Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Arctic IT Government Solutions, LLC is seeking a Principal Cloud Engineer to serve as a senior technical authority for cloud architecture and engineering across federal programs. The role establishes cloud standards and architectures, leads complex multi-cloud initiatives, advises executive-level clients, supports pre-sales and service development, and mentors cloud engineering teams.
Responsibilities
- Define, document, and govern the cloud engineering patterns, standards, reference architectures, and reusable automation used across federal programs and delivery teams
- Lead the most complex cloud engineering efforts across multiple concurrent projects, including designs spanning networking, identity, security, data, and application platforms
- Serve as the corporate subject matter expert in Microsoft Azure, owning technical direction, landing zone standards, and architectural guardrails for Azure-based solutions
- Build and maintain multi-cloud expertise across platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud, sufficient to advise clients objectively and lead solutions that span more than one platform
- Establish and enforce engineering standards for infrastructure as code, automation, CI/CD, monitoring and alerting, backup and recovery, and configuration management
- Apply expert judgment to ambiguous, systemic technical risks, including issues that cross project, tenant, contract, or organizational boundaries
- Anticipate and clearly communicate long-term reliability, security, performance, cost, and operational tradeoffs, and recommend the option that best balances client mission needs with lifecycle cost
- Review and approve architectures, migration plans, and significant change designs produced by other engineers before they reach the client
- Lead root cause analysis and remediation for high-severity or recurring incidents, and convert findings into durable standards and preventive controls
- Lead and influence executive-level client conversations, translating technical direction into mission, risk, schedule, and cost terms that decision-makers can act on
- Navigate complex, sensitive, or escalated client situations, including competing stakeholder priorities, constrained budgets, and inherited technical debt
- Serve as the senior technical advisor for assigned federal accounts and develop multi-year cloud modernization roadmaps with client leadership
- Support pre-sales activities that grow existing accounts and capture new business, including discovery sessions, technical assessments, solution design, level-of-effort and pricing input, and oral presentations
- Author and review technical volumes, solution narratives, architecture diagrams, and past performance content for RFI, RFQ, and RFP responses
- Identify expansion opportunities within current accounts and work with growth, capture, and delivery leadership to shape and qualify them
- Help define, package, and launch new cloud service offerings, including scope, deliverables, delivery model, required skills, tooling, and margin considerations
- Build and maintain relationships within the cloud partner ecosystem, including Microsoft, to leverage partner programs, funding, and technical resources in both pursuits and delivery
- Raise the engineering maturity of the cloud practice through design reviews, documented standards, quality gates, and structured knowledge sharing
- Train and mentor cloud engineers in the use of cloud technologies, including hands-on enablement, labs, internal training sessions, and certification path guidance
- Actively develop engineering talent through technical coaching, career guidance, and candid feedback, and support hiring through technical interviews and skills assessments
- Stay abreast of changes in cloud technologies, licensing, compliance frameworks, and vendor roadmaps, and translate them into actionable guidance for delivery teams and clients
- Write social media, blog, and thought leadership content that improves company visibility and credibility in the GovCon industry, in coordination with marketing and business development
- Represent the company at industry events, partner briefings, webinars, and client technical exchanges
- Apply corporate AI tools and emerging AI services to improve engineering productivity, delivery quality, and client solutions, and help define standards for their responsible use
- Design, document, and defend cloud architectures for complex, multi-stakeholder federal environments
- Make sound decisions with incomplete information and clearly explain the reasoning and tradeoffs behind them
- Diagnose systemic problems in cloud environments and drive them to permanent resolution rather than repeated workarounds
- Balance security and compliance obligations with operational practicality, schedule, and cost
- Communicate credibly with audiences ranging from hands-on engineers to client executives and contracting officials
- Establish technical direction and influence outcomes without direct authority across project teams, subcontractors, and client staff
- Simplify complex technical concepts into concise written and verbal narratives, including proposal content and public-facing thought leadership
- Recognize commercial opportunities in technical conversations and support pursuit strategy accordingly
- Use corporate AI tools effectively in relation to this role's primary responsibilities
Skills
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, engineering, or a related field; equivalent professional experience will be considered
- Ten (10) or more years of progressive IT infrastructure, cloud engineering, or cloud architecture experience
- Five (5) or more years of hands-on Microsoft Azure design, implementation, and operations experience at an expert level
- Demonstrated experience with at least one additional cloud platform, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud, and the willingness to deepen that expertise
- Proven expert mastery of cloud engineering with a sustained record of exceptional outcomes on complex, high-visibility efforts
- Demonstrated executive-level client credibility, including experience leading technical discussions with senior client stakeholders and program leadership
- Demonstrated experience setting engineering standards, patterns, or reference architectures that were adopted by other engineers or teams
- Experience supporting pre-sales or capture activities, including solution design, estimating, technical writing, and client-facing presentations
- Experience with Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft 365, Azure networking, Azure security services, and hybrid identity
- Experience with infrastructure as code and automation tooling such as Terraform, Bicep or ARM, PowerShell, and Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions
- Experience with cloud security and compliance frameworks such as NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-171, FedRAMP, CMMC, or StateRAMP
- Experience delivering in a professional services, managed services, or government contracting environment
- Experience mentoring, training, or formally developing other engineers
- Valid driver's license, insurance and reliable personal vehicle
- Travel is required and varies around 20%
Benefits
- Regular full-time position
- The majority of work for this role is performed in a home office
- Telecommuting
- Travel is required and varies around 20%
Company Overview