Cloud & Digital Assets Platform Engineering Lead

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly experienced Executive Director, Cloud Infrastructure & Digital Assets Platform Engineering, with deep hands-on AWS and GCP infrastructure expertise, plus blockchain, tokenization and distributed systems. This role will define, build, and advance cloud and digital asset platform strategy across the Wealth Management and Investment Management Technology organization.

This individual will serve as the senior technical authority responsible for architecture, engineering standards, platform modernization, cloud governance, and delivery of enterprise-scale cloud and digital asset solutions as teams transition business-critical workloads to cloud platforms. The role requires deep technical knowledge of cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, infrastructure automation, DevSecOps practices, distributed systems, and modern application architecture.

The ideal candidate combines strong executive technical leadership with hands-on engineering experience, driving innovation while delivering secure, scalable, and resilient platforms. This leader will collaborate closely with product, enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, infrastructure engineering, and platform teams to establish scalable cloud foundations and accelerate cloud and digital asset adoption while ensuring alignment with security, compliance, resiliency, and operational standards.

Key Responsibilities

Cloud Platform Strategy & Engineering (AWS and GCP)

• Provide hands-on technical leadership for the design, implementation, and evolution of the firm's AWS and GCP platform capabilities, including multi-cloud and hybrid operating models.

• Define and drive the architecture, technology roadmap, and technical strategy for cloud and digital asset platforms.

• Establish cloud architecture standards, guardrails, best practices, and reusable platform patterns across AWS and GCP.

• Partner with engineering teams to establish secure, scalable, and resilient cloud landing zones on AWS and GCP.

• Evaluate and recommend cloud services, infrastructure patterns, and operating models that align with business and technology objectives.

• Own long-term cloud modernization and transformation roadmaps.

Digital Assets & Blockchain Engineering

• Design and deliver blockchain-enabled platforms, tokenization solutions, and digital asset lifecycle services.

• Provide hands-on leadership across microservices, distributed systems, blockchain integrations, and Web3 technologies.

• Define integration patterns for public, private, and permissioned blockchain networks.

• Establish best practices for smart contracts, blockchain security, governance, and operational support.

• Provide technical leadership on distributed ledger technologies and digital asset platform architecture.

• Evaluate emerging blockchain, digital asset, and cloud technologies to drive innovation and modernization.

Automation & AI

• Champion Automation, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices using Terraform and related frameworks across AWS and GCP.

• Develop reusable cloud infrastructure modules, templates, based on standards and reference architectures.

• Promote automated provisioning, policy enforcement, compliance validation, and operational efficiency.

• Exposure to AI-assisted engineering tools and cloud-native AI offerings, Agent, skill and other resource development using AI

Technical Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Influence strategic technology decisions through technical expertise and thought leadership.

• Lead architecture reviews and establish standards for scalability, security, resiliency, and performance for cloud and digital asset initiatives.

• Guide teams through rehosting, replatforming, refactoring, and cloud-native modernization initiatives.

• Mentor engineers and architects on cloud technologies, automation, and modern engineering practices to develop high-performing engineering teams.

• Build trusted relationships across application teams, engineering leadership, cybersecurity, risk, and infrastructure organizations.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; advanced degree preferred.

• 15+ years of software and infrastructure engineering experience, including building and supporting enterprise-scale cloud, blockchain, and digital asset solutions.

• Hands-on cloud infrastructure experience on both AWS and GCP, including enterprise-scale platforms and landing zones.

• Strong understanding of tokenization, smart contracts, and distributed ledger technologies.

• Strong understanding of networking, security, identity and access management, and cloud governance.

• Familiarity with financial services, capital markets, digital custody, or regulated environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to cloud security frameworks, compliance requirements, and risk management practices.

• Experience with platform engineering and self-service cloud enablement models.

• Experience with public, private, and permissioned blockchain networks and Web3 technologies.

• Relevant cloud certifications (AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional, Google Professional Cloud Architect, or equivalent).

• Understanding of multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud operating models.

Technical Skills

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) - hands-on: VPC, IAM, Route 53, Elastic Load Balancing, EC2, S3, EKS, CloudWatch

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - hands-on: VPC, IAM, Cloud DNS, Cloud Load Balancing, Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Cloud Monitoring & Logging

• Blockchain, tokenization, and distributed ledger technologies

• Smart contracts, blockchain security, and governance

• Public, private, and permissioned blockchain integration patterns

• Web3 technologies and digital asset lifecycle services

• Digital custody in regulated environments

• Python/GoLang, Shell Scripting, APIs and Automation Frameworks

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients - helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated - and we’ve done that for 90 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices into your browser.

Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $195,000 and $275,000 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

For more information, please visit: https://www.morganstanley.com/people-opportunities/eeo.