--- title: 'Principal Architect, Infrastructure at Zencore' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-architect-infrastructure-zencore-united-kingdom-7d8d94femm4y' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-12' --- # Principal Architect, Infrastructure at Zencore - **Company:** Zencore - **Location:** United Kingdom - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-07-22 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/zencore/3094ebf9-ba7d-45ae-9f6c-ab73f5c20933 ## Job description Zencore is a fast-growing company founded by former Google Cloud leaders, architects, and engineers. We are seeking candidates with significant experience in Google Cloud to join our team. Our engagements aim to eliminate obstacles, reduce risk, and accelerate timelines for customers transitioning to Google and seeking assistance with data and application modernization. We embed within customer teams to provide strategic guidance, facilitate technology decisions, and execute projects in a collaborative, co-development style. As a Principal Architect at Zencore, you will primarily work with large, complex enterprise organizations, helping them navigate the challenges of modernization. Our clients look to you as a resilient, trusted advisor who can deliver results in highly demanding environments. You are responsible for the technical oversight and end-to-end delivery of projects and will be expected to bridge the gap between legacy infrastructure and modern cloud architecture, integrating with enterprise-grade tooling while ensuring seamless alignment with Google Cloud standards. You must be comfortable managing complex stakeholder dynamics, diffusing tension, and maintaining a cool head when engagements become high-pressure. ## Responsibilities - Strategic Delivery: Lead the technical vision for client engagements. Turn complex business requirements into clear, actionable proposals and Statements of Work (SoW), while providing accurate resource estimates and timelines. - Technical Stewardship: Act as the primary technical lead on project teams. Maintain the balance between architectural oversight and "hands-on" keyboard execution. Unblock the team when projects encounter technical or organizational friction. - Organizational Navigation: Successfully navigate the internal complexities and matrixed structures of large organizations. Keep projects on track by maintaining professional composure and influencing stakeholders at all levels, even in complex or resistant environments. - Mentorship: Act as an expert practitioner within client organizations. Educate and up-skill client teams, fostering a culture of technical excellence and sustainable engineering practices. - Relationship Management: Serve as a stabilizing force during high-pressure engagements. Build trust managing client expectations, navigate complexity, and maintaining a strong focus on successful delivery through changing circumstances. ## Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience. - Enterprise GCP Expertise: Deep experience integrating Google Cloud within complex enterprise ecosystems. You understand how to map Google Cloud capabilities to strict governance, security, and compliance frameworks. - Legacy & Modernization: Proven track record of architecting solutions that integrate or migrate legacy infrastructure (on-prem/data center) into modern, cloud-native environments without service disruption. - Platform & Tooling Mastery: Advanced proficiency with modern DevOps/SRE tooling (e.g., Terraform/IaC, CI/CD, Kubernetes/GKE, Service Mesh). You understand how to implement these in environments with high operational complexity. - Security & Networking: Solid grasp of enterprise networking and security best practices (e.g. IAM, Confidential Computing, Security Command Center etc) required for large-scale production deployments. - Domain Specialization: Ability to go deeper than most on one or more domains: Software Architecture, Data Platform Modernization, Platform Engineering, or Large-scale Networking. Behavioral Competencies & Mindset - Resilience & EQ: Exceptional emotional intelligence. You remain calm, professional, and solution-oriented when clients become challenging. You don’t get flustered by friction. - Proactive Ownership: You have a bias for action. You identify what needs to be done and execute without waiting for specific instructions. - Collaborative Professionalism: You foster a positive team environment and remain easy to collaborate with, even during challenging situations. - Consultative Savvy: You understand that for an enterprise client, the "human" and "political" aspects of a project are as critical as the code. You are comfortable managing stakeholders, diffusing conflict, and ensuring alignment. We are a fully remote company and offer competitive compensation and benefits. Zencore is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Zencore is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. ## About Zencore ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Zencore is a cloud consulting and engineering firm led by former Google Cloud architects and engineers, specializing in guiding enterprises through Google Cloud migration, modernization, and AI/ML transformations. - **Entity Type**: Private (bootstrapped; no disclosed funding rounds) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2021 (some sources mention 2020; LinkedIn lists 2021) - **Founders**: John Forstrom (CEO & Co-Founder), Guilhem Tesseyre (CTO & Co-Founder) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: IT Services and IT Consulting (cloud consulting) - **Target customers**: B2B enterprises