Principal Cloud Engineer

The Opportunity

Black & Veatch is seeking a highly experienced Principal Cloud Engineer to serve as a senior technical leader responsible for the design, implementation, and operation of enterprise cloud environments. This role will help define cloud standards, guide strategic technology decisions, and lead complex engineering initiatives that support business objectives across Azure, AWS, Oracle Cloud, and hybrid infrastructure.

The Principal Cloud Engineer will partner closely with architecture, cybersecurity, infrastructure, development, and operations teams to deliver secure, resilient, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. The successful candidate will possess deep technical expertise, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to influence technical direction across the organization.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role with significant influence on enterprise cloud strategy, engineering standards, and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Cloud Architecture and Engineering

• Design, implement, and support secure, scalable, and highly available cloud solutions across Azure, AWS, and OCI.
• Develop and maintain cloud architecture standards, engineering patterns, and reference designs.
• Lead the implementation of core cloud services including networking, identity, compute, storage, monitoring, backup, and disaster recovery.
• Evaluate new technologies and recommend appropriate solutions that align with business and technology objectives.
• Serve as technical lead for complex cloud modernization and transformation initiatives.

Automation & Infrastructure as Code

• Establish and promote Infrastructure as Code (IaC) standards using tools such as Terraform.
• Design and implement automation solutions that improve operational consistency, efficiency, and reliability.
• Develop reusable templates, modules, and deployment patterns that accelerate delivery and improve governance.
• Reduce manual operational activities through automation and orchestration

Security and Compliance

• Partner with cybersecurity teams to implement cloud security best practices and security-by-design principles.
• Design and support identity and access management solutions utilizing modern authentication and authorization models.
• Ensure cloud solutions align with organizational security policies and regulatory requirements.
• Support compliance initiatives including CMMC, NIST 800-17, ITAR/EAR, SOC and other applicable frameworks
• Participate in security assessments, risk reviews, and remediation efforts.

Cloud Operations & Reliability

• Improve the reliability, availability, and recoverability of cloud environments.
• Lead efforts to enhance monitoring, logging, observability, and operational processes.
• Serve as a technical escalation point for complex cloud engineering issues and crucial incidents.
• Support disaster recovery planning, resiliency testing, and business continuity initiatives.
• Drive continuous improvement in operational excellence and service quality.

Governance and Financial Management

• Develop and maintain cloud governance standards, policies, and guardrails.
• Partner with stakeholders to improve cloud cost management, resource utilization, and financial accountability.
• Support cloud optimization initiatives including rightsizing, reserved capacity planning, and cost allocation strategies.
• Promote responsible cloud adoption through standardized processes and controls.

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership across enterprise cloud initiatives and strategic projects.
• Lead technical design reviews and architecture discussions
• Mentor and coach cloud engineers while fostering engineering best practices.
• Build strong relationships with business and technology stakeholders to align solutions with organizational goals.
• Influence technology roadmaps and long-term cloud strategy through technical expertise and thought leadership

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 10+ years of experience in infrastructure, systems, cloud engineering, or related technical disciplines.
• 5+ years of experience designing, implementing, and operating enterprise cloud environments.
• Deep expertise with Microsoft Azure and/or Amazon Web Services.
• Strong experience with Infrastructure as Code solutions (Terraform preferred)
• Experience designing secure, highly available and scalable enterprise infrastructure solutions.
• Strong understanding of networking, identity management, security, automation, and cloud-native services.
• Experience implementing monitoring, logging, and operational support solutions.
• Proven ability to lead large-scale, technical initiatives across multiple teams.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience operating within regulated environments subject to frameworks such as CMMC, NIST, ITAR/EAR, FedRAMP, or similar compliance requirements
• Experience supporting multi-cloud environments including Azure, AWS, Oracle Cloud, or VMWare-based platforms.
• Experience with CI/CD platforms including GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or similar technologies.
• Experience with container platforms such as Kubernetes, AKS, or EKS.
• Experience with cloud governance, cost optimization, and FinOps practices.

Minimum Qualifications

All applicants must be able to complete pre-employment onboarding requirements (if selected) which may include any/all of the following: criminal/civil background check, drug screen, and motor vehicle records search, in compliance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Certifications

One or more industry certifications such as:

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

Work Environment/Physical Demands

Hybrid or flexible work options may be offered after the first 90 days of employment based upon manager discretion, job performance and work assignments.