Cloud Operations Engineer I

Primary Purpose:

The Cloud Operations Engineer I ensures that services run smoothly, are highly available, and are cost-effective, while monitoring and resolving production problems with zero or minimal impact to the business. The role sits within a high-performing team in a growth-stage technology company that continuously reflects on and improves software development. The Cloud Operations Team values high technical competency and the ability to react quickly to develop solutions for a rapidly growing team.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Follow standard procedures to handle and resolve requests for the Cloud Operations team.
• Support, optimize, and improve production environments as part of a squad of cloud engineers.
• Carry out proactive maintenance of supported customer environments.
• Manage application infrastructures across several geographically dispersed data centers.
• Work with application teams to automate application setup, deployment, and configuration.
• Provide technical solutions to automate processes or functions to improve business operations.
• Continually monitor and tune application infrastructure to ensure optimal performance, availability, and utilization of resources.
• Engineer and deploy releases, enhancements, and upgrades or new applications throughout non-production and production environments.
• Ensure internal tooling, processes, and procedures are regularly maintained, and provide input into improvement plans and roadmaps.
• Provide input on scalability, capacity planning, and high availability concerns.
• Work with Architecture, Development, and Quality Assurance teams to contribute to the technical planning of upcoming features in the next release.
• Act as the subject matter expert for new features built or enhancements implemented, and propagate that knowledge throughout the team.
• Lead technical discussions and design for new projects.
• Proactively identify opportunities for process change within the team, and work with stakeholders to improve operations workflows.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & EXPERIENCE:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 2 – 4 years of professional experience in a DevOps role.
• Previous experience working on a client-facing product or service in production.
• Architecture & Cloud Infrastructure:
• Exposure to modern SaaS application architecture.
• Knowledge of IaaS and cloud platforms such as IBM Cloud, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
• Programming & Automation:
• Experience in automation and software development with proficiency in languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, C/C++, or PL/SQL.
• Scripting capability in PowerShell, BASH, or Python.
• Knowledge of configuration management and automation tools such as Chef, Puppet, Ansible, and AWS CloudFormation.
• Systems & Networking:
• Strong technical knowledge of operating system administration for Windows Server and Linux (RedHat/CentOS, Ubuntu).
• Good knowledge of networking principles, with experience in firewalls, load balancers, hardware configurations, and database servers.
• CI/CD & Containers:
• Experience implementing, delivering, and troubleshooting CI/CD build pipelines (Jenkins, Git, GitHub, and AWS integration).
• Experience in container technology and microservices, including container application implementation and troubleshooting with Docker (Engine, Images) and management utilities (Kubernetes).
• Databases & Monitoring:
• Experience in SQL and PostgreSQL server administration (backup/recovery) and T-SQL scripting.
• Strong knowledge of monitoring and log management tools (NewRelic, CloudWatch).
• Soft Skills & Core Competencies:
• Strong troubleshooting and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to learn new technologies and frameworks.

FIRST 30 DAYS: GETTING STARTED

• Learn the Cloud Operations environment, infrastructure, tools, and support procedures.
• Familiarize yourself with deployment workflows, monitoring tools, and automation practices.
• Shadow team members during troubleshooting, maintenance, and production support.

FIRST 60 DAYS: BUILDING MOMENTUM

• Handle routine support requests, troubleshooting, and infrastructure maintenance.
• Support deployments, upgrades, and automation initiatives.
• Monitor system performance and collaborate with Development, Architecture, and QA teams.

FIRST 90 DAYS: HITTING YOUR STRIDE

• Independently manage assigned Cloud Operations tasks and resolve technical issues.
• Improve automation, monitoring, deployments, and operational processes.
• Contribute to infrastructure scalability, reliability, and performance improvements.