migrating to or modernizing on Google Cloud, including fast-growing startups and large organizations. - **Mission/purpose**: “To help companies fully realize the promise of cloud through guidance rooted in experience” – enabling frictionless cloud adoption that unlocks innovation and growth. ## Products & Services - **Cloud Migration & Modernization**: End-to-end guidance for moving workloads to Google Cloud, including data and application modernization, with an opinionated, unbiased approach. - **Managed Cloud Services**: Ongoing support and optimization of Google Cloud environments, leveraging deep insider knowledge of Google’s ecosystem. - **Data & Analytics Engineering**: Building scalable data pipelines, databases, and analytics solutions on GCP. - **AI/ML & Generative AI**: Consulting and implementation of AI workflows, LLMs, LangChain, and Streamlit applications. - **Cloud Security & Infrastructure**: Architecture reviews, security best practices, and infrastructure automation for Google Cloud. - **Embedded Engineering Teams**: Co-development model where Zencore engineers work side-by-side with customer teams to accelerate delivery. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available - **Key Metric**: Headcount ~48 employees (as of Sept 2026), monthly growth +1.5%, yearly LinkedIn follower growth +29.6% - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Google Cloud Premier Partner - **Growth Signals**: - Consistently hiring across multiple roles (Software Engineer, Principal Architect AI/ML, Sales Directors, etc.) - Expanding into new regions (Nordics/Benelux, UK, LATAM) - Growing LinkedIn presence (+29.6% year-over-year) - High employer rating: 4.1/5.0 (10 reviews), with strong work-life balance (4.4) and culture (4.0) ## Competitive Advantages - **Ex-Google DNA**: Founded by former Google Cloud leaders and engineers, giving them insider knowledge of Google’s platform, roadmap, and best practices. - **Singular Focus**: Concentrates entirely on Google Cloud, unlike fragmented multi-cloud partners, allowing deeper expertise and faster outcomes. - **Opinionated, Unbiased Guidance**: Recommends open-source or alternative solutions when they fit better, not tied to vendor agendas. - **Fully Remote & Distributed**: Operates as a remote-first company since day one, with teammates across North America and Europe, enabling access to top global talent. ## Strategic Focus - **Deepen Google Cloud Specialization**: Continue to lead in migration, modernization, and AI/ML on GCP. - **Expand AI/ML Capabilities**: Actively hiring Principal Architects for AI/ML and investing in Generative AI workflows. - **Scale Sales & Geographic Reach**: Opening regional sales director roles in Nordics/Benelux and UK to grow European presence. - **Maintain High Engineering Standards**: Emphasis on “execution clarity, engineering rigor and service maturity” to deliver secure, right-first-time migrations. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: “First rule at Zencore – Be Kind.” Collaborative, feedback-driven environment that champions empathy and ownership. - **Remote & Flexible**: Fully distributed since Employee #1, with teammates across North America and Europe. Work from home, co-working spaces, or “workcations” allowed. - **Compensation & Benefits**: - Competitive salaries - Medical, dental, and vision insurance at no cost for employees - Unlimited vacation (paid) - 401k with pre-tax contributions - Continuing professional development support - **Engineering Culture**: Work with cutting-edge cloud technologies (Kubernetes, AI/LLMs, data systems) and collaborate directly with customers as a trusted advisor. - **Growth Opportunities**: Rapidly growing company with opportunities to take ownership, shape solutions, and advance your career in cloud engineering. ## Sources 1. [zencore.dev/about](https://zencore.dev/about/) 2. [zencore.dev/careers](https://zencore.dev/careers/) 3. [linkedin.com/company/zencoregroup](https://linkedin.com/company/zencoregroup) 4. [jobs.lever.co/zencore](https://jobs.lever.co/zencore) 5. [jobs.lever.co/zencore/abf5abec-66fb-4356-85b0-ae07b59fe695](https://jobs.lever.co/zencore/abf5abec-66fb-4356-85b0-ae07b59fe695) ## Other roles at Zencore - [Head of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-zencore-united-states-5d3fxrr2yzb9) — United States - [Director of Marketing](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-marketing-zencore-united-states-50weypqej9p6) — United States - [Director of Alliances](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-alliances-zencore-united-states-001nqnj4p6zr) — United States - [Sales Director (DACH)](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-director-dach-zencore-berlin-74sz4mm7av60) — Berlin, Germany / Munich, Germany - [Strategic Sales Director](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-sales-director-zencore-new-york-2jdhbwbx6m43) — New York, NY - [Senior Client Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-client-partner-zencore-london-ajpjhv492j40) — London, United Kingdom - [Director of Delivery Management](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-delivery-management-zencore-new-york-7df63631afp2) — New York, NY - [Senior Client Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-client-partner-zencore-united-states-fkdz34qz1bp8) — United States - [Project Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/project-manager-zencore-latin-america-0sp093gwatzw) — Latin America - [Principal Architect, Infrastructure](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-architect-infrastructure-zencore-united-states-hp309xtc4mek) — United States