Senior Manager, Cloud Services and Architecture

at  Macewan University

ABOUT US

MacEwan University is where caring faculty help people connect their passions to their future paths. Located in the heart of Edmonton’s diverse and dynamic downtown community, and on the traditional lands of Treaty 6 First Nations and homelands of the Métis people, MacEwan is known for exceptional undergraduate learning. With its dedication to teaching excellence, informed by scholarly research, innovation, and creative activity, MacEwan provides an exceptional collaborative and supportive learning environment with a commitment to human rights, environmental sustainability, and opportunities for community engagement. We are committed to creating an equitable, diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community for all peoples, cultures, and identities.
Our comprehensive undergraduate university offers 55 programs to more than 19,000 full- and part-time students in business, communications, community and human services, design, fine and performing arts, health, humanities, natural science, nursing, public safety, and social science. Through a wide array of experiential learning opportunities, and strategic relationships in the community, we partner with others to produce graduates of stature. Along with a robust grounding in their chosen disciplines, MacEwan students are given durable life skills that prepare them to take on the world.

OPPORTUNITY

MacEwan University is seeking a Senior Manager, Cloud Services and Architecture for a full-time continuing opportunity with the Information Services Technology department. Reporting to The Director, Digital Platforms and Delivery, the Senior Manager, Cloud Services & Architecture is responsible for overseeing the delivery, management, and support of cloud-based infrastructure and services at MacEwan University. You will lead cross-functional teams in the areas of cloud infrastructure (Azure, AWS, GCP), Business Intelligence, and ETL pipelines.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading and managing staff in the Cloud Services & Architecture team, including assigning and monitoring workload, preparing schedules, responding to emerging issues, approving timesheets and time off requests;
• Managing staffing resources within the team through effective recruitment, selection, training, coaching, leadership, supervision, professional development, and evaluation of staff while also promoting and contributing to a positive and inclusive team culture that emphasizes customer focus and service excellence;
• Fostering an environment of continuous learning and improvement, and encourages team members to share ideas and feedback;
• Overseeing the design, implementation, and maintenance of cloud-based infrastructure and services;
• Establishing and monitoring service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure high-quality delivery of Cloud Services & Architecture;
• Managing relationships with cloud service providers to ensure optimal performance, security, and cost-efficiency;
• Providing advice, technical consultation, and guidance by analyzing and resolving problems and evaluating alternative means of satisfying user requirements, researching and implementing new technology to support the team and end-users;
• Maintaining and sharing currency of knowledge with respect to relevant technologies and systems;
• Coordinating with other IT departments to ensure seamless support for cross-functional projects and initiatives; and
• Collaborating with the IT and Facilities Project Management Offices to provide technical guidance in defining project scopes and providing technical resources as required.

SKILLS

You will have:

• Technical proficiency coupled with a customer-focused approach;
• Proven leadership and management skills, including the ability to lead, mentor and develop staff and foster a positive, productive, and cohesive team environment;
• A commitment to delivering high-quality customer service and improving user satisfaction;
• Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills to work with an extensive array of individuals both internal and external to the University;
• Excellent analytical, planning, organizational, time management, decision making and problem-solving skills with keen attention to detail;
• The ability to lead by example and serve as a positive role model;
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to convey complex technical information to non-technical end-users;
• The ability to evaluate and formulate recommendations, implementation, and integration;
• The ability to work both independently and in a team-oriented collaborative environment;
• Knowledge and understanding of change management and process techniques, with the ability to lead/direct change management activities related to cloud services & architecture;
• Familiarity with programming languages and frameworks (e.g., SQL, Python, R);
• Proficiency in DevOps practices and tools (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines), with experience implementing and managing automated deployment pipelines to support scalable cloud services;
• Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform or AWS CloudFormation to automate cloud infrastructure provisioning, management, and scaling;
• Knowledge of containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and their integration with cloud environments for efficient resource management and application deployment;
• The ability to drive innovation in the DevOps and cloud infrastructure space by evaluating new tools and technologies, and integrating them where appropriate to improve operational efficiency and reduce manual intervention;
• Proficiency in Azure Data Factory (ADF) for orchestrating and automating ETL processes, data integration, and building scalable data pipelines across diverse data sources (including cloud storage and on-prem systems);
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 (M365) tools, particularly SharePoint, Teams, and Power Automate, to integrate cloud-based collaboration tools with other systems, enhance workflow automation, and improve cross-functional team efficiency; and
• Hands-on experience with Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Data Lake for managing large-scale data storage and analytics, leveraging Azure Data Factory for seamless data movement and transformation.

QUALIFICATIONS

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in Computing Science, Information Technology or related field.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or equivalent would be considered assets.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in IT, with a focus on DevOps, cloud services and business intelligence, including a minimum of 5 years of leadership experience.
• Experience overseeing platform migrations (e.g., from legacy BI systems to modern tools like Microsoft Fabric) is strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience and understanding of software development and the software development life cycle (SDLC), including expertise in Agile methodologies, code versioning systems (e.g., Git), and collaboration between infrastructure and development teams.
• Proven experience with cloud-based business intelligence solutions, particularly Power BI, Tableau, and working with large datasets in cloud environments like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, as well as leading the migration from legacy tools to Microsoft Fabric.
• Strong background in data management and governance, with experience leading data integration, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, and ensuring compliance with privacy and security standards (e.g., GDPR, FERPA)
• Familiarity with advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and machine learning integration for developing decision-support systems and forecasting models within cloud environments.
• Leadership experience in a unionized environment would be considered an asset.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

• This position works 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday. However, the nature of the position requires the Senior Manager to participate in support, coverage and escalations for the ITS On-call schedule as well as work some weekends and evenings to support the operations.

• Leading and managing staff in the Cloud Services & Architecture team, including assigning and monitoring workload, preparing schedules, responding to emerging issues, approving timesheets and time off requests;
• Managing staffing resources within the team through effective recruitment, selection, training, coaching, leadership, supervision, professional development, and evaluation of staff while also promoting and contributing to a positive and inclusive team culture that emphasizes customer focus and service excellence;
• Fostering an environment of continuous learning and improvement, and encourages team members to share ideas and feedback;
• Overseeing the design, implementation, and maintenance of cloud-based infrastructure and services;
• Establishing and monitoring service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure high-quality delivery of Cloud Services & Architecture;
• Managing relationships with cloud service providers to ensure optimal performance, security, and cost-efficiency;
• Providing advice, technical consultation, and guidance by analyzing and resolving problems and evaluating alternative means of satisfying user requirements, researching and implementing new technology to support the team and end-users;
• Maintaining and sharing currency of knowledge with respect to relevant technologies and systems;
• Coordinating with other IT departments to ensure seamless support for cross-functional projects and initiatives; and
• Collaborating with the IT and Facilities Project Management Offices to provide technical guidance in defining project scopes and providing technical resources as required