Senior Lead Cloud Engineer (Certified) :
Location : Chicago, IL (Hybrid) Start Date : Immediate Visa : Open (Except & GC)
Job Summary
We are seeking a highly experienced and certified Senior Lead Cloud Engineer to architect, design, and lead enterprise-level cloud initiatives. The ideal candidate will bring deep hands-on expertise across AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform , strong leadership capabilities, and the ability to drive large-scale cloud modernization, automation, and governance efforts. This role requires a strategic thinker with exceptional engineering, security, and cross-team collaboration skills.
Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end cloud architecture, engineering, migration, and modernization programs.
- Design scalable, secure, and highly available cloud solutions using AWS / Azure / Google Cloud Platform.
- Define cloud architecture best practices, standards, and governance frameworks.
- Oversee deployment of cloud-native services including compute, storage, networking, IAM, and security.
- Drive IaC automation using Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible, or similar tools.
- Mentor and lead cloud engineering teams; conduct design and code reviews.
- Build and enhance CI / CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Azure DevOps, etc.
- Implement cloud security, compliance, encryption, observability, and cost-optimization strategies.
- Troubleshoot complex cloud infrastructure issues and perform root-cause analysis.
- Partner with DevOps, SRE, Security, and application teams for smooth cloud operations.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.10 12+ years of total IT experience, with 8+ years in cloud engineering / architecture.Must have at least one major cloud certification : AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Cloud Platform Professional Cloud Architect.Technical Expertise :
Deep experience with cloud-native services across compute, networking, databases, IAM, logging, and monitoring.Hands-on proficiency with IaC : Terraform, CloudFormation, ARM, Pulumi.Strong background with containers and orchestration : Docker, Kubernetes, EKS, AKS, GKE.Solid experience building and optimizing CI / CD pipelines.Scripting proficiency : Python, Bash, PowerShell.Strong understanding of cloud security frameworks : CIS, NIST, IAM, RBAC.Enterprise-level cloud migration and modernization experience.Multi-cloud architecture experience preferred.Knowledge of service mesh technologies : Istio, Linkerd.Familiarity with observability tools : Prometheus, Grafana, CloudWatch, Splunk, Datadog.FinOps and cloud cost optimization experience.Soft Skills :
Proven leadership managing and mentoring cross-functional engineering teams.Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder collaboration skills.Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.Ability to lead enterprise cloud initiatives with minimal oversight.