Principal - Cloud Foundations Engineer

About the role

We are seeking a Principal - Cloud Foundations Engineer to design, build, and maintain the core cloud infrastructure and shared services that enable our development and business teams to operate securely, reliably, and efficiently in the cloud. This role focuses on establishing the landing zones, automation, governance, and operational guardrails that form the foundation for all cloud workloads. As a Cloud Foundations Engineer, you will work across multiple teams to ensure that our cloud environments follow best practices for security, scalability, automation, and cost optimization, while enabling self-service adoption by application teams.

Responsibilities

• Cloud Platform Engineering Design, implement, and maintain enterprise landing zones and shared cloud services.
• Manage account/subscription structures across AWS, Azure, and/or GCP.
• Build and enforce secure-by-default infrastructure patterns.
• Infrastructure as Code & Automation Develop and maintain reusable IaC modules (Terraform, CloudFormation, Bicep, or Pulumi).
• Build CI/CD pipelines to automate infrastructure deployment and updates.
• Enable self-service provisioning capabilities for development teams.
• Security, Governance & Compliance Implement identity and access management (IAM) best practices.
• Configure and maintain guardrails such as policies, SCPs, and monitoring controls.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and internal security standards.
• Networking & Connectivity Design and support VPC/VNet architectures, routing, firewalls, VPNs, and interconnects.
• Establish hybrid connectivity solutions with on-premises environments.
• Observability & Cost Optimization Deploy monitoring, logging, and auditing tools across the environment.
• Build dashboards to track cloud performance, security posture, and costs.
• Recommend and implement cost-saving measures.
• Collaboration & Enablement Partner with application, DevOps, and security teams to ensure smooth cloud adoption.
• Provide documentation, best practices, and training to engineering teams.
• Participate in incident response and troubleshooting when foundational services are impacted.

Requirements

• Education & Experience Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 15+ years of total work experience in Technology Infrastructure.
• 10+ years of experience in cloud engineering, infrastructure, or platform operations.
• Technical Skills Deep expertise in at least one major cloud provider (Azure and AWS).
• Strong experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) - Terraform preferred.
• Hands-on knowledge of networking concepts (VPC, DNS, firewalls, load balancing, hybrid connectivity).
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, etc.).
• Familiarity with cloud security principles and compliance frameworks.
• Proficiency in scripting languages (Python, Bash, PowerShell).
• Soft Skills Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting abilities, cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Excellent communication, mentorship, and ability to influence cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technically without direct authority.
• Ability to balance governance requirements with developer productivity.
• Preferred Skills (Nice-to-Have)
• Experience operating cloud platforms in regulated enterprise environments.
• Experience with multi-cloud environments.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes and container orchestration (EKS, AKS, GKE).
• Knowledge of service mesh, API Gateways, or Serverless Platforms.
• Background in FinOps (cloud cost optimization practices).
• Cloud certifications (AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, GCP Professional Cloud Architect).
• Success Measures
• Stable, secure, and scalable cloud foundation adopted across teams.
• Improved developer productivity through reusable frameworks and standards.
• Strong technical mentorship and uplift of data engineering capabilities.
• Reduced onboarding time and operational friction for application teams.
• Improved security posture and audit outcomes.
• Recognized as a trusted technical authority within the Cloud Foundation domain.
• Working with Us
• As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a

Benefits

Additional Information

About Northern Trust As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world's most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions. Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide. With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world's most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service. Principal - Cloud Foundations Engineer

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