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.

• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

Requirements10+ years in cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, or distributed systemsStrong 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 systemsData sovereignty and localization requirementsResilience, DR design, and high-availability systemsExperience in regulatory compliance and audit requirements for cloud infrastructureAI 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 UsThis role is critical to building next-generation sovereign financial infrastructure, offering the opportunity to:Define global standards for sovereign cloud in cross-border paymentsWork at the intersection of cloud engineering, regulation, and financial systemsWEnable global expansion through regulator-trusted infrastructureBuild resilient, portable, and future-proof cloud platforms