Principal Cloud Engineer

Greystar•Columbia, SC

1d•$160,000 - $190,000•Remote

About The Position

The Principal Cloud Engineer is a senior technical leader who pairs architectural vision with hands-on engineering execution. You will design and build the reference architectures, patterns, and standards that support Greystar’s global operations, then implement those designs yourself using modern cloud practices. This is not a role that stops at diagrams. This is the role that proves out patterns through working POCs, then enables the platform team to operationalize and scale them. You will partner closely with the Data, Digital, and AI (D2AI) team, where much of Greystar’s active cloud development happens today, while keeping a broader, enterprise-wide perspective. Much of that work is AI and data intensive, so a core part of this role is building the cloud foundation that Greystar’s AI and ML workloads run on, from accelerated compute and model serving to the Databricks data plane that powers them. We are looking for someone who thinks in cloud concepts rather than being tied to any single provider. The ideal candidate understands foundational principles - IAM, virtual networking, DNS, load balancing, compute, and storage - and can translate those concepts fluidly across Azure, AWS, or any platform our growing portfolio demands. You approach technology decisions with a methodology-first mindset: evaluating trade-offs, aligning infrastructure choices with business objectives, and building frameworks that scale across a complex, multi-entity organization. This is an individual contributor role with a strong mentoring component. You will guide and elevate systems administrators and engineers across the team, helping them grow into more strategic thinkers themselves. In addition to your resume, all candidates are required to include a short video (2–5 min) demonstrating how you have used AI tools in your engineering workflow — code generation, debugging, architecture, documentation, or similar. We recommend recording with Loom (free) or uploading as an unlisted YouTube video. Please embed this link at the top of your resume. Applications without a video link will not be reviewed.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
10+ years of progressive experience in cloud, infrastructure, or platform engineering, with at least 3 years in a senior or principal-level role.
Strong conceptual mastery of cloud computing fundamentals - IAM, VNets/VPCs, load balancing, DNS, compute, storage.
Deep hands-on experience with Azure private networking — hub-and-spoke topology, Private DNS zones, private endpoints, and network security controls.
Hands-on experience with Terraform or equivalent Infrastructure as Code tools (Bicep, CloudFormation).
Proficiency with Git-based version control and CI/CD pipeline design and management.
Experience with containerization technologies, particularly Docker.
Demonstrated ability to mentor and influence engineering teams without direct management authority.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts and architectural decisions for diverse audiences.

Nice To Haves

Substantial hands-on Azure experience is strongly preferred, as Azure is Greystar’s current primary cloud platform.
Experience with Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions; equivalent experience with GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, or similar platforms is also valued.
Experience designing and implementing identity and access architecture in Azure, including Entra ID, PIM, SCIM provisioning, and workload identity federation.
Experience with Azure Policy as code, including custom policy definitions, initiative assignments, and enforcement mode governance.
Scripting and automation proficiency in PowerShell, Python, or Bash.
Experience supporting AI and ML workloads in the cloud: GPU and accelerated compute, model serving and inference infrastructure, MLOps or LLMOps tooling, Databricks, or AI cost management.
Experience defining operational standards (SLOs, observability, incident management, production readiness) that an operating team runs against.
Understanding of security and compliance frameworks (SOC 2, PCI, CIS benchmarks) as they relate to cloud infrastructure.
Experience developing technology standards, governance processes, or architectural review practices for mid-to-large organizations.
Cloud certifications (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect Expert, AWS Solutions Architect, HashiCorp Terraform Associate) are a plus but not required.

