Principal Engineer I - Azure Cloud Engineer

Western Alliance Bank•Columbus, OH

19h•Onsite

About The Position

The Cloud Principal Engineer is a senior technical leader responsible for defining and driving the strategic technical direction of the organization’s cloud platforms across Azure and AWS. This role serves as the highest-level engineering authority for cloud architecture, engineering standards, automation patterns, and platform design, ensuring cloud capabilities are secure, scalable, resilient, and aligned with business and regulatory requirements. The Cloud Principal Engineer partners closely with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Application teams, System Integration team, and Operations to establish cloud reference architectures, engineering guardrails, and long-term platform roadmaps. This role leads the resolution of complex cross-domain technical challenges, guides major cloud modernization and migration efforts, and influences enterprise decisions that shape the future-state cloud operating model. As a principal-level engineer, this role is expected to think beyond immediate delivery needs and drive durable technical outcomes through architecture leadership, engineering governance, automation, and mentorship. The Cloud Principal Engineer sets direction, raises engineering standards, and enables teams to deliver cloud solutions consistently and at enterprise scale.

Requirements

8+ years of related experience.
Bachelor's degree in related field required; Masters or MBA in related field preferred.
Deep hands-on and architectural experience in both Azure and AWS environments.
Proven experience defining cloud architecture standards, high-level designs, and platform strategies in large, complex organizations.
Advanced expertise in Infrastructure as Code and automation, including tools and languages such as Terraform, Python, and Bash.
Deep expertise in cloud networking and security, including IAM, VPC/VNet design, segmentation, private connectivity patterns, VPN architecture, and enterprise governance controls.
Experience establishing or maturing engineering standards, platform guardrails, and governance models for cloud adoption at scale.
Strong understanding of reliability, resiliency, disaster recovery, observability, and performance engineering in cloud environments.
Experience with containers, Kubernetes, and CI/CD platforms in enterprise delivery models.
Strong architectural and technical review skills, including the ability to evaluate trade-offs and guide teams toward scalable, supportable solutions.
Experience working across technical and business functions, including architecture, security, operations, application teams, and executive stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction without relying solely on formal authority.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues to both engineers and senior leadership.

Nice To Haves

Previous leadership experience preferred.
Advanced to expert knowledge of general Financial Services or Banking is preferred.
Advanced to expert knowledge of applicable regulatory and legal compliance obligations, rules and regulations, industry standards and practices.
Advanced to expert experience in leading cross-functional teams and managing multiple projects simultaneously with an established expertise in one or more key domains of the bank (Deposits, Loans, Operations or Reporting)with the ability to walk through top level process design.
Capable of working with regulatory partners like the CFPB, OCC and FRB through audits and collaboration efforts as situations arise.
Advanced to expert familiarity with the capability model across IT and the applications and infrastructures available for engagement in solutioning across the bank to develop results that leverage existing capabilities in addition to implementing new solutions when required.
Experience in the design, enhancement and compliance to all governance frameworks across the IT organization to ensure proper compliance to published procedures and standards.

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal technical authority for cloud engineering across Azure and AWS, providing direction on architecture, platform strategy, engineering standards, and complex technical decisions.
Define and evolve enterprise cloud reference architectures, standards, and guardrails for security, networking, identity, automation, resiliency, and service design.
Lead the design and review of high-impact, cross-functional cloud initiatives, including migrations, platform modernization efforts, and integration of cloud services with on-premises and third-party environments.
Drive the organization’s cloud engineering strategy and roadmap, ensuring technical investments support long-term business priorities, operational resilience, and regulatory obligations.
Establish and mature automation-first engineering practices using Infrastructure as Code, policy-as-code, CI/CD, and self-service platform capabilities.
Partner with Cloud Operations and service owners to improve platform reliability, observability, recoverability, and performance, while keeping the Principal Engineer role focused on technical direction rather than day-to-day operational execution.
Influence and strengthen the Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) by defining engineering standards, reusable patterns, governance mechanisms, and architectural review practices.
Provide technical leadership in the evaluation and adoption of cloud-native and third-party technologies, ensuring solutions fit enterprise architecture, risk, and supportability requirements.
Lead root-cause analysis and technical resolution for high-severity or highly complex cloud issues, especially where multiple platforms, teams, or vendors are involved.
Create and maintain high-level designs, engineering patterns, decision frameworks, and architecture guidance that can be consistently applied across teams.
Partner with security, risk, and compliance stakeholders to ensure cloud designs align with enterprise control requirements and regulatory expectations.
Work with finance, product, and engineering leadership to support cost-aware cloud architecture decisions, balancing performance, resiliency, and maintainability with financial stewardship.
Mentor engineers and technical leads, raising the overall engineering capability of the organization through coaching, design reviews, and technical guidance.

Benefits

competitive salaries
an ownership stake in the company
medical and dental insurance
time off
a great 401k matching program
tuition assistance program
an employee volunteer program
a wellness program
opportunity to bolster business knowledge
learning the ins and outs of how successful companies operate and manage their finances