Cloud Architect Resume Keywords: AWS, Azure & GCP Skills
Cloud architect roles command top salaries—and top competition. Your resume needs to show both technical depth and strategic thinking.
Listing "AWS" isn't enough. ATS systems scan for specific services, architecture patterns, and certification keywords. The more precisely you match, the higher you rank.
This guide organizes every keyword by cloud platform and architecture domain. For the system on turning these keywords into quantified impact bullets, see our Professional Impact Dictionary.
AWS Keywords
Compute
- EC2
- Lambda
- ECS
- EKS
- Fargate
- Auto Scaling
- Elastic Beanstalk
- Batch
- Lightsail
Storage
- S3
- EBS
- EFS
- FSx
- S3 Glacier
- Storage Gateway
- Backup
Database
- RDS
- Aurora
- DynamoDB
- ElastiCache
- Redshift
- DocumentDB
- Neptune
- Timestream
Networking
- VPC
- Route 53
- CloudFront
- API Gateway
- Direct Connect
- Transit Gateway
- Global Accelerator
- Elastic Load Balancing
- PrivateLink
Security
- IAM
- KMS
- Secrets Manager
- Certificate Manager
- WAF
- Shield
- GuardDuty
- Security Hub
- Inspector
Management
- CloudFormation
- CloudWatch
- CloudTrail
- Systems Manager
- Config
- Organizations
- Control Tower
Integration
- SNS
- SQS
- EventBridge
- Step Functions
- AppSync
- MQ
Azure Keywords
Compute
- Virtual Machines
- Azure Functions
- AKS
- Container Instances
- App Service
- Service Fabric
- Batch
Storage
- Blob Storage
- Azure Files
- Data Lake Storage
- Archive Storage
- Managed Disks
Database
- Azure SQL
- Cosmos DB
- Azure Database for PostgreSQL
- Azure Cache for Redis
- Synapse Analytics
Networking
- Virtual Network
- Azure DNS
- Azure CDN
- Front Door
- Traffic Manager
- Application Gateway
- Load Balancer
- ExpressRoute
Security
- Azure AD
- Key Vault
- Security Center
- Sentinel
- DDoS Protection
- Firewall
Management
- Azure Resource Manager
- Azure Monitor
- Log Analytics
- Azure Policy
- Blueprints
GCP Keywords
Compute
- Compute Engine
- Cloud Run
- GKE
- App Engine
- Cloud Functions
- Anthos
Storage
- Cloud Storage
- Persistent Disk
- Filestore
- Archive Storage
Database
- Cloud SQL
- Cloud Spanner
- Firestore
- Bigtable
- BigQuery
- Memorystore
Networking
- VPC
- Cloud DNS
- Cloud CDN
- Cloud Load Balancing
- Cloud Interconnect
- Cloud Armor
Security
- Cloud IAM
- Cloud KMS
- Secret Manager
- Security Command Center
- Cloud Armor
Management
- Deployment Manager
- Cloud Monitoring
- Cloud Logging
- Cloud Trace
Architecture Keywords
Patterns
- Microservices architecture
- Serverless architecture
- Event-driven architecture
- Service-oriented architecture
- Monolithic to microservices
- Strangler pattern
- CQRS
- Event sourcing
Design Principles
- Well-Architected Framework
- High availability
- Fault tolerance
- Disaster recovery
- Business continuity
- Scalability
- Elasticity
- Resilience
Multi-Cloud
- Multi-cloud strategy
- Hybrid cloud
- Cloud agnostic
- Cloud migration
- Lift and shift
- Re-platforming
- Re-architecting
- Cloud native
Infrastructure as Code
Tools
- Terraform
- CloudFormation
- Pulumi
- AWS CDK
- Azure Resource Manager
- Google Deployment Manager
- Ansible
- Chef
- Puppet
Concepts
- Infrastructure as Code
- Declarative infrastructure
- State management
- Drift detection
- Version control
- GitOps
- Immutable infrastructure
Security & Compliance
Security Concepts
- Zero trust
- Defense in depth
- Least privilege
- Encryption at rest
- Encryption in transit
- Network segmentation
- Identity federation
- SSO integration
Compliance
- SOC 2
- HIPAA
- PCI-DSS
- GDPR
- FedRAMP
- ISO 27001
- Compliance automation
- Audit readiness
Cost Optimization
Cost Management
- Cost optimization
- FinOps
- Reserved instances
- Spot instances
- Savings plans
- Right-sizing
- Cost allocation
- Tagging strategy
- Budget alerts
- Cost analysis
Certifications
AWS Certifications
- AWS Solutions Architect Associate
- AWS Solutions Architect Professional
- AWS DevOps Engineer
- AWS Security Specialty
- AWS Database Specialty
Azure Certifications
- Azure Solutions Architect Expert
- Azure Administrator
- Azure DevOps Engineer
- Azure Security Engineer
GCP Certifications
- GCP Professional Cloud Architect
- GCP Professional Data Engineer
- GCP Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer
Other Certifications
