The DevOps Lead is a technical, hands-on individual contributor role on the Cloud Practice team with non-managerial leadership elements. This person will provide expertise regarding design, implementation, automation and operations of our cloud infrastructure as well as CI/CD automation. As a member of Cloud Practice, they work as an “in-house consultant” to our development teams, providing the expertise, guidance and assistance required to successfully deploy and run workloads in the cloud. The DevOps lead also works with our managed cloud partners to operate the AWS Well-Architected Framework, to develop and grow our enterprise presence in AWS, with technical partners to integrate network/VPN infrastructure, and with our AWS account team to build out best practices for the organization.

Operational Excellence

• Help lead the governance and operation of our AWS instance including identity access management, infrastructure as code, security, and backup/DR.
• Facilitate runbook-type systems changes, e.g. employee onboarding and offboarding
• Organize and maintain resource inventories
• Help lead and operate our observability platforms (Datadog/CloudWatch)
• Effectively triage and remediate issues in all environments, using automation and custom scripts where appropriate
• Consult, advise and at times lead on root cause analysis
• Communicate effectively and professionally with colleagues and clients

Developer-Enablement

• Provide expertise, guidance and review for DevOps automation
• Learn, build and evangelize best practices for cloud architecture and infrastructure-as-code
• Maintain and improve our shared cloud infrastructure including networking, CI/CD pipelines, and developer tooling
• Build scripts, tools, and lightweight services to enhance developer experience and productivity

Continuous Improvement

• Document, propagate and maintain best practices for the cloud
• Mentor and train junior Cloud Practice staff
• Recommend, estimate and coordinate new initiatives to improve our cloud presence
• Identify gaps and opportunities

Requirements

• 3+ years working in a cloud engineer role
• 5+ years’ experience working in professional IT
• Strong understanding of cloud-based systems and networking
• Core knowledge of backups and recovery
• Hands-on experience with AWS and cloud-native architectures
• Professional experience with CI/CD automation
• Proficiency in scripting (e.g., Bash, Python, Node.js) to build internal tools, automate tasks, and support infrastructure as code workflows

Value-Adds (any of these are a plus)
 

• Git commands and concepts
• Advance scripting, especially bash or node.js
• Experience developing custom internal tooling and automation
• Knowledge of relational and non-relational database concepts and functionality
• Knowledge and understanding of some programming concepts
• Familiarity with Active Directory
• Familiarity with identity federation
• Experience with AWS VPN implementations and support
• Familiarity with Port, Compass or other developer-focused portals

Personal Attributes
 

• Good judgement and professionalism
• Analytical, mathematical, and creative problem-solving skills
• Excellent listening, interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
• Highly self-motivated and directed.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks while under pressure.
• Good client manners
• Experience working in a team-oriented, collaborative environment.
• Passion for improvement and pride in work

 Education

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or equivalent professional experience
• Professional certifications a plus

Expectations

• Presence in the Richardson office required biweekly; otherwise fully remote; subject to future change in adherence to company policy.
• Sitting for extended periods of time.
• Dexterity of hands and fingers to operate a computer keyboard, mouse, and to handle other computer components.
• Physically able to participate in training sessions, presentations, and meetings.
• May be required to work some evenings or weekends to support production systems
• Because of demands of the job, may have some limited flexibility to telecommute, especially for early morning, late evening, and weekend duties (as required)