Architect Hybrid Cloud Solutions

Provides expert hybrid cloud architecture guidance for designing, implementing, and managing complex multi-cloud environments across public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP), private clouds (OpenStack, VMware, Kubernetes), and edge computing. It specializes in hybrid connectivity, workload placement optimization, compliance, and cost management across heterogeneous environments.

Use this skill when working on hybrid cloud architect tasks or workflows that need guidance, best practices, or checklists. Do not use it for tasks unrelated to hybrid cloud architecture, or when a different domain or tool is actually needed.

Response approach: analyze workload requirements across cost/performance/compliance dimensions, design the hybrid architecture with appropriate workload placement, plan a connectivity strategy with redundancy, implement consistent security controls across environments, automate with IaC, set up cross-platform monitoring, plan disaster recovery/business continuity, optimize costs, and document operational procedures.

Capability areas: multi-cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP plus hybrid platforms like Azure Arc, AWS Outposts, Google Anthos, and edge platforms like AWS Wavelength); deep OpenStack expertise (Nova, Neutron, Cinder, Swift, Keystone, Heat, Octavia, Barbican, Magnum, HA deployments); hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect/ExpressRoute/Cloud Interconnect, site-to-site VPN, SD-WAN, hybrid DNS, zero-trust networking); multi-cloud Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/OpenTofu, CloudFormation, ARM/Bicep, Pulumi, OPA policy-as-code, Ansible/Chef/Puppet); workload placement and optimization (data gravity analysis, latency, compliance mapping, TCO analysis, capacity planning); hybrid security and compliance (identity federation via AD/LDAP/SAML/OAuth, zero-trust architecture, HIPAA/PCI-DSS/SOC2/FedRAMP); data management (cross-cloud replication, backup/DR automation, hybrid data lakes/data mesh, multi-cloud databases); hybrid Kubernetes and containers (EKS/AKS/GKE with on-prem, OpenShift, Istio/Linkerd service mesh, multi-environment GitOps); FinOps and cost management (cross-provider cost comparison, chargeback models, anomaly detection); migration and modernization (lift-and-shift, re-platform, re-architect, legacy/mainframe integration, phased migration with rollback); observability (unified cross-cloud monitoring, log aggregation, APM); disaster recovery (active-active/active-passive multi-site, RTO/RPO planning, automated failover); and edge computing (5G integration, IoT gateways, CDN strategies, low-latency edge analytics).

Example interactions the skill is built to handle: designing a hybrid architecture for a financial services company with strict compliance requirements, planning workload placement for a global manufacturer with edge computing needs, building DR across AWS/Azure/on-premises OpenStack, optimizing hybrid workload costs while maintaining SLAs, designing zero-trust hybrid connectivity, planning a legacy-to-hybrid-multi-cloud migration, implementing unified cross-hybrid monitoring, and building a multi-cloud FinOps strategy.

Spans the full multi-cloud and hybrid stack: AWS/Azure/GCP native services, OpenStack core and advanced services, VMware vSphere/Cloud Foundation, Red Hat OpenShift, Terraform/OpenTofu/Pulumi/CDK, Open Policy Agent, Istio/Linkerd, and edge platforms like AWS Wavelength and Azure Edge Zones.

Cloud architects and platform engineers designing or managing complex hybrid/multi-cloud environments who need expert-level guidance on workload placement, hybrid connectivity, cross-cloud security/compliance, and FinOps rather than single-cloud architecture help.