Principal Engineer I - Cloud Automations Engineer

Western Alliance Bank•Phoenix, AZ

About The Position

The Cloud Automations Engineer is a senior technical leader responsible for defining and driving the strategic technical direction of task automation across multiple cloud environments. The role serves as the highest-level engineering authority for cloud architecture, engineering standards, automation patterns, and platform design, ensuring cloud automations are secure, scalable, resilient, and aligned with business and regulatory requirements. The Principal Engineer partners with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Application teams, the System Integration team, and Operations to establish automated processes, cloud reference architectures, engineering guardrails, and long-term platform roadmaps. The role leads resolution of complex cross-domain technical challenges, guides cloud modernization and migration efforts, and influences enterprise decisions shaping future-state cloud and automation operating models. This role drives durable technical outcomes through architecture leadership, engineering governance, automation, and mentorship. It sets direction, raises engineering standards, and enables teams to deliver solutions consistently at enterprise scale, while focusing on technical direction rather than day-to-day operational execution.

Requirements

At least 8 years of progressive experience delivering infrastructure automation, configuration management, and Infrastructure as Code solutions at enterprise scale.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
Deep hands-on and architectural experience in both Azure and AWS environments.
Proven experience defining cloud architecture standards, automations, 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, Ansible, 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 evaluating trade-offs and guiding 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, including the ability to explain complex technical issues to engineers and senior leadership.
Advanced to expert experience leading cross-functional teams and managing multiple projects simultaneously.
Ability to work with regulatory partners such as the CFPB, OCC, and FRB through audits and collaboration efforts as situations arise.
Advanced to expert knowledge of applicable regulatory and legal compliance obligations, rules and regulations, industry standards, and practices.
Advanced to expert familiarity with IT capability models and the applications and infrastructure available for solutioning across the bank.
Experience designing, enhancing, and complying with governance frameworks across the IT organization.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or MBA in a related field.
Previous leadership experience.
Established expertise in one or more key banking domains such as Deposits, Loans, Operations, or Reporting, with the ability to walk through top-level process design.
Advanced to expert knowledge of financial services or banking.

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal technical authority for cloud automation 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 automation initiatives, including migrations, platform modernization, and integration of cloud services with on-premises and third-party environments.
Drive the organization’s automation strategy and roadmap, aligning technical investments with long-term business priorities, operational resilience, and regulatory obligations.
Establish and mature automation-first engineering practices using Python, PowerShell, Infrastructure as Code, policy-as-code, CI/CD, and self-service platform capabilities.
Partner with Cloud Operations and service owners to improve business processes with automation while maintaining reliability, observability, recoverability, and performance.
Influence and strengthen the Cloud Center of Excellence by defining automation standards, reusable patterns, governance mechanisms, and architectural review practices.
Provide technical leadership in evaluating and adopting cloud-native and third-party technologies, ensuring fit with enterprise architecture, risk, and supportability requirements.
Create and maintain SDLC documentation, high-level designs, engineering patterns, decision frameworks, and architecture guidance for consistent use across teams.
Partner with security, risk, and compliance stakeholders to align automation designs with enterprise controls and regulatory expectations.
Work with finance, product, and engineering leadership on cost-aware automation architecture decisions, balancing performance, resiliency, maintainability, and financial stewardship.
Mentor engineers and technical leads through coaching, design reviews, and technical guidance.