Sr. Manager Public Cloud

Why WestJet:

Every WestJet journey has the potential to enrich lives; a career with us is no exception.

WestJet arrived on the Canadian airline scene in 1996 and changed the industry for the better. We made air travel more affordable for Canadians and now we're going global.

Join us, this is where your career story takes off.

Overview of role:

The Senior Manager, Public Cloud is accountable for the delivery, management, governance, and strategic direction of WestJet's Public Cloud platforms. This role ensures secure, cost-optimized, and scalable cloud services that enable business growth, digital transformation, and operational resilience across the WestJet group of companies.

They are responsible for defining the cloud vision and roadmap, leading a cross-functional team of cloud engineers and architects, and driving the adoption of modern, cloud-native technologies across hybrid environments. The Senior Manager provides the deep technical and operational expertise required to make strategic cloud decisions - balancing innovation with governance, cost optimization, and compliance.

This position requires a blend of strategic vision, technical leadership, and hands-on experience with Azure and container-based platforms (AKS). The successful candidate will be an evangelist for hybrid-cloud infrastructure, a champion of cloud governance and adoption, and a trusted partner to technology and business leaders across the enterprise.

Key deliverables / responsibilities include:

Strategy & Leadership

• Define and lead WestJet's enterprise-wide Public Cloud strategy and roadmap, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices.
• Establish and lead a Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) and Community of Practice, driving enterprise-wide adoption of cloud technologies while enabling innovation within secure, well-defined guardrails.
• Champion the adoption of hybrid-cloud solutions, advocating for optimal workload placement across on-premises and public cloud environments.
• Partner with senior leadership across Technology, Cybersecurity, and Application teams to align infrastructure capabilities with business transformation goals.

Cloud Engineering & Operations

• Oversee the design, implementation, and operations of WestJet's Azure environments, including AKS, networking, storage, identity, and security.
• Build and maintain a Cloud Service Catalog offering automated, self-service provisioning of approved infrastructure and platform services - enabling rapid adoption while preserving governance and cost control.
• Lead incident management, root-cause analysis and continuous improvement for 24×7 operations.
• Lead the evolution of Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices using tools such as Terraform, establishing reusable templates and pipelines that ensure security, compliance, and efficiency.
• Establish and maintain cloud governance frameworks, policies, and standards ensuring compliance, resilience, and cost control.
• Define and maintain service levels specific to cloud platforms, including availability, performance, and disaster recovery readiness.

Financial & Vendor Management

• Manage multi-million-dollar cloud budgets, including forecasting, cost optimization, and financial governance.
• Establish cloud cost transparency, showback/chargeback models, and deliver year-on-year cost reductions while enabling agility.
• Lead vendor and partner management, including contract negotiations, renewals, service level performance, and quality improvement initiatives.
• Collaborate with Microsoft and key strategic partners to leverage incentives, enterprise support programs, and joint innovation opportunities.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Incorporate emerging technologies into the infrastructure portfolio to drive modernization and competitive advantage.
• Promote adoption of cloud-native architectures, containerization, and AI/ML workloads to improve agility and performance.
• Utilize metrics-based management to monitor operational health, service maturity, and delivery performance.
• Drive a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the Cloud team and across business units adopting cloud services.

Team Leadership

• Build, develop, and mentor a high-performing team of cloud engineers, architects, and governance specialists.
• Foster a collaborative, customer-centric culture focused on accountability, innovation, and operational excellence.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and professional development to direct reports, ensuring team capabilities evolve alongside WestJet's cloud maturity.

First Year Deliverables:

• Strengthening WestJet's cloud foundations — standardizing modern engineering practices, advancing automation through a Cloud Service Catalog, and embedding resilience and security into day-to-day operations.
• Building capability and community — developing a high-performing cloud engineering team and fostering collaboration across Technology through a growing Cloud Community of Practice.

Experience and qualifications:

• 10+ years of progressive IT experience, with 5+ years in cloud engineering, architecture, or management.
• In-depth knowledge of Azure design, engineering, and operations, including AKS, networking, security, and automation.
• Proven experience in migrating, managing, and optimizing hybrid-cloud and containerized workloads.
• Strong knowledge of Infrastructure-as-Code, DevOps, and cloud-native principles.
• Scrum or equivalent Agile methodology.
• Demonstrated leadership skills with experience managing large resource teams.
• Requires complex problem-solving skills and advanced interpersonal and communication skills including the ability to influence others.
• Ability to clearly articulate technical problems from a business perspective and translate business problems into a technology viewpoint.
• Strong commercial acumen including financial management, contract negotiation and vendor management are essential.
• Demonstrate a strong technical grounding to effectively manage and challenge technology teams with regards to measures of complexity and effort.
• Self-motivated and ability to work independently and cross functionally.
• Experience and demonstrated ability to create a vision, strategy and roadmap.
• Exposure to highly complex and integrated systems using enterprise class tools and methodologies.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively, demonstrate flexibility and set priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Highly motivated and collaborative individual.
• Customer-focused mindset with a passion for innovation and service excellence.

The benefits of being a WestJetter:

WestJet provides all WestJetters with a competitive total rewards package. On top of that, we offer:

• A fun and friendly culture with colleagues who work together to win
• Travel privileges for you and your family, effective from your start date
• Savings and Benefit programs that are flexible to meet your specific needs

Think we are a fit? Apply now

About WestJet Group of Companies

WestJet took to the skies in 1996 with just over 200 employees and three aircraft operating service to five destinations. Since then, WestJet has pioneered low-cost travel in Canada, cutting airfares in half, and increasing the flying population in Canada by more than 50 per cent. Following integration with Sunwing in 2025, more than 14,000 WestJetters support nearly 200 aircraft and connect guests to more than 100 destinations across North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.

As a major Canadian employer that includes WestJet Airlines, Sunwing Vacations Group and WestJet Cargo, the WestJet Group is Canada's leading low-cost airline and largest vacation provider, with a united purpose of providing affordable and accessible air and vacation travel to Canadians.

Our Safety Promise

At WestJet, the safety and security of our people and our guests is a core value and at the heart of what we do. As safety and security is a shared responsibility, it is expected that you will use safe work practices to ensure your well-being and the safety of others.

WestJet recognizes that the use of Alcohol and Drugs can adversely impact a safe work environment and the well-being of others including guests, suppliers and the public, as well as place WestJet's operations at risk. All roles that are identified as safety sensitive are required to pass a Pre-Employment Alcohol and Drug Test as per WestJet's Alcohol and Drug Policy.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We embrace what makes us each unique, and what makes us uniquely WestJet. WestJet is committed to inclusiveness, equity, and accessibility and if you require accommodation during the selection process, please let our Talent Acquisition team know at We encourage all qualified candidates to apply.

At WestJet, we welcome unique skills, experiences, and backgrounds - if you're passionate and excited about this role, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every single qualification in the posting. We are committed to inclusivity, equity, and accessibility in the selection process. If you require an accommodation during the recruiting process, please let our Talent Acquisition team know.

We thank all applicants for their interest in WestJet; however, only those candidates who are selected will be contacted.

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