- CKA (Certified Kubernetes Administrator)
- CKAD
- Terraform Associate
- TOGAF
Action Verbs for Cloud Architects
For Design
- Architected
- Designed
- Developed
- Created
- Planned
- Defined
- Established
For Implementation
- Implemented
- Deployed
- Migrated
- Built
- Configured
- Provisioned
- Automated
For Optimization
- Optimized
- Improved
- Reduced (costs, latency)
- Increased (availability, performance)
- Scaled
- Streamlined
- Modernized
For Leadership
- Led
- Directed
- Advised
- Consulted
- Mentored
- Evaluated
- Recommended
Keywords by Experience Level
Cloud Engineer (0-3 years)
- Cloud fundamentals
- Basic services
- IaC basics
- Scripting
- Monitoring
- Troubleshooting
Cloud Architect (4-7 years)
- Solution design
- Multi-service integration
- Security design
- Cost optimization
- Migration planning
- Technical leadership
Senior/Principal (8+ years)
- Enterprise architecture
- Multi-cloud strategy
- Organizational transformation
- Technology roadmap
- Vendor management
- Executive communication
Quick Reference: Top 50 Cloud Architect Keywords
- AWS
- Azure
- GCP
- Terraform
- Kubernetes
- Microservices
- Serverless
- EC2
- Lambda
- S3
- RDS
- VPC
- IAM
- CloudFormation
- Docker
- CI/CD
- High availability
- Disaster recovery
- Security
- Encryption
- Cost optimization
- FinOps
- Well-Architected
- Cloud migration
- Hybrid cloud
- Multi-cloud
- API Gateway
- Load balancing
- Auto scaling
- EKS/GKE/AKS
- DynamoDB
- CloudWatch
- Monitoring
- Logging
- Networking
- Direct Connect
- Transit Gateway
- Secrets Manager
- KMS
- Compliance
- SOC 2
- HIPAA
- Architecture design
- Technical leadership
- Solution architecture
- Infrastructure design
- Scalability
- Performance
- Reliability
- Enterprise architecture
Build your ATS-optimized cloud architect resume with the right keywords
Keyword Strategy
Lead with Primary Cloud
If the job is AWS-focused, lead with AWS. Don't bury the lead with multi-cloud if they want depth.
Show Architecture Scale
Weak: "Designed AWS infrastructure"
Strong: "Architected multi-region AWS infrastructure supporting 10M daily users with 99.99% uptime, reducing infrastructure costs by 40%"
Include Business Impact
- Cost savings achieved
- Uptime improvements
- Migration scale
- Performance gains
- Security improvements
Match Service Names Exactly
Cloud services have specific names. If the job says "AWS Lambda," use "AWS Lambda" — not "serverless functions." If they want "DynamoDB," don't write "NoSQL database." ATS systems match exact service names.
Context Over Service Lists
Listing 30 AWS services proves nothing about your depth. Instead, show how you combined services to solve architecture problems at scale.
Example: Instead of listing "VPC, Route 53, CloudFront" in skills, write "Designed multi-region VPC architecture with Route 53 failover and CloudFront CDN, supporting 10M daily requests with 99.99% availability."
Common Cloud Architect Keyword Mistakes
The biggest mistake is listing services without architecture context. Every cloud engineer knows EC2 and S3. What separates architects is showing how they designed systems that balanced cost, performance, security, and reliability.
Another common error is omitting FinOps and cost optimization keywords. Companies are increasingly hiring architects specifically to reduce cloud spend. If you have cost savings achievements, make them prominent.
Certification Keywords
Cloud architect certifications are often non-negotiable in ATS filters. Use the full official name: "AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional," "Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert," or "Google Professional Cloud Architect." Shortened versions may not match the ATS keywords that recruiters configure.
Multi-Cloud vs Single-Cloud Strategy
Read the job description to determine the right approach. Enterprise roles often want multi-cloud breadth — list services across AWS, Azure, and GCP. Startup roles typically want deep single-cloud expertise. If the posting mentions one cloud platform repeatedly, lead with that platform's services and architecture patterns. Multi-cloud keywords show breadth but can dilute perceived depth if the role demands specialization.
For full formatting tips and examples, see our Cloud Architect Resume Guide.
