Principle AWS Cloud Architect

LOCATION: ON SITE IN SALT LAKE CITY 4 days per week from day one. ALL candidates must be willing to relocate immediately. NOTE: This position is no open to candidates that currently, or will require sponsorship in the future (this includes those with current H1, OPT, CPT). NO C2C CERTIFICATIONS: An active AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional OR AWS Certified DevOps - Professional is absolutely required Principal Cloud Architect Overview: We’re looking for a highly experienced and visionary Principal Cloud Architect to lead cloud infrastructure design and strategy. This position serves as a technical thought leader and driving force behind enterprise-grade solutions and scalable architecture across the organization. As a senior member of our engineering team, you will play a central role in shaping cloud adoption strategies, guiding development teams, and ensuring robust, high-performance infrastructure. The ideal candidate is a hands-on leader with a deep command of cloud technologies, automation, and DevOps practices. You will act as a catalyst for change, advocate for architectural best practices, and be a trusted advisor in shaping cloud-forward strategies. Key Responsibilities:
Drive end-to-end architecture, from vision through execution, ensuring robust, secure, and scalable cloud solutions.
Champion system design and lead implementation efforts for mission-critical infrastructure with a focus on resiliency, high availability, and maintainability.
Collaborate cross-functionally to align technical initiatives with business goals and solve complex system-level challenges.
Participate in architecture reviews and post-deployment assessments to ensure quality and strategic alignment.
Architect and implement reusable infrastructure platforms and automation frameworks using tools like Terraform, Ansible, and CloudFormation.
Design, implement, and mentor on CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code practices, and DevOps principles.
Deliver technical leadership across cloud projects, including mentoring junior engineers and sharing knowledge through training, documentation, and internal forums.
Create white papers, internal documentation, and educational content to elevate technical standards and knowledge sharing across teams.
Contribute to disaster recovery planning and backup strategies that meet or exceed established RTO/RPO thresholds.
Lead and advocate for improvements in operational efficiency, monitoring, alerting, and proactive infrastructure health management.
Engage with stakeholders to understand business needs and craft scalable cloud architectures that solve real-world challenges. What You Bring to the Team:
Extensive hands-on experience with AWS and a comprehensive understanding of core services including EC2, S3, VPC, IAM, RDS, ELB, Route53.
Deep knowledge of DevOps tools and workflows, including Jenkins, Travis CI, GitFlow, and automated testing frameworks.
Solid scripting/programming background (Python, Node.js, Bash, Java) and practical experience with both Linux and Windows cloud environments.
Proficiency with configuration management platforms like Chef, Puppet, and SaltStack.
Strong knowledge of monitoring and observability tools (e.g., CloudWatch, Nagios, New Relic).
Understanding of Agile and ITIL methodologies, infrastructure automation, containerization, and virtualization practices.
Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to lead discussions and present technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
Self-motivated and comfortable navigating ambiguity, with the ability to drive results independently and as part of a team. Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field (or equivalent professional experience).
AWS Professional Certification (e.g., Solutions Architect Professional or DevOps Engineer Professional).
At least 6 years of experience working in production IT environments.
3+ years of hands-on experience with AWS automation tools (CodeBuild, CodePipeline, CodeDeploy).
3+ years working with infrastructure as code tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible, or Chef.
Experience with AWS governance and compliance tools (e.g., Config, Inspector, Lambda functions for automation).
Demonstrated experience architecting and supporting large-scale, highly available systems. Preferred Qualifications:
Deep understanding of cost-optimization techniques for cloud workloads and familiarity with serverless platforms (e.g., AWS Lambda).
Experience with hybrid architectures and integrations with on-prem systems from vendors such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, or SAP.
Strong background in regulatory compliance frameworks and cloud security (e.g., PCI, HIPAA, SOX).
Proficiency in data serialization languages like JSON and YAML.