Forward Deployed Azure Architect
DXC Technology · Wellington
Job Description:
DXC Technology (NYSE: DXC) is a leading enterprise technology and innovation partner delivering software, services, and solutions to global enterprises and public sector organizations — helping them harness AI to drive outcomes at a time of exponential change with speed. With deep expertise in Managed Infrastructure Services, Application Modernization, and Industry-Specific Software Solutions, DXC modernizes, secures, and operates some of the world’s most complex technology estates. Learn more on dxc.com
We are seeking an experienced Forward Deployed Azure Architect to work closely with New Zealand Government and regulated-industry customers, translating priority outcomes into secure, enterprise-scale Azure solutions. Embedded with customer and DXC delivery teams, you will combine architecture leadership with practical delivery involvement: shaping decisions, validating designs, resolving constraints and helping move solutions from concept into production. Over the next few years, migration and modernisation will be a defining theme for the NZ public sector, including adoption of the sovereign Azure New Zealand North region. You will also help evolve reusable migration patterns and accelerators across DXC's Nucleus Cloud Engineering Platform.
Why this role matters
You will stay close to the customer's mission and delivery teams, creating secure, governed and automated Azure foundations and helping turn them into working outcomes. Your role is to shorten the path from business need to production, while meeting data-sovereignty, resilience and assurance obligations and enabling future data and AI adoption.
What you will do
- Work directly with customer leaders and delivery teams to frame high-value problems, rapidly shape options and lead cloud strategy, discovery, migration and architecture engagements for complex Azure transformation programs.
- Support migration strategy and execution end to end — application and infrastructure discovery and assessment (Azure Migrate), disposition using the 5 Rs (rehost, refactor, rearchitect, rebuild, replace), wave planning, cutover and hypercare.
- Design enterprise-scale Azure Landing Zones, including management group and subscription structures, identity, network topology, connectivity, platform services, policy, logging and operational integration.
- Plan and govern migrations into the sovereign Azure New Zealand North region, addressing data residency, latency and in-country resilience requirements.
- Apply the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Azure Well-Architected Framework to migration decisions, architecture design, design assurance and remediation planning.
- Define secure-by-design architectures incorporating Zero Trust, least privilege, private connectivity, secrets and key management, threat protection, central logging and auditable controls.
- Translate NZ Government security, privacy, sovereignty and resilience obligations (NZISM, Protective Security Requirements) into architecture principles, control requirements and traceable design decisions.
- Develop current-state assessments, target-state architectures, migration roadmaps, high-level and detailed designs, and architecture decision records.
- Remain engaged through build, migration, testing, transition and operational acceptance, working alongside engineers to validate decisions, remove blockers and resolve cross-domain design issues and technical risk.
- Design AI-ready foundations — identity, networking, data protection and responsible-AI governance — that position migrated workloads for Azure AI services, Microsoft Foundry and Copilot adoption.
- Lead executive and technical workshops, communicate trade-offs clearly, prototype or validate critical design choices where useful, and present recommendations to architecture review boards and customer decision-makers.
- Shape platform engineering, DevSecOps and self-service approaches using reusable Infrastructure as Code, policy as code and standardised deployment patterns.
- Partner with engineering, cyber security, applications, data and AI, networking, service management and FinOps teams to deliver joined-up customer outcomes.
- Support proposals, estimates, statements of work and technical reviews, ensuring solutions are deliverable, supportable and commercially responsible.
- Mentor architects and engineers and contribute reusable standards, patterns and intellectual property to the Azure Practice.
What you will bring
- Extensive experience designing and governing enterprise cloud solutions, including significant hands-on architecture experience with Microsoft Azure.
- Demonstrated delivery of large-scale cloud migration programs — from assessment and business case through wave-based execution to operational transition.
- Demonstrated delivery of Azure Landing Zones or equivalent governed cloud foundations in complex enterprise or government environments.
- Strong understanding of non-functional requirements, including security, privacy, availability, recoverability, performance, operability and cost.
- Experience working with security and compliance stakeholders and producing architecture evidence suitable for formal assurance and review.
- Ability to move comfortably between executive outcomes, architecture detail and practical engineering constraints.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, facilitation, stakeholder management and technical leadership skills.
- Commitment to reusable engineering, automation, mentoring and continuous improvement.
- Strong customer-facing consulting skills, with the ability to embed effectively with customer teams, understand their operating context, gather requirements, lead workshops, translate business needs into practical Azure solutions and build trusted relationships through visible delivery outcomes.
Desirable experience
- Knowledge of the New Zealand Information Security Manual (NZISM), Protective Security Requirements and NZ public-sector privacy or data-sovereignty considerations.
- Hands-on experience with the sovereign Azure New Zealand North region and in-country resilience patterns.
- Experience with platform engineering, internal developer platforms, GitOps, Kubernetes/AKS, Azure Arc, Azure Local or Azure VMware Solution.
- Experience shaping migration, application modernisation, data-platform or AI-readiness programs.
- FinOps, cloud-cost optimisation or managed-service operating-model experience.
- Consulting, presales, estimation or major bid experience.
Qualifications and certifications
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305), or the ability to achieve it within an agreed timeframe.
- Relevant Microsoft security, networking, DevOps or hybrid-cloud certifications (e.g. AZ-500, AZ-700, AZ-400) are advantageous.
- Migration-related credentials or demonstrable programme experience are highly regarded.
- TOGAF, SABSA or an equivalent architecture qualification is advantageous.
- A tertiary qualification in information technology, engineering or a related discipline is desirable; equivalent professional experience will be considered.
How to apply & our commitment to you in return
If you would like to be part of a culture that drives innovation, delivers results, rewards performance and encourages ideas, then please press the "Apply Now" button to submit your resume.
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