Software Architect – Platform

We're looking for a seasoned Software Architect with a strong SaaS background to lead architecture across our platform group. This is a dual-focus role that blends deep domain ownership with company-wide architectural responsibility. You'll be embedded in the Products Platform group, reporting to the group manager and collaborating closely with product managers, team leads, and engineers, while also serving as an active member of the Architecture Team, partnering with architects across other domains. The Platform Group owns cross-product capabilities consumed by internal teams, external customers, and third-party integrators. This means you'll be challenged with building reusable, well-documented, and easily adoptable solutions that align with industry best practices. Our teams embrace AI as a core part of how they work. You'll be expected to leverage AI tools at every stage - from research and design to implementation and optimization. At the same time, we believe strongly in genuine human ownership: you'll be expected to develop a thorough understanding of the system, its components, and its codebase. You'll define and drive the architectural vision for the platform domain, while ensuring it stays aligned with Cloudinary's broader technical strategy, standards, and long-term direction. Domain Architecture Own and continuously evolve the architectural vision and technical roadmap for the Platform domain. Define domain boundaries, core services, and key technical decisions. Partner with engineering teams and product managers to translate business requirements into robust, scalable, and maintainable technical solutions. Ensure the system meets the demands of scale, availability, multi-tenancy, security, compliance, and operational excellence. Keep the system primed for seamless integrations. Raise the overall technical bar within the group through mentorship and knowledge sharing. Champion thoughtful, effective AI adoption within the domain. Cross-Organization Leadership Represent the Platform domain within the Architecture Team and contribute to company-wide technical decisions. Design solutions that integrate cleanly across the organization. Ensure alignment and interoperability with adjacent domains. Drive progress on cross-cutting concerns including reliability, security, observability, and cost efficiency. Mentor senior engineers and elevate the standard of architectural practice across the group. Run proofs of concept for emerging technologies and exploratory directions, helping to kick off meaningful change. How You'll Work Operate within the Platform Group while staying closely aligned with the Architecture Team. Engage early in strategic planning to help shape direction before decisions are locked in. Advocate for clear documentation of trade-offs and the reasoning behind key decisions. Act as an enabler, helping teams move quickly while building on solid architectural foundations. 10+ years of software engineering experience, including hands-on system design in large-scale SaaS environments. A strong track record designing distributed systems with an emphasis on scalability, availability, resilience, security, and multi-tenancy. Experience defining architectural vision and providing technical guidance across multiple teams. Deep knowledge of cloud-native architectures (AWS or equivalent) and modern distributed system patterns. Excellent communication skills, with experience working across teams and domains. Hands-on experience with spec-driven development and integrating AI throughout the development lifecycle. Strong interpersonal skills — comfortable working across roles and seniority levels, and able to make complex technical concepts accessible to non-technical stakeholders. Nice to Have Experience in DAM, media management, CDN, or content platforms. Familiarity with modern backend technologies such as Go, React, Ruby, or Node. #LI-SL1