Cloud Engineer

TIAG is now hiring an experienced Cloud Engineer to support the Office of Naval Research (ONR) IT Support Services (ITSS) contract in Arlington, Virginia. The Cloud Engineer will be responsible for designing, implementing, maintaining, securing, and optimizing enterprise cloud infrastructure within Amazon Web Services (AWS) environments supporting ONR's mission-critical information technology operations.

This position reports onsite in Arlington 5 days per week and requires an active Secret clearance to be considered, so US or Naturalized citizenship is required.

The ideal candidate will possess strong hands-on experience in AWS cloud engineering, infrastructure automation, DevOps practices, cloud security, and enterprise systems integration. This position requires a proactive engineer capable of independently managing cloud infrastructure, developing automated deployment solutions, troubleshooting complex technical issues, and collaborating across multidisciplinary IT teams.

The Cloud Engineer will play a key role in supporting ONR's cloud modernization initiatives, operational sustainment, infrastructure optimization, and continuous improvement of cloud services while ensuring compliance with Department of Defense (DoD) cybersecurity standards and federal security requirements.

Key Responsibilities

AWS Cloud Infrastructure Engineering

• Design, deploy, configure, administer, and maintain secure, scalable, and highly available AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Engineer and support AWS services, including but not limited to: Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon VPC, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), Amazon RDS, AWS Lambda, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS Backup, Amazon ECS / AWS Fargate, AWS Developer Services (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and related services).
• Implement and maintain cloud networking configurations, including VPCs, subnets, route tables, security groups, network access control lists, and connectivity solutions.
• Configure and optimize cloud compute, storage, database, and containerized workloads.
• Implement high-availability, backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions.
• Monitor and optimize AWS resource utilization, operational performance, reliability, and cost efficiency.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex cloud infrastructure and service-related issues.

Automation and Infrastructure as Code

• Design, develop, deploy, and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or comparable technologies.
• Automate cloud infrastructure provisioning, configuration management, deployment, and operational processes.
• Design, deploy, and operate CI/CD pipelines and implement automated deployment processes using AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and other applicable DevOps tools.
• Develop and maintain automation scripts using Python, PowerShell, Bash, or equivalent scripting languages.
• Implement repeatable, secure, and scalable deployment methodologies to improve efficiency and reduce manual configuration.
• Integrate automated testing, security validation, and configuration management into infrastructure and application deployment workflows.
• Maintain source-controlled infrastructure configurations and support version management, change control, and deployment documentation.

Cloud Security and Compliance

• Implement and maintain AWS cloud security controls in accordance with DoD cybersecurity policies, NIST SP 800-53, and applicable federal information security requirements.
• Configure and manage AWS IAM policies, roles, permissions, and least-privilege access controls.
• Support vulnerability management, security remediation, patch management, and continuous monitoring activities.
• Implement cloud logging, monitoring, auditing, and alerting capabilities to support security operations and compliance reporting.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity and Information Assurance teams to support Risk Management Framework (RMF) processes, Authority to Operate (ATO) requirements, and ongoing authorization sustainment.
• Assist with the development and maintenance of system security documentation, technical artifacts, configuration baselines, and Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms).
• Support incident response activities and implement corrective actions to address identified cloud security vulnerabilities and operational risks.
• Apply applicable DoD Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), security baselines, and configuration hardening standards.

Cloud Operations, Monitoring, and Optimization

• Provide day-to-day operational support for ONR AWS cloud environments and hosted applications.
• Proactively monitor infrastructure health, service availability, system performance, and resource utilization.
• Configure and maintain operational monitoring, alerting, and logging using Amazon CloudWatch and other applicable tools.
• Investigate system alerts, troubleshoot incidents, conduct root cause analysis, and implement sustainable corrective actions.
• Develop and maintain cloud backup, recovery, and disaster recovery procedures.
• Evaluate cloud infrastructure utilization and recommend cost optimization opportunities.
• Support cloud migration, application modernization, infrastructure consolidation, and containerization initiatives.
• Maintain accurate technical documentation, system architecture diagrams, operational procedures, and cloud infrastructure inventories.

Operational Support and Collaboration

• Collaborate with ONR government stakeholders, enterprise architects, systems engineers, network engineers, cybersecurity personnel, and application development teams.
• Support the integration of AWS cloud services with existing enterprise infrastructure and applications.
• Participate in technical planning, architecture reviews, infrastructure modernization discussions, and implementation activities.
• Support asset and configuration management activities, including integration with ServiceNow CMDB where applicable.
• Coordinate infrastructure changes in accordance with established change management and IT service management processes.
• Provide technical recommendations to improve cloud reliability, operational efficiency, scalability, and security.
• Support technical knowledge transfer, operational documentation, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Required Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Equivalent relevant professional experience may be considered.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant IT infrastructure, systems engineering, or cloud engineering experience, including substantial hands-on experience supporting AWS environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing, deploying, administering, and troubleshooting AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with AWS networking, compute, storage, identity management, monitoring, and security services.
• Hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code technologies, including Terraform or AWS CloudFormation.
• Experience designing, implementing, and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment processes.
• Proficiency with at least one scripting or automation language, such as Python, PowerShell, or Bash.
• Working knowledge of cloud security principles, access controls, vulnerability management, and infrastructure hardening.
• Experience supporting production enterprise IT environments and resolving complex infrastructure issues.
• Strong technical documentation, troubleshooting, analytical, and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with technical teams and government stakeholders.
• Active DoD Secret security clearance required.
• Must meet applicable DoD 8140 cybersecurity workforce qualification requirements associated with the position's assigned work role.
• Must possess applicable baseline and computing environment certifications as required by the contract and designated DoD work role.
• Must be able to maintain required certifications, clearance eligibility, and compliance with ONR security policies.

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate or Professional.
• AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate or AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional.
• CompTIA Security+ CE or another applicable DoD-recognized cybersecurity certification.
• Experience supporting AWS environments within DoD, Department of the Navy, or other federal government organizations.
• Experience implementing and maintaining AWS environments subject to RMF and ATO requirements.
• Experience with Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, and automated infrastructure provisioning.
• Experience designing and operating CI/CD pipelines using AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or similar technologies.
• Experience with Docker, Amazon ECS, AWS Fargate, and containerized application deployments.
• Experience with cloud migration, application modernization, and hybrid cloud architectures.
• Experience implementing AWS backup, disaster recovery, monitoring, logging, and cost optimization solutions.