AWS Engineer

POSITION IS LOCATED IN TORRANCE, CA (LOS ANGELES COUNTY). *HYBRID (4 DAYS ONSITE PER WEEK) *CONTRACT ROLE: OPEN-ENDED IN DURATION. *NO CORP TO CORP Position Overview We are looking for a seasoned and visionary Principal AWS Engineer with 10+ years of experience designing, building, and managing enterprise-scale cloud infrastructure. This is a senior technical leadership role requiring deep expertise in AWS services, infrastructure architecture, and cloud strategy. You will play a pivotal role in shaping our cloud roadmap, mentoring engineering teams, and driving innovation across our cloud infrastructure initiatives. Key Responsibilities Lead the design and evolution of cloud architecture, ensuring alignment with business goals and long-term scalability. Serve as the technical authority for AWS infrastructure decisions, guiding teams across engineering, DevOps, security, and operations. Develop and enforce standards for infrastructure as code (IaC) using tools such as Terraform, AWS CDK, or CloudFormation. Spearhead enterprise cloud transformation initiatives, including large-scale migrations, modernization efforts, and multi-account strategy. Partner with InfoSec to implement and enforce robust cloud security, governance, and compliance frameworks. Architect and oversee CI/CD pipelines, automation strategies, and DevOps best practices across the organization. Optimize AWS usage across the organization, driving performance improvements and cost efficiencies. Lead technical design reviews, root cause analyses, and post-incident retrospectives. Act as a mentor and technical leader, developing internal talent and fostering a culture of engineering excellence. Stay ahead of the curve on emerging AWS technologies, trends, and best practices — and integrate them strategically. Required Qualifications 10+ years of experience in infrastructure, DevOps, or cloud engineering roles, with at least 7 years focused on AWS. Proven experience designing and managing complex, high-availability, and secure AWS environments in production. Expert knowledge of AWS core services: EC2, S3, IAM, VPC, RDS, Lambda, CloudFront, EKS/ECS, CloudTrail, Config, and GuardDuty. Strong background in networking, identity & access management, and cloud-native security. Mastery of infrastructure as code (IaC) and automation tools (Terraform, CDK, Ansible, etc.). Proficient in scripting/programming (Python, Bash, Go, or similar). Deep experience with CI/CD pipelines and toolchains (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, CodePipeline, etc.). Excellent communication skills, capable of translating complex technical concepts to executive stakeholders. Preferred Qualifications AWS Professional-level Certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, DevOps Engineer Pro). Experience leading cloud transformation initiatives or acting as a principal engineer/architect in a large-scale cloud environment. Strong background in regulated industries (e.g., finance, healthcare, government). Familiarity with multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environments. Experience managing cost allocation, tagging strategies, and AWS billing/reporting at scale. Knowledge of serverless architecture, event-driven systems, and container orchestration (EKS, Kubernetes).