Responsibilities

Design and build reference architectures, design patterns, and technology standards that ensure consistency, security, and scalability across all environments, and contribute to technology roadmaps that align cloud direction with business objectives and growth plans.
Design, implement, and continuously improve Greystar’s private networking architecture, including hub-and-spoke topology, private endpoint strategy, DNS architecture, and network segmentation standards across all cloud environments.
Design and build Greystar’s container platform, delivering reference patterns for AKS and containerized workloads that underpin near-term initiatives including MCP-based services and AI/ML model serving infrastructure.
Design and implement cloud infrastructure solutions across multi-cloud environments (Azure, AWS), with an emphasis on reliability, security, and cost-efficiency.
Design and implement the infrastructure patterns for AI workloads and the Databricks data plane that D2AI’s analytics and AI products depend on.
Partner closely with application development teams - including the Data, Digital, and AI (D2AI) team - to help them move fast and safe by providing the patterns, guardrails, and platform capabilities they need to ship confidently.
Build and curate paved-road solutions: reference implementations, Terraform modules, pipeline templates, and starter architectures that let product teams adopt cloud services without reinventing the wheel.
Remove friction by anticipating common needs - networking, identity, secrets, deployment, observability - and delivering self-service capabilities that scale across teams.
Serve as a trusted technical advisor on cloud design reviews, helping development teams choose the right services and patterns for their workloads.
Champion and advance Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices using Terraform, ensuring repeatable, version-controlled, and auditable infrastructure deployments.
Use Greystar's AI tooling to accelerate your own engineering work — from IaC authoring to runbooks and documentation.
Model responsible, high-leverage use of AI for the engineers you mentor, setting the standard for how the platform team works.
Build and maintain enterprise-wide CI/CD pipeline standards, branching strategies, and release patterns that eliminate per-team reinvention and enable development teams to move quickly within a consistent, well-governed framework — providing reusable templates and patterns.
Implement and maintain reliability standards the platform team operates against, including SLO/SLI frameworks, error budgets, and availability targets by workload tier.
Implement observability standards (logging conventions, tracing, metrics, dashboard and alerting baselines) so every service is instrumented consistently rather than team by team.
Build and maintain the incident management framework (severity definitions, escalation paths, on-call structure, and blameless postmortem practice) that platform engineers execute during live incidents.
Develop and maintain production readiness and operational acceptance criteria, the gate a service must satisfy before it is handed off to the platform team to operate.
Implement and maintain operational lifecycle standards for patching and upgrade cadence, secret and certificate rotation, backup and disaster recovery, and capacity planning.
Close the loop: use postmortem trends, recurring toil, and reliability reviews to refine the architecture and platform standards over time so they stay grounded in operational reality.
Build and maintain governance frameworks for cloud decisions, including guidelines for platform selection, service adoption, landing zone design, and architectural review processes.
Implement and continuously improve best practices for cloud security, identity, network segmentation, and policy guardrails across the cloud estate.
Drive cost governance practices across the cloud estate, including tagging, budgeting, and right-sizing patterns.
Author and maintain comprehensive technical documentation including architecture decision records, reference designs, and standard operating procedures.
Prove out new platform capabilities through working reference implementations before they are codified as enterprise standards.
Mentor and coach cloud and platform engineers, providing technical guidance, architectural thinking, code reviews, and knowledge-sharing to elevate the team’s capabilities.
Collaborate cross-functionally with DevOps, security, application, and business teams to ensure cloud capabilities are aligned with organizational needs.

Benefits

Competitive Medical, Dental, Vision, and Disability & Life insurance benefits.
Low (free basic) employee Medical costs for employee-only coverage; costs discounted after 3 and 5 years of service.
Generous Paid Time off. All new hires start with 15 days of vacation, 4 personal days, 10 sick days, and 11 paid holidays. Plus your birthday off after 1 year of service!
Additional vacation accrued with tenure.
For onsite team members, onsite housing discount at Greystar-managed communities are available subject to discount and unit availability.
6-Week Paid Sabbatical after 10 years of service (and every 5 years thereafter).
401(k) with Company Match up to 6% of pay after 6 months of service.
Paid Parental Leave and lifetime Fertility Benefit reimbursement up to $10,000 (includes adoption or surrogacy).
Employee Assistance Program.
Critical Illness, Accident, Hospital Indemnity, Pet Insurance and Legal Plans.
Charitable giving program and benefits.