Q1
Design a multi-region, highly available cloud infrastructure for a financial services application that requires sub-100ms latency globally and must comply with data residency regulations. Walk us through your architecture decisions, including database replication strategy, disaster recovery approach, and cost optimization.
Why they ask this:* Evaluates your ability to design enterprise-scale architectures balancing performance, compliance, cost, and operational complexity—core responsibilities of a senior Cloud Architect.
Q2
Explain how you would implement a zero-trust security model across a hybrid cloud environment with on-premises data centers and multiple public cloud providers. What tools, identity management strategies, and network segmentation approaches would you use?
Why they ask this:* Tests deep understanding of modern cloud security architecture, multi-cloud management, and your ability to design frameworks that meet evolving security standards.
Q3
Describe your approach to optimizing cloud costs for a company spending $2M annually across AWS, Azure, and GCP. How would you identify waste, implement governance, and establish chargeback models without sacrificing performance?
Why they ask this:* Senior architects must balance innovation with fiscal responsibility; this assesses your experience with FinOps, cost modeling, and stakeholder management around cloud spending.
Q4
Walk us through how you would architect a microservices platform using Kubernetes, including your strategy for service mesh implementation, observability, CI/CD pipeline integration, and handling stateful services.