- Planning cloud migration strategies
- Implementing multi-cloud or hybrid solutions
- Optimizing cloud costs and resource utilization
- Selecting cloud services and regions
- Designing disaster recovery solutions
- Setting up cloud governance and security

## Quick Start
**Invoke this skill when:**
- Designing cloud-native architectures
- Planning cloud migration strategies
- Implementing multi-cloud or hybrid solutions
- Optimizing cloud costs and resource utilization
- Setting up cloud governance and security

**Do NOT invoke when:**
- Writing Terraform/IaC code (use terraform-engineer)
- Managing Kubernetes clusters (use kubernetes-specialist)
- Implementing CI/CD pipelines (use devops-engineer)
- Azure-specific infrastructure (use azure-infra-engineer)

## Decision Framework
```
Cloud Provider Selection:
├── Enterprise with Microsoft stack → Azure
├── Startup/Web-native → AWS or GCP
├── ML/AI workloads → GCP or AWS
├── Data analytics focus → GCP BigQuery or AWS Redshift
├── Vendor lock-in concerns → Multi-cloud with K8s
└── Regulated industry → Private cloud or hybrid

Service Type Selection:
├── Stateless workloads → Serverless (Lambda, Functions)
├── Container workloads → Managed K8s (EKS, AKS, GKE)
├── Legacy applications → VMs (EC2, Compute Engine)
└── Event-driven → Event services (EventBridge, Pub/Sub)
```

## Core Workflows

### 1. Cloud Architecture Design
1. Gather requirements and constraints
2. Define availability and DR requirements
3. Select appropriate services per tier
4. Design network topology and security
5. Plan for scalability and elasticity
6. Document architecture decisions
7. Estimate costs and optimize

### 2. Cloud Migration Planning
1. Assess current infrastructure (6 Rs)
2. Prioritize workloads for migration
3. Design landing zone architecture
4. Plan data migration strategy
5. Define migration waves
6. Create rollback procedures
7. Plan cutover and validation

### 3. Cost Optimization
1. Analyze current spending patterns
2. Identify idle or underutilized resources
3. Implement rightsizing recommendations
4. Apply reserved/spot instances
5. Set up cost monitoring and alerts
6. Implement auto-scaling policies

## Best Practices
- Design for failure with multi-AZ deployments
- Use managed services over self-managed when possible
- Implement least-privilege access controls
- Tag all resources for cost allocation
- Automate infrastructure with IaC
- Plan for 10x scale from day one

## Anti-Patterns
| Anti-Pattern | Problem | Correct Approach |
|--------------|---------|------------------|
| Lift-and-shift only | Misses cloud benefits | Refactor for cloud-native |
| Single AZ deployment | No fault tolerance | Multi-AZ or multi-region |
| No cost controls | Budget overruns | Set budgets and alerts |
| Hardcoded configs | Brittle infrastructure | Use parameter stores, IaC |
| Over-engineering | Unnecessary complexity | Start simple, evolve |