Senior Cloud Operations Engineer

Coalfire is on a mission to make the world a safer place by solving our clients’ hardest cybersecurity challenges. The Senior Cloud Operations Engineer will lead complex initiatives and elevate managed services capabilities, focusing on engineering, automation, and mentoring junior engineers.

Responsibilities:

• Hands-on engineering work, including developing new deployments, automation scripts, and tooling to meet client needs
• Develop and maintain Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) at scale, setting standards for Terraform, Ansible, and CI/CD pipelines across projects
• Mentor junior engineers, review their work, and help mature engineering practices across the team
• Partner with Technical Directors and engagement leads to evaluate risks, prioritize issues, and develop actionable mitigation plans
• Contribute to playbooks, standards, and frameworks for operational excellence in managed services delivery
• Own the patch management strategy for assigned environments, ensuring regulatory compliance and timely remediation of vulnerabilities
• Oversee Identity and Access Management (IAM), implementing and enforcing security best practices to protect sensitive data and ensure proper access controls
• Perform cloud administration and system administration tasks, such as provisioning resources, optimizing performance, and troubleshooting infrastructure issues
• Adhere to established quality standards for engineering deliverables, aligning with internal protocols, compliance regulations, and project deadlines
• Identify and communicate potential risks, working with relevant stakeholders to incorporate mitigation strategies that meet regulatory and client expectations
• Contribute to day-to-day project tasks, including tracking progress, providing updates, and ensuring assigned activities are completed on schedule

Requirements:

• 5–7 years in systems engineering/SRE with increasing responsibility, including architecture design, operations, and automation
• 4+ years in cloud infrastructure management (AWS, Azure, or GCP) with multi-account and multi-environment experience
• 4+ years developing and maintaining IaC with Terraform/Ansible at scale
• Direct experience leading operational improvements (e.g., reducing toil, enhancing SLAs, improving incident response)
• Demonstrated experience driving successful cross-team initiatives and serving as an SME for complex technical problems
• Advanced Cloud Expertise: Strong hands-on experience in AWS, Azure, or GCP, including architecture, security, and performance optimization
• IaC Leadership: Deep understanding of Terraform, Ansible, and modern automation practices; capable of reviewing and improving team IaC workflows
• Operational Excellence: Ability to lead troubleshooting of high-impact incidents, implement monitoring solutions, and improve system reliability
• Security-First Mindset: Experienced in aligning engineering solutions with frameworks such as FedRAMP, CIS, and NIST
• Collaboration & Leadership: Proven ability to lead cross-functional projects, mentor team members, and influence stakeholders
• Documentation & Communication: Skilled at creating technical documentation, architecture diagrams, and presenting complex solutions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Manage and maintain Windows and Linux server environments, including system hardening, GPO configuration, user management, OS-level troubleshooting, and ensuring consistent patching across hybrid environments
• US citizenship (required due to client contractual requirements)
• Modern Architecture Expertise: Serverless, containers (Docker/Kubernetes), microservices, and event-driven systems
• Tools: Familiarity with Visio, LucidChart, Jira, or similar platforms for diagramming and project coordination
• Compliance-Driven Engineering: Prior work in regulated industries (FedRAMP, HIPAA, PCI)
• Exposure to large-scale or high-availability production environments (24x7)
• Familiarity with encryption, PKI, and security baselines (for example, FIPS 140-2, CIS Benchmarks, DISA STIG)
• Previous experience in technical consulting engagements or cross-functional collaboration (for example, with security teams, compliance teams)
• Additional hands-on work with continuous monitoring and vulnerability management
• AWS Solutions Architect Professional