Do I need to write actual application code for this challenge?

No. This is an architecture design challenge. You should produce architecture diagrams, a written design document, and a cost model. You may include code snippets (e.g., RLS policies, Terraform examples) to illustrate specific patterns, but a working implementation is not required.

Can I use a different cloud provider than AWS?

The scenario specifies AWS as the chosen provider. You should use AWS services in your design. However, you may note equivalent services on other providers for comparison where it strengthens your analysis.

How detailed should the cost estimates be?

Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate costs for key services (RDS, ECS/EKS, ALB, ElastiCache, etc.) at the three tenant milestones (200, 500, 2000). Ballpark estimates with clear assumptions are acceptable — exact pricing is less important than demonstrating sound cost reasoning.

Design

Cloud Architecture Design for a Multi-Tenant SaaS Platform

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Overview

What this challenge is about.

Cloud Architecture Design for a Multi-Tenant SaaS Platform. Advanced challenge in design. Designing real products under real constraints, earn a blockchain-v...

CredentialBlockchain-anchored

ShareableLinkedIn-ready

LanguageEnglish

PaceSelf-paced

The Brief

What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.

Design a production-ready multi-tenant SaaS architecture on AWS that balances data isolation, GDPR compliance, and per-tenant customization with cost efficiency and operational simplicity. The design must support 200 tenants at launch and scale to 2,000 tenants without a fundamental re-architecture.

This is not a design exercise. It is the work a product designer does between a brief and a shipped interface. That distinction matters to every hiring manager who has seen candidates redesign Spotify's homepage and none who have worked under real product constraints.

When you finish, you will have something most graduates do not: a real-world deliverable, verified by Ewance, that you can show to a hiring manager and say "I did this. Here is the proof."

Your tasks

Requirements Analysis and Pattern Selection

Analyze the functional and non-functional requirements and create a requirements matrix
Research multi-tenancy patterns and evaluate trade-offs for each architectural layer
Select your tenancy model and document the decision rationale
Draft the high-level architecture (C4 Context and Container diagrams)

Detailed Design and Cost Modeling

Design the data architecture including schema, RLS policies, and migration strategy
Create the AWS infrastructure diagram with specific service selections
Build the cost model spreadsheet for 200/500/2000 tenant scenarios
Document the security and GDPR compliance approach

Scaling Strategy and Final Documentation

Design the scaling roadmap with capacity thresholds and migration triggers
Create the Component-level C4 diagrams for critical services
Compile the complete design document with all sections
Review for consistency, completeness, and clarity before submission

Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate

Evaluate and select appropriate multi-tenancy patterns (shared vs. siloed) across application, data, and infrastructure layers with clear justification.
Design a cloud-native architecture that meets functional requirements (GDPR compliance, data isolation, customization) while adhering to cost constraints.
Create professional architecture diagrams and technical documentation that communicate complex system designs to both engineering and business stakeholders.
Develop a scaling strategy with concrete cost projections that demonstrates understanding of cloud economics and capacity planning.

Program Fit

Where this fits in your program.

Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.

Aligned coursework coming soon.

Skills

Skills you'll demonstrate.

Each one shows up on your verified credential.

Careers

Career paths this challenge builds toward

Completing this challenge demonstrates skills that transfer directly to these roles:

Career paths this builds toward

Canonical roles

Cloud ArchitectFuture-proof
The cloud architect is the person who decides, before a single line of code runs, what the shape of a system will be. Which regions, which services, which boundaries, which failure modes the company is willing to live with. The role pulls on AWS and Azure not as products to memorize but as a vocabulary for tradeoffs — cost, latency, resilience, security, blast radius. Good work here looks like an architecture diagram a junior engineer can implement and a CFO can sign off on. Students grow into this path by building real things on a cloud account, breaking them, fixing them, and learning to defend design choices against the Well-Architected questions a senior reviewer will ask.
Engineering & IT

Frequently asked questions

What students usually ask before they start.

No. This is an architecture design challenge. You should produce architecture diagrams, a written design document, and a cost model. You may include code snippets (e.g., RLS policies, Terraform examples) to illustrate specific patterns, but a working implementation is not required.
The scenario specifies AWS as the chosen provider. You should use AWS services in your design. However, you may note equivalent services on other providers for comparison where it strengthens your analysis.
Use the AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate costs for key services (RDS, ECS/EKS, ALB, ElastiCache, etc.) at the three tenant milestones (200, 500, 2000). Ballpark estimates with clear assumptions are acceptable — exact pricing is less important than demonstrating sound cost reasoning.

One more thing

You can put a credential on your CV by Friday.

Start this challenge