The Director of Cloud Operations will be the leader for all cloud-related technologies and services, will evaluate the company’s needs and deploy appropriate solutions. The Director of Cloud Operations needs to be familiar with various cloud technologies and should understand the benefits and drawbacks of different solutions.
The primary focus of this role is the ability to lead, operate and enhance Akebia’s growing portfolio of cloud applications, integrations, and services.
The candidate must have an aptitude for managing vendor relationships, from implementing cloud platforms, negotiating licenses, and understand the dynamics of a virtual work environment. The position requires the candidate to oversee contracts and ongoing vendor relationships, as well as advance the organization's cloud strategy.
The ideal candidate will have excellent communication and leadership skills and will work closely with stakeholders, IT teams and partners to build a new cloud application support model and bring new capabilities to the organization. The candidate will have a proactive approach to problem solving and systems management and will ensure the cloud environment satisfies corporate governance and security controls and requirements.
Required Skills
- Lead, support, manage and continually improve Akebia’s existing cloud application portfolio.
- Manage vendor contracts and relationships for outsourced cloud and hosting services.
- Manage internal contractors and consultants as needed.
- Lead the planning and implementation of cloud technology projects that enable the organization. Communicate updates and work with service desks to manage on-going support.
- Manage cloud applications budget, user licenses and service cost components.
- Manage and Optimize infrastructure as a service costs and on demand services.
- Develop effective strategies to optimize Akebia’s cloud-based architecture, identifying key technologies that provide competitive advantage.
- Leverage cloud technologies to expand the usability and functionality of existing products and innovate new products and solutions.
- Training and learning about new technologies and becoming more advanced in the key cloud platforms that Akebia adopts.
- Document and maintain cloud architecture documentation and security models.
- Evaluate industry trends and provide innovative suggestions for business application implementations.
- Provide expert troubleshooting and technical support for supported systems.
- Provide guidance on security best practices for all cloud driven operations.
Required Experience
Basic Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree with 6+ years of experience in a cloud technology leadership role
- OR
- 10+ years managing and implementing modern cloud solutions (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) and cloud information security architectures.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering
- Experience managing outsourced service providers.
- Advanced Knowledge SaaS cloud platforms focused on collaboration and identity access management. (Azure AD, Okta, OneLogin, Google etc)
- Advanced Experience with Cloud Collaboration platforms (Office 365, Box, Slack, Zoom, Skype, Docusign etc)
- Advanced Knowledge of Cloud Security Tools, Data Security, Cloud Security best practices and vendor landscape.
- Advanced Experience with leading Single Sign-On and Identity platforms.
- Advanced Knowledge of the cloud service marketplace and product roadmaps.
- Experience with Web Content management systems and providers.
- Strong vendor management and negotiation skills.
- Strong understanding of Security frameworks, policies and application level security.
- Expertise in designing and building HA, DR, Backup and retention architectures in cloud platforms.
- Relevant experience building environments in Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, GCP or other industry leading Infrastructure as a Service solutions.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex technology in a simple way.
- Open to learning new technologies and trends.
- Experience with SalesForce.com ecosystem.
- Experience working with remote teams.
Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney disease. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit our website at www.akebia.com.
Akebia Therapeutics is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes all job applicants. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.