Principal Cloud Engineer

If youre passionate about building a better future for individuals communities and our countryand youre committed to working hard to play your part in building that futureconsider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online competency-based degree programs WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century one that has received praise from academic industry government and media leaders. Whatever your role working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Job Description

Western Governors University (WGU) is reimagining higher education through technology and innovation. Were seeking a Principal Cloud Engineer to help design and build the next generation of cloud infrastructure that powers accessible high-quality education for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide.

This is a hands-on engineering and leadership role ideal for someone who can both architect and implement cloud-native solutions drive Kubernetes platform innovation and lead DevOps automation at scale.

What Youll Do

• Design build and optimize AWS-based infrastructure for scalability performance and reliability.

• Serve as WGUs Kubernetes expert leading cluster design deployment automation monitoring and continuous improvement.

• Implement and manage Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and CI/CD pipelines using tools like Terraform Ansible and CloudFormation.

• Define and maintain High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies to meet RTO/RPO targets.

• Partner with engineering product and architecture teams to ensure cloud infrastructure supports academic and business objectives.

• Automate provisioning monitoring and deployments to accelerate delivery and reduce operational overhead.

• Mentor engineers and promote DevOps security and cloud architecture best practices across teams.

What You Bring

• Expert-level hands-on experience with AWS services and distributed systems design.

• Deep Kubernetes expertise including cluster configuration scaling networking and observability.

• Strong proficiency with automation and configuration management tools such as Terraform Ansible and CloudFormation.

• Scripting and programming skills in Python Bash or .

• Solid knowledge of cloud networking security and monitoring.

• Experience with observability tools like CloudWatch New Relic or Prometheus.

• Proven success implementing CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation at scale.

• Excellent communication documentation and collaboration skills.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Information Technology or related field (or equivalent relevant experience).

• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional and AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional (both required).

• 6 years of experience managing production cloud or IT workloads.

• 3 years of hands-on experience with core AWS services (VPC IAM EC2 ELB RDS Route53 S3).

• 3 years of experience building CI/CD pipelines using CodeBuild CodePipeline and/or CodeDeploy.

• 3 years of experience automating infrastructure with Terraform Ansible and CloudFormation.

• 3 years using AWS governance and compliance tools such as Config Inspector and Lambda.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience integrating AWS with on-prem or hybrid enterprise technologies.

• Expertise with serverless computing (Lambda Step Functions) and cloud cost optimization.

• Familiarity with compliance frameworks (HIPAA FERPA PCI SOX).

• JSON/YAML fluency and API integration experience.

• Experience mentoring engineers and leading cross-functional technical initiatives.

Why Join WGU

At WGU youll help shape the future of education through cloud innovation. Youll join a mission-driven team that values collaboration autonomy and purpose working on systems that truly make a difference in learners lives.

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Job Description Disclaimer: This position description provides the major duties/responsibilities requirements and working conditions for the position. It is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current position however management reserves the right to revise or change as necessary to meet organizational needs. Other responsibilities may be assigned when circumstances require.

Position & Application Details

How to Apply: If interested an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. Its not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.