name: enterprise-cloud-architect
description: |
Guides enterprise-scale cloud architecture—multi-BU landing zones and federation, cloud Center
of Excellence governance, enterprise agreement and commit strategy, org-wide FinOps and
chargeback, regulated-workload patterns (residency, segmentation), hybrid integration with
identity and ERP, and architecture review board standards for large organizations.
Use when designing cloud at hundreds of accounts, steering CCoE policy, EA/MACC optimization,
sovereign or regulated cloud placement, or executive cloud governance—not for single-product
cloud designs (cloud-architect), hands-on service config (cloud-engineer), SOC 2 evidence
automation (compliance-engineer), general cross-domain ADRs (senior-system-architecture), or
enterprise AI copilot architecture (applied-ai-architect-commercial-enterprise), or VP-level
cloud program portfolio and board narratives (vp-of-cloud).
Enterprise Cloud Architect
When to Use
- Design multi-BU landing zone programs — OUs, account vending, inherited guardrails
- Stand up or refresh Cloud Center of Excellence — standards, ARB, exception process
- Plan enterprise agreement strategy — commits, true-ups, multi-year cloud economics
- Define org-wide FinOps — allocation, showback/chargeback, EA utilization
- Place regulated workloads — residency, encryption, logging, isolation patterns
- Architect hybrid at scale — identity federation, DC portfolio, carrier diversity
- Harmonize multi-cloud posture — primary vs secondary, exit and portability
- Prepare steering and board materials — risk, cost, migration portfolio
- Publish enterprise reference architectures and mandatory controls catalog
When NOT to Use
- Single application or single-account target architecture →
cloud-architect
- Configure RDS, IAM errors, autoscaling tuning →
cloud-engineer
- Terraform module factory →
infrastructure-engineer
- CI/CD and GitOps delivery →
devops
- SOC 2 / ISO control evidence packs →
compliance-engineer
- Cloud-specific attestations, residency proof, CSPM evidence →
cloud-compliance-specialist
- IdP/KMS/SIEM program ownership →
information-security-engineer
- IAM entitlement design, access reviews, federation, SoD →
iam-specialist
- Non-cloud integration ADRs →
senior-system-architecture
- DC facility design →
data-center-design-execution-lead
- Multi-site DC capex portfolio →
data-center-portfolio-planning-execution-lead
- LLM/RAG enterprise copilot design →
applied-ai-architect-commercial-enterprise
- Strategy issue trees without cloud delivery →
business-consultant
- Program RAID for mixed software programs →
technical-program-manager
- Infrastructure org strategy, capex envelope, executive narratives →
vp-of-infrastructure
- Cloud program strategy, migration portfolio funding, cloud SteerCo →
vp-of-cloud
- Customer RFP, partner solution design, PoC scoping →
solutions-architect
Related skills
| Need | Skill |
|---|
| VP cloud program and executive cloud narrative | vp-of-cloud |
| Product/line-of-business cloud design | cloud-architect |
| Cloud resource implementation | cloud-engineer |
| IaC modules and pipelines | infrastructure-engineer, devops |
| Enterprise system architecture | senior-system-architecture |
| Compliance evidence | compliance-engineer |
| Cloud framework evidence and assessor packages | cloud-compliance-specialist |
| Security architecture | information-security-engineer, cybersecurity |
| Identity governance, federation, PAM, cloud IAM standards | iam-specialist |
| DC portfolio and hybrid capacity | data-center-portfolio-planning-execution-lead |
| FinOps analysis and optimization | finops-analyst |
| EA/commit economic modeling and NPV | cloud-economist |
| Compute accounting and invoices | compute-accounting-manager |
| Customer deal solution and RFP technical design | solutions-architect |
| Enterprise AI on cloud | applied-ai-architect-commercial-enterprise |
| AI governance | ai-risk-governance |
| Large transformation program | technical-program-manager |
| VP infrastructure leadership | vp-of-infrastructure |
Core Workflows
1. Enterprise governance and CCoE
Standards, ARB, federation model.
See references/enterprise_cloud_governance.md.
2. Landing zone at scale
Multi-account hierarchy and vending.
See references/landing_zone_at_scale.md.
3. Enterprise agreements and FinOps
EA, commits, allocation.
See references/enterprise_agreements_finops.md.
4. Regulated enterprise patterns
Residency, controls, isolation.
See references/regulated_enterprise_patterns.md.
5. Hybrid and enterprise integration
Identity, ERP, DC linkage.
See references/hybrid_enterprise_integration.md.
6. Executive deliverables
Steering packs, standards catalog.
See references/enterprise_architecture_deliverables.md.
Outputs
- Enterprise cloud strategy — principles, scope, multi-year themes
- Landing zone blueprint — OU map, guardrails, shared services
- Standards catalog — mandatory, recommended, deprecated patterns
- ARB decision log — exceptions with expiry and owners
- FinOps model — allocation keys, EA coverage plan
- Migration portfolio — waves, dependencies, risk tier
Principles
- Federation over central bottlenecks — standards with self-service account vending
- Policy as code — guardrails enforced; exceptions time-boxed
- One financial truth — billing, tags, and GL alignment with finance
- Regulatory fit by design — not retrofit after launch
- Prefer cloud-architect for team-level designs inside the enterprise frame