Cloud Architect

Overview

REI Systems’ mission is to deliver reliable, innovative technology solutions that advance Federal clients' missions and exceed their expectations. Our technologists and consultants are passionate about solving complex challenges that impact millions of lives. We take a Mindful Modernization® approach in delivering our services, including application modernization, grants management, case management systems, government data analytics, and advisory services. This approach, the REI Way, ensures mission impact by aligning our clients' strategic objectives with measurable outcomes through people, processes, and technology. We offer the same commitment to our employees by providing professional development, meaningful projects, and flexibility to spend time with family and friends. We believe employees are at their best when fulfilled in both their professional careers and their personal lives. Learn more at www.REIsystems.com. Employees voted REI Systems a Washington Post Top Workplace in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025!

Responsibilities

We are seeking a Senior Cloud Engineer to design, implement, and optimize secure, cost-effective cloud infrastructure for Federal agency environments. This role requires the ability to independently lead engineering initiatives from concept through implementation with minimal oversight, while collaborating cross-functionally to meet mission-critical objectives in a multi-vendor, compliance-driven landscape

• Independently lead the design, implementation, and delivery of scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud infrastructure solutions, taking full ownership from planning through execution
• Evaluate on-premises infrastructure and applications to determine migration requirements, including documentation of current-state and target-state architecture, and development of compute and cost estimates
• Design and implement cloud-native application architecture, ensuring compliance with Federal security and operational requirements
• Perform Right-sizing analysis of cloud resources to optimize performance and cost, leveraging tools such as AWS Trusted Advisor and AWS Cost Explorer
• Implement AWS tagging strategies to enable cost allocation, billing breakdown by project/team/environment, and accurate chargeback/showback reporting
• Implement and maintain cloud security best practices, including configuration monitoring and compliance auditing via AWS Config, IAM policy management, and continuous vulnerability assessment
• Build and maintain Dashboards and Reporting for infrastructure health, cost, security posture, and performance using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and native AWS monitoring services
• Collaborate with architecture, operations, security, data center, and product development teams to translate platform requirements into cloud-native solutions that support mission objectives
• Develop and maintain network diagrams, runbooks, and support procedures for cloud and on-premises infrastructure
• Monitor network availability, capacity utilization, and system performance to meet committed SLAs and quality-of-service objectives
• Define and drive adoption of key architectural design patterns across all environment stakeholders
• Advise Federal agency leadership on cloud strategy, options analysis, and alignment with agency strategic plans
• Maintain and share best practices in cloud performance measurement, migration methodology, and implementation, informed by current industry trends
• Provide expertise in operational metrics, observability, and site reliability engineering (SRE) practices

Qualifications

Required Skills & Experience

Core Cloud & Infrastructure

• Minimum 8 years of professional experience across various phases of cloud engineering projects
• 5+ years of hands-on AWS experience, including EKS, ECS, S3, KMS, Secrets Manager, API Gateway, CloudFront, VPC, EC2, RDS, SQS, SNS, Security Groups, and NACLs
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead cloud projects end-to-end with minimal supervision
• Experience designing highly available systems using load balancing, horizontal scalability, and fault-tolerant architecture
• Working knowledge of one or more modern programming languages (Python, JavaScript, Go, .NET, Java, etc.)

Infrastructure as Code & DevSecOps

• Deep, hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Terragrunt, Ansible, AWS CloudFormation) and containerization/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, YAML configuration)
• 5+ years developing and supporting CI/CD pipelines using tools such as Jenkins, SonarQube, and Artifactory/Nexus
• Strong UNIX/Linux administration and shell scripting skills

Security, Compliance & Cost Management

• Working knowledge of cloud security principles, firewall management, and network security controls
• Hands-on experience with AWS Config and AWS Trusted Advisor for continuous compliance and cost/security optimization
• Experience designing and enforcing AWS resource tagging standards to support cost allocation and billing breakdown across projects, teams, or environments

Monitoring & Reporting

• Experience implementing continuous monitoring and logging across all application and infrastructure layers
• Hands-on experience with Prometheus, Grafana, or equivalent observability tools
• Ability to build clear dashboard reporting for technical and executive stakeholders

Strategic & Advisory Experience

• Experience with Federal agency or large enterprise cloud strategy, procurement, migration, and performance measurement
• Experience advising IT leadership and C-suite executives, drawing on public-sector best practices and lessons learned
• Experience conducting open-source research, policy analysis, and data analysis to inform technical recommendations
• Excellent troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills across complex, multi-layered environments

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Direct experience with AWS GovCloud and its unique compliance, security, and operational requirements
• Experience implementing FISMA compliance controls and CIS benchmark hardening
• Additional AWS or multi-cloud certifications beyond baseline requirements
• Foundational knowledge of AI/ML concepts and experience integrating AI-driven tools into cloud operations (e.g., anomaly detection, predictive scaling, AIOps, or generative AI-assisted engineering workflows)

Qualifications

• MS in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent experience
• Cloud certification(s) from a major provider (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer)
• Agile/Scrum certification or demonstrated experience with Agile engineering principles

Ideal Candidate Profile

A self-directed senior engineer comfortable owning complex cloud initiatives independently, with strong AWS expertise, a security-first mindset, and the ability to translate technical work into clear reporting for both engineering peers and agency leadership. Familiarity with GovCloud and Federal compliance frameworks is a strong plus.

Educational Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Operations Management, or related field.

Clearance: Eligible to obtain a public trust clearance.

Location: Hybrid (2 days per week or as needed in the REI Sterling Office)

EEO Statement: REI Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In our workplace, we seek, we welcome, and respect diversity in all of its forms.

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-TK1