Job description

Job Title: Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer. Location: Washington, DC (On-site). Employment Type: Contract (W2 through ZipStaff — No C2C or 1099). About the Opportunity: ZipStaff is seeking a highly skilled Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer to serve as a key technical lead for a major transportation organization. In this role, you will design, deploy, automate, and maintain highly scalable, secure, enterprise-grade cloud environments—primarily within AWS, with secondary support for Azure. You will drive major cloud migrations, establish cloud governance policies, and optimize multi-cloud operations while mentoring junior engineers and delivering robust business continuity solutions. What You’ll Do: • Lead the end-to-end design, implementation, and operational management of scalable, resilient, and highly available AWS cloud infrastructure, with secondary support for Azure environments. • Drive Infrastructure as Code (IaC) adoption using tools such as Terraform or CloudFormation to automate cloud provisioning, configuration management, patching, and deployments. • Architect and execute enterprise cloud migration, application modernization, and continuous platform optimization strategies. • Design and maintain standardized, reusable cloud platform templates and enterprise landing zones to accelerate secure team onboarding. • Establish enterprise cloud security standards, IAM best practices, compliance controls, governance policies, and operational workflows. • Design and implement comprehensive backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions across cloud workloads. • Resolve complex cloud networking, infrastructure, and application integration issues; perform root-cause analysis with a high sense of urgency and ownership. • Mentor junior cloud engineers, provide technical guidance across projects, and partner closely with DevOps, Security, Networking, and Application teams. Required Qualifications: • 7+ years of broad IT background spanning systems architecture, infrastructure management, operating systems, databases, enterprise applications, and hybrid networking. • 5+ years of dedicated, hands-on experience designing, deploying, and managing enterprise cloud infrastructure and applications. • Deep knowledge of core AWS services, including EC2, VPC, Route 53, ALB/NLB, S3, IAM, CloudWatch, SSM, RDS, Lambda, and container services (ECS/EKS). • Practical working knowledge of Azure services, including Virtual Machines, VNETs, Azure Storage, IAM, and Azure Backup. • Strong automation capabilities using PowerShell, Python, or Bash, along with experience managing Git-based source control and CI/CD pipelines. • Solid understanding of DNS, TCP/IP, VPNs, firewalls, hybrid cloud connectivity, secrets management, and cloud security compliance controls. • Hands-on experience with containerization technologies and platforms, including Docker and Kubernetes. • Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, a self-motivated drive to work independently or in an integrated team environment, and strong problem-solving skills under tight SLAs. • Ability to work on-site in Washington, DC. Preferred Qualifications: • Prior experience leading cloud migrations or platform modernization initiatives in a large enterprise or transportation environment. • Background establishing cloud governance, landing zones, and reusable platform templates. • Experience mentoring junior engineers and collaborating across DevOps, Security, and Application teams. • Additional depth with multi-cloud operations or advanced AWS/Azure services. Benefits: • Health Insurance. • Dental Insurance. • Vision Insurance. • 401(k) + 401(k) matching. • Paid time off. • Referral Program. About ZipStaff: ZipStaff partners with leading organizations to connect skilled technology professionals with high-impact contract opportunities. We focus on quality matches, clear communication, and long-term success for candidates and clients. To apply, submit your resume highlighting your 5+ years of hands-on AWS cloud infrastructure experience, IaC (Terraform/CloudFormation), Docker/Kubernetes, migrations, and any Azure exposure. Pure research or junior experience will not be considered. Pay: $59 - $60 per hour

Requirements

Must-haves

Job Title: Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer.
Location: Washington, DC (On-site).
Employment Type: Contract (W2 through ZipStaff — No C2C or 1099).
Lead the end-to-end design, implementation, and operational management of scalable, resilient, and highly available AWS cloud infrastructure, with secondary support for Azure environments.
Drive Infrastructure as Code (IaC) adoption using tools such as Terraform or CloudFormation to automate cloud provisioning, configuration management, patching, and deployments.
Architect and execute enterprise cloud migration, application modernization, and continuous platform optimization strategies.
Design and maintain standardized, reusable cloud platform templates and enterprise landing zones to accelerate secure team onboarding.
Establish enterprise cloud security standards, IAM best practices, compliance controls, governance policies, and operational workflows.
Design and implement comprehensive backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions across cloud workloads.
Resolve complex cloud networking, infrastructure, and application integration issues; perform root-cause analysis with a high sense of urgency and ownership.
Mentor junior cloud engineers, provide technical guidance across projects, and partner closely with DevOps, Security, Networking, and Application teams.
7+ years of broad IT background spanning systems architecture, infrastructure management, operating systems, databases, enterprise applications, and hybrid networking.
5+ years of dedicated, hands-on experience designing, deploying, and managing enterprise cloud infrastructure and applications.
Deep knowledge of core AWS services, including EC2, VPC, Route 53, ALB/NLB, S3, IAM, CloudWatch, SSM, RDS, Lambda, and container services (ECS/EKS).
Practical working knowledge of Azure services, including Virtual Machines, VNETs, Azure Storage, IAM, and Azure Backup.
Strong automation capabilities using PowerShell, Python, or Bash, along with experience managing Git-based source control and CI/CD pipelines.
Solid understanding of DNS, TCP/IP, VPNs, firewalls, hybrid cloud connectivity, secrets management, and cloud security compliance controls.
Hands-on experience with containerization technologies and platforms, including Docker and Kubernetes.
Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, a self-motivated drive to work independently or in an integrated team environment, and strong problem-solving skills under tight SLAs.
Ability to work on-site in Washington, DC.

Nice-to-haves

Prior experience leading cloud migrations or platform modernization initiatives in a large enterprise or transportation environment.
Background establishing cloud governance, landing zones, and reusable platform templates.
Experience mentoring junior engineers and collaborating across DevOps, Security, and Application teams.
Additional depth with multi-cloud operations or advanced AWS/Azure services.

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

awsazurepythonci/cddockerkubernetes

Platform: betterteam
Effort: medium

Benefits

Benefits detected in the listing.

Health Insurance

Dental

Vision

401(K)

Paid Time Off