Principal Engineer – AWS Platform Engineering

Wells Fargo•McLean, VA

1d•$159,000 - $305,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Principal Engineer will lead the design and implementation of foundational AWS services including AWS Landing Zones, AWS Organizations, Identity and Access Management (IAM), networking, security guardrails, and platform automation capabilities. Working closely with cloud architecture, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and engineering teams, this individual will help establish scalable, secure, and compliant patterns that accelerate AWS adoption across the enterprise.

Requirements

7+ years of Engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education
7+ years of cloud engineering experience.
5+ years of hands-on AWS engineering experience.
5+ years of experience designing and operating enterprise AWS platforms.
5+ years of experience with AWS Organizations, multi-account architectures, and governance frameworks.
5+ years of experience with AWS networking services and hybrid cloud connectivity architectures.
4+ years of experience implementing Infrastructure as Code using Terraform.
Proven experience leading complex technical initiatives and influencing engineering teams.

Nice To Haves

Deep expertise in: AWS Landing Zones, AWS Organizations, AWS Control Tower, AWS IAM and IAM Identity Center, Service Control Policies (SCPs), AWS Cloud WAN, AWS Transit Gateway, AWS Direct Connect, Route 53, AWS PrivateLink, VPC Endpoints
Experience building cloud platforms within highly regulated financial services environments.
Strong knowledge of cloud security, risk management, and compliance controls.
Experience integrating AWS environments with enterprise identity, networking, and security services.
Advanced Terraform expertise including reusable module development and platform automation.
Experience with GitHub Enterprise, CI/CD pipelines, and GitOps methodologies.
Experience with Amazon Bedrock or other AWS AI/ML services.
Strong Python, PowerShell, and automation skills.
AWS Professional and Specialty certifications preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the engineering design, implementation, and evolution of Wells Fargo's AWS platform capabilities.
Partner with cloud architecture and engineering leaders to translate strategic direction into scalable platform services.
Serve as the senior technical leader within the AWS platform engineering team, driving engineering excellence and operational maturity.
Establish engineering standards, reusable patterns, reference implementations, and automation frameworks.
Lead the design and ongoing evolution of AWS Landing Zones and multi-account operating models.
Define and govern AWS Organizational Unit (OU) structures, account lifecycle management, account vending processes, and environment segmentation strategies.
Implement and manage governance controls using AWS Organizations, Service Control Policies (SCPs), Control Tower, and policy-based guardrails.
Drive continuous improvements to account onboarding and operational automation.
Design and implement enterprise IAM solutions and access control strategies.
Define standards for federation, IAM Identity Center, role-based access controls, and privileged access management.
Establish least-privilege access patterns and scalable authorization models across AWS environments.
Partner with security teams to strengthen cloud identity governance and compliance.
Lead engineering efforts related to AWS networking and connectivity services.
Design and implement solutions leveraging VPCs, AWS Cloud WAN, Transit Gateway, Direct Connect, Route 53, PrivateLink, and VPC Endpoints.
Establish secure connectivity patterns between AWS, on-premises environments, Azure, and GCP.
Drive architectural improvements for resiliency, segmentation, performance, and disaster recovery.
Champion Infrastructure as Code and platform automation using Terraform and GitHub.
Define reusable Terraform modules, automated deployment pipelines, and self-service platform capabilities.
Promote GitOps, Policy as Code, and platform engineering best practices.
Improve operational efficiency through automation, standardization, and engineering discipline.
Evaluate and enable emerging AWS services that align with platform strategy.
Support future expansion into AI/ML platform capabilities including Amazon Bedrock and related AWS services.
Contribute to the development of secure consumption patterns for advanced AWS services and platform offerings.
Help establish engineering standards for newly adopted AWS capabilities.
Mentor senior engineers and provide technical guidance across AWS platform initiatives.
Lead design reviews and technical decision-making for complex platform projects.
Drive collaboration across infrastructure, cybersecurity, operations, architecture, and application teams.
Influence technical direction through expertise, partnership, and engineering leadership.