Principal Cloud Engineer

Gattaca; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 77,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Gattaca is seeking a Principal AWS Cloud Engineer to lead cloud strategy for a UK defence/engineering client. You will architect resilient AWS environments, set engineering standards, and mentor teams across multiple domains.

The role is hands-on with leadership duties, requiring SC clearance, and focuses on Terraform-based IaC, CI/CD pipelines, and modern backend services using Python/Go/Java/Node.js.

Qualifications

• AWS Associate Certification required (Professional level desirable).
• Extensive AWS experience across multi-region, enterprise-scale environments.
• Strong coding skills in Python/Go/Java/Node.js and IaC with Terraform.

Responsibilities

• Architect multi-region, highly available AWS environments aligned to business goals.
• Write, test, and maintain production-grade IaC using Terraform.
• Contribute to codebase with backend services and automation scripts.
• Prototype new AWS services to improve capability and time-to-market.
• Guide technical decisions and ensure integration of infrastructure and software.
• Design and deploy enterprise CI/CD pipelines and internal platforms.
• Drive cost optimisation and performance across distributed systems.
• Mentor engineers and shape cloud strategy and standards.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Leadership

Mentoring

Security best practices

Stakeholder management

Programming experience

Education

AWS Associate Certification

Tools

Terraform

AWS Control Tower

CI/CD pipelines

Python

Go

Java

Node.js

Job description

Package: £76,500 - £100,000 (salary dependent on experience) + Benefits

Security Clearance: Due to the nature of the projects involved, applicants must be eligible to obtain Security Check (SC) Clearance as a minimum.

• Hybrid working with an average of 3 days per week onsite.

The Role:

Our client is a leading UK technology and engineering organisation operating at the forefront of defence, security, digital transformation and advanced research. As a Principal AWS Cloud Engineer, you will define and drive cloud strategy, architect resilient and secure AWS-based solutions, and provide technical direction across multiple engineering teams.

Acting as the highest level of technical escalation, you will play a pivotal role in shaping engineering best practices, mentoring engineers at all levels, and ensuring the successful delivery of enterprise-scale cloud solutions. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring deep AWS expertise and a passion for driving technical excellence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architect complex, multi-region, highly available AWS environments aligned to long-term business objectives and product roadmaps.
• Write, test, and maintain complex, production-grade IaC using Terraform. You will be directly responsible for managing and scaling the AWS Control Tower and landing zone architectures
• Actively contribute to codebase. Develop backend services, automation scripts, and custom tooling using modern programming languages.
• Evaluate emerging AWS services and third-party technologies by prototyping them to enhance capability, efficiency and time-to-market.
• Guide technical decision-making across engineering teams and ensure successful integration between infrastructure and software development.
• Design, write AND deploy enterprise-grade CI/CD pipelines and internal developer platforms that enable our teams to ship securely and autonomously.
• Drive AWS cost optimisation initiatives and improve performance across distributed systems, microservices, databases and network infrastructure.
• Act as a trusted advisor to engineering leadership and contribute to cloud strategy, governance and architectural standards.
• Mentor senior, mid-level and junior engineers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
• Extensive experience designing, implementing and operating AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Expert-level knowledge of AWS services, including networking technologies such as Transit Gateway and Direct Connect, compute, storage, security and governance.
• Strong expertise in Infrastructure as Code and configuration management.
• Software engineering background with advanced knowledge of Python, Go, Java or Node.js.
• Demonstrable experience leading large-scale technical initiatives and influencing engineering strategy across multiple teams.
• Proven track record designing, deploying and supporting large-scale distributed systems and microservices architectures.
• Strong stakeholder management and the ability to drive technical consensus across complex organisations.

Essential Qualifications:

• AWS Associate Certification minimum (Professional level certifications highly desirable)