Senior Cloud Engineer

United States Digital Space LLC; Toronto; On-site; CAD 123,984 - 130,872; Full time

Job summary

United States Digital Space LLC is seeking a Senior Cloud Engineer to lead the production readiness and secure cloud deployments in Toronto. This contract role lasts 6-12 months and offers competitive pay between $90-$95/hr.

The ideal candidate will have over 7 years of experience with AWS and Terraform, focusing on production environments and cloud security. This position requires strong problem-solving skills, clear communication, and the ability to work cross-functionally.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in cloud engineering or platform engineering roles.
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS (multi-account environments).
• Deep expertise in Terraform with best practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead production readiness and secure cloud deployment.
• Implement infrastructure-as-code (Terraform) for AWS environments.
• Manage production CI/CD pipelines and secure key management.

Skills

Cloud engineering

AWS

Terraform

Cloud security frameworks

CI/CD pipelines

Production readiness

Problem-solving

Job description

This is a contract role with a contract duration of 6‑12 months at a pay rate of 90‑95$/hr, 40 hrs a week.

Senior Cloud Engineer (AWS / Terraform / Security & Production Readiness)

Location: Toronto / Montreal (Hybrid – mandatory)

Experience: 7‑10+ years

Employment Type: Full‑time / Contract

Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Cloud Engineer to lead production readiness, secure cloud deployment, and live cutover of a regulated, high‑assurance platform.

This role is critical in ensuring that AWS production environments are secure, compliant, and operationally resilient, with a strong focus on infrastructure as code (Terraform), security controls, key management, and production deployment practices.

You will work at the intersection of cloud engineering, security, and platform operations, supporting a high‑stakes production launch and vendor integrations.

Key Responsibilities

• 1. Production Environment Setup & Governance
  • Establish and configure AWS production environments (ca-central-1) separated from non‑production accounts.
  • Implement multi‑account governance and federation models aligned with enterprise standards.
  • Apply infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform) modules to enforce:
    • Service Control Policies (SCPs)
    • Data residency controls
    • MFA enforcement and root access restriction
    • Public access protections (e.g., S3 hardening)
  • Configure monitoring, alerting, and centralized logging using CloudWatch and log aggregation solutions.
• 2. Security & Key Management Infrastructure
  • Implement and manage customer‑managed KMS keys, including asymmetric key configurations.
  • Deploy and maintain secure key custody frameworks, including:
    • Application service keys (rotating)
    • Blockchain validator keys
    • Privacy/encryption keys for sensitive transaction layers
  • Ensure secure handling of secrets via AWS Secrets Manager with automated rotation.
• 3. CI/CD & Production Deployment
  • Activate and manage production CI/CD pipelines with environment gating and approvals.
  • Deploy applications and infrastructure using controlled release mechanisms.
  • Lead production deployments of pre‑validated components (from dev & staging) including:
    • Encryption and signing mechanisms
    • Security‑sensitive platform components
• 4. Production Readiness & Runbook Validation
  • Validate and refine production runbooks against real‑world system behaviour.
  • Identify and address gaps between staging and production environments.
  • Ensure operational readiness, incident response alignment, and monitoring coverage.
• 5. Vendor Integration & Cutover
  • Own the end‑to‑end integration and production cutover of critical third‑party services.
  • Transition from mock sandbox to production for:
    • KYC systems (e.g., Persona)
    • Compliance platforms (e.g., sanctions, PEP screening)
    • Custody / MPC platforms (multi‑party computation)
  • Ensure secure data flows and operational stability.
• 6. Hypercare & Production Support
  • Support live production cutover and stabilization phases.
  • Monitor platform health, performance, and security posture.
  • Rapidly respond to incidents during hypercare period.

Required Skills & Experience

• 7+ years in cloud engineering / platform engineering roles.
• Strong hands‑on experience with AWS (multi‑account environments).
• Deep expertise in Terraform (modular design, IaC best practices).
• Proven experience implementing:
  • Cloud security frameworks (IAM, SCPs, KMS, Secrets Manager)
  • Monitoring & observability (CloudWatch, logging pipelines)
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and controlled production deployments.
• Strong understanding of:
  • Production readiness and release management
  • Secure architecture and data protection controls
• Experience supporting high‑risk production cutovers or regulated environments.

Nice to Have

• Experience with blockchain or cryptographic key management systems.
• Exposure to MPC (multi‑party computation) or custody platforms.
• Familiarity with compliance/KYC integrations.
• AWS certifications (Solutions Architect / DevOps / Security).

What You Bring

• Ownership mindset with ability to lead production‑critical initiatives.
• Strong problem‑solving skills in high‑pressure environments.
• Ability to work across engineering, security, and vendor teams.
• Clear communication and documentation skills.