Q1
Design a multi-region, highly available cloud infrastructure for a financial services company that processes millions of transactions daily. How would you approach disaster recovery, data replication, and compliance requirements across regions?
Why they ask this:* Evaluates your ability to design enterprise-grade architectures considering scalability, resilience, regulatory compliance, and cost optimization—core responsibilities of a senior Cloud Architect.
Q2
Explain your approach to optimizing cloud costs for a large organization with multiple business units and diverse workloads. What tools, methodologies, and architectural patterns would you implement?
Why they ask this:* Tests your understanding of cloud economics, FinOps practices, and ability to balance performance with cost—a critical skill for senior architects managing significant cloud budgets.
Q3
Compare containerization strategies (Kubernetes vs. managed container services) for a microservices migration. How would you decide which platform is appropriate for different workload types?
Why they ask this:* Assesses depth of knowledge in modern cloud-native technologies and your ability to make technology decisions based on organizational context rather than trends.
Q4
Walk me through your approach to designing a secure cloud architecture that meets zero-trust security principles while maintaining developer velocity and operational efficiency.