Head of System Assurance (Sovereign Cloud & Infrastructure)

The Chief System Assurance Officer's (CSAO) organization is responsible for establishing a Global Sovereign System Assurance Framework, ensuring that Ant International's cross-border payment systems are intrinsically Visible, Controllable, Verifiable, Auditable, and Sustainable.

The Head of System Assurance (Sovereign Cloud & Infrastructure) will lead Ant International's global sovereign cloud strategy, architecture, and control framework, ensuring that all public cloud deployments (including Alibaba Cloud and other providers) meet:

• Data sovereignty and localization requirements

• Regulatory compliance and auditability standards

• Operational resilience and disaster recovery expectations

• Cloud substitutability and exit readiness

This role is the control owner for sovereign cloud architecture, ensuring that Ant International's infrastructure is regulator-acceptable, resilient by design, and not dependent on any single provider.

1. Sovereign Cloud Architecture & Strategy

• Design and enforce EU/UK sovereign cloud architecture aligned with regulatory expectations (e.g., DORA, GDPR)

• Define and implement multi-cloud / hybrid-cloud strategy to ensure resilience and independence

• Establish clear control boundaries between regions, systems, and cloud providers

2. Data Sovereignty & Localization

• Implement data localization, residency, and jurisdictional control mechanisms

• Ensure strict segregation of regulated data across EU/UK and other regions

• Enable full visibility and control over cross-border data flows

3. Cloud Control & Compliance Enforcement

• Act as control owner for cloud infrastructure compliance across Alibaba Cloud and other public cloud providers

• Ensure cloud environments are audit-ready, traceable, and regulator-compliant

• Embed compliance-by-design principles into infrastructure and platform engineering

4. Resilience, DR & Operational Continuity

• Define and enforce global resilience architecture (Active-Active / multi-region design)

• Ensure compliance with RTO / RPO requirements for critical financial systems

• Lead disaster recovery planning, testing, and validation

5. Cloud Substitutability & Exit Strategy

• Design and implement cloud exit strategies and portability mechanisms

• Ensure workload portability across cloud providers (vendor independence)

• Demonstrate regulator-acceptable substitutability capabilities

6. Global Coordination & Engineering Integration

• Partner with Engineering, Security, Data, Risk, and Compliance teams

• Align with Regional Assurance Hubs (EU / UK / US / APAC) for localized implementation

• Integrate sovereign controls into DevSecOps and platform engineering practices

Key Deliverables

• EU/UK regulator-acceptable sovereign cloud architecture

• Fully implemented data localization and control framework

• Proven cloud exit and portability capability (tested and auditable)

• Resilience architecture meeting Tier 0 financial infrastructure standards

Requirements

• 10+ years in cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, or distributed systems
• Strong experience in multi-cloud environments (Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI etc.)
• Proven track record in regulated industries (financial services preferred)
• Deep understanding of:
• Cloud architecture and distributed systems
• Data sovereignty and localization requirements
• Resilience, DR design, and high-availability systems
• Experience in regulatory compliance and audit requirements for cloud infrastructure
• AI Native design ability.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting EU/UK regulatory environments (DORA, GDPR, outsourcing/cloud guidelines)

• Familiarity with cloud compliance frameworks and regulator expectations (EBA, FCA, ECB)

• Experience in large-scale cloud migration or sovereign infrastructure programs

Leadership & Personal Attributes

• Strong ownership mindset with control-oriented thinking

• Ability to balance engineering pragmatism with regulatory rigor

• High integrity and commitment to resilience, security, and compliance

• Excellent cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management skills

Why Join Us

This role is critical to building next-generation sovereign financial infrastructure, offering the opportunity to:

• Define global standards for sovereign cloud in cross-border payments
• Work at the intersection of cloud engineering, regulation, and financial systems
• WEnable global expansion through regulator-trusted infrastructure
• Build resilient, portable, and future-proof cloud platforms