Principal Cloud Engineer

Description

The company is a Fortune 500 employee benefits provider, undergoing a digital transformation. Its IT team builds technology that helps millions of people get affordable benefits covering their families, finances and futures.

The team works in an agile, delivery-focused setting and values an entrepreneurial mindset and questioning the way things are done.

This is a Principal Cloud Engineer role, a senior strategic technology position that sets the direction for cloud architecture across AWS, Azure, Terraform-based Infrastructure as Code and DevSecOps.

You will work with senior leaders to lead cloud transformation, modernization and optimization work that improves security, scalability, resilience and cost efficiency, turning strategy into concrete roadmaps and enterprise-wide designs.

You will also mentor engineers, grow future technical talent and encourage continuous improvement, shaping cloud landing zones, identity, networking, observability, automation and disaster recovery, with Terraform, CI/CD, DevSecOps and FinOps as core practices.

This is a campus-based role requiring 4 days a week onsite.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the enterprise cloud architecture, reference patterns and standards for AWS and Azure, covering landing zones, network and identity design, account or subscription structure and resilience.
• Turn the Digital Transformation Office's cloud adoption vision into a practical technical roadmap that matches corporate strategy.
• Lead large, complex cloud migration and modernization programs and the highly technical teams delivering them.
• Advise IT and business partners, work with end users and senior management to define requirements, and win support for cloud plans.
• Show senior leaders how emerging and current cloud technologies affect and improve enterprise strategy.
• Lead the design and adoption of Terraform-based Infrastructure as Code, including module standards, state management and reusable, version-controlled patterns across AWS and Azure.
• Automate provisioning, configuration and operations to shorten delivery time and cut manual work.
• Set up CI/CD pipelines and engineering practices for infrastructure delivery, including code review, testing and policy-as-code.
• Build security into delivery through automated scanning, secrets management, vulnerability management and compliance-as-code in pipelines.
• Define and enforce cloud security standards for identity and access, network segmentation, encryption, logging and monitoring.
• Work with Security, Risk and Compliance teams to meet regulatory, audit and data privacy requirements.
• Help write IT policies and procedures covering architecture, security, disaster recovery, standards, purchasing and service delivery.
• Write, communicate and enforce cloud technology standards and policies.
• Build and manage the cloud capacity plan and lead FinOps work, including cost visibility, optimization and savings opportunities.
• Develop, document and recommend cloud infrastructure investment plans.
• Design and run test plans that check performance, resilience and disaster recovery, then report findings and recommend fixes.
• Act as the subject matter expert for cloud and infrastructure across the enterprise and as the technical authority in cross-organizational forums.
• Mentor and train engineers, raise the engineering bar and build best practices in cloud architecture, engineering and support.
• Research emerging technologies and recommend those that improve cost, security or flexibility.
• Propose technical solutions to business needs across the enterprise.
• Work well with outsourcers, vendors and consultants in matrixed teams, and help negotiate and manage their contracts and service agreements.
• Maintain detailed knowledge of the company's existing IT architecture, infrastructure and technology portfolio.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, engineering or a related field, or equivalent specialized experience, skills, knowledge or training.
• 8+ years of related work experience, including substantial hands-on work designing and running cloud environments.
• Advanced, hands-on expertise in public cloud, with depth in both AWS and Azure.
• Advanced proficiency in Terraform and Infrastructure as Code, including modular design, remote state and pipeline-driven deployment.
• Strong DevSecOps experience with CI/CD tools (for example GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps or Jenkins), security automation, policy-as-code, container and workload security, and secrets management.
• Hands-on scripting and development experience in tools such as Python, PowerShell or Bash.
• Strong knowledge of cloud networking (VPC/VNet, routing, DNS, hybrid connectivity, load balancing), identity and access management, and security best practices.
• Experience with containers and orchestration (for example Kubernetes, EKS or AKS) and observability and monitoring tools.
• Working knowledge of Windows and Linux, Active Directory or Entra ID, storage and database management.
• Good knowledge of applicable data privacy practices and laws.
• Proven experience building strategic plans, gathering business requirements and designing systems at enterprise scale.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, influence and motivate people in a matrixed organization.
• Proven project planning and management across several medium to large initiatives, with the ability to set priorities under pressure.
• Strong analytical, conceptual and problem-solving skills, and the ability to pick up new technologies quickly.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including architecture and technical documentation, and the ability to explain ideas in plain language to senior leaders and vendors.
• Ability to mentor, train and provide technical leadership across the organization.
• Self-motivated and self-directed, with close attention to detail and a collaborative approach.
• Industry certifications are preferred, such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Professional), Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert, HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate or Professional, or a security certification (for example AWS Security Specialty, Azure Security Engineer or CISSP).
• GCP experience is a plus.

Conditions

Campus-based role requiring onsite work 4 days a week.

The base salary range is $109,100.00 to $224,000.00. Actual pay depends on skill, geographic location and experience.

Equal opportunity applies to all applicants.

Benefits

• Healthcare coverage for health, vision and dental.
• Insurance benefits covering short-term and long-term disability.
• Performance-based incentive plans.
• Paid time off.
• A 401(k) with an employer match of up to 5%, plus an additional 4.5% contribution whether or not you contribute to the plan.
• Onsite fitness facilities and professional development programs.
• All benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the individual plans.