Cloud Technical Lead

Overview

Looking to make a difference and help modernize critical government missions? Join Acuity's team supporting the U.S. Department of State. As the Cloud Technical Lead, you will provide technical leadership for enterprise cloud engineering and modernization initiatives across Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and other enterprise cloud environments. The Department's environment is multi-cloud, and this role is designed for a versatile cloud leader with strong knowledge of both AWS and Azure technologies. Given the current team and teaming-partner mix, deep hands-on AWS expertise is especially important, while GCP and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) knowledge are valuable differentiators. You will help drive secure, scalable, resilient, and efficient cloud delivery while promoting common engineering processes and standards across cloud teams.

Working closely with the Modernization SME, Project Managers, Cloud Engineers, Cybersecurity teams, teaming partners, and government stakeholders, you will provide technical direction across cloud architecture, cloud security, DevSecOps, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automation, and cloud operations. The ideal candidate can work effectively across cloud disciplines, help teams apply similar or identical engineering and governance processes where practical, mentor engineers, and improve efficiency and consistency across the broader cloud environment.

Why Acuity?

Are you ready to use your expertise in the areas of IT Modernization, Data Enablement, and Hyperautomation to make a real difference? Join Acuity, Inc., a technology consulting firm that supports federal agencies. We combine industry partnerships and long-term federal experience with innovative technical leadership to support our customers’ critical missions.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical lead for enterprise cloud engineering initiatives across AWS and Azure, with the ability to support and collaborate across GCP and other cloud environments. Bring particularly deep hands-on AWS expertise while maintaining strong working knowledge of Azure technologies.
• Provide technical leadership for cloud modernization projects involving cloud migration, infrastructure modernization, application modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption.
• Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of secure, scalable, highly available cloud infrastructure supporting Department of State mission requirements.
• Establish and promote common cloud engineering standards, implementation patterns, automation frameworks, governance processes, and operational best practices across cloud teams to improve consistency, reuse, and delivery efficiency.
• Guide engineering teams in implementing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform and cloud-native technologies such as CloudFormation, Bicep, ARM Templates, Ansible, or equivalent tools.
• Lead implementation of cloud-native services including containers, Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE), serverless computing, storage, networking, and microservices architectures, with particular depth in AWS services and patterns.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity teams to implement Zero Trust Architecture, cloud security controls, identity and access management (IAM), encryption, vulnerability management, and continuous monitoring across cloud environments.
• Support DevSecOps initiatives by integrating automated security testing, infrastructure automation, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud governance into engineering workflows.
• Evaluate cloud architectures for security, resiliency, scalability, operational efficiency, performance, and cost optimization.
• Troubleshoot complex cloud infrastructure, networking, identity, storage, and application issues while providing technical guidance to engineering teams.
• Support implementation of enterprise monitoring, observability, logging, and operational dashboards utilizing cloud-native and third-party monitoring platforms.
• Develop technical standards, cloud reference architectures, implementation guides, operational procedures, and engineering documentation.
• Mentor Cloud Engineers and provide technical leadership across cloud engineering activities while fostering engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate across AWS, Azure, GCP, cybersecurity, infrastructure, architecture, and program teams to align cloud solutions and, where practical, standardize processes and engineering approaches across platforms.
• Perform additional duties as assigned in support of customer mission objectives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Minimum of eight (8) years of experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise cloud environments, including experience working across hybrid or multi-cloud architectures.
• Minimum of five (5) years of deep hands-on experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS), including cloud networking, compute, storage, IAM, monitoring, security, automation, and architecture.
• Strong working knowledge of both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure technologies, with demonstrated ability to operate effectively across cloud platforms and disciplines. Deep AWS expertise is particularly important for this role based on current team needs.
• Experience leading cloud engineering teams or serving as a technical lead on enterprise cloud modernization initiatives.
• Experience implementing Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Bicep, ARM Templates, Ansible, or equivalent).
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud-native application platforms; hands-on EKS experience is strongly desired, with exposure to AKS and/or GKE beneficial.
• Experience supporting DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, Git-based repositories, and cloud automation.
• Experience implementing cloud security best practices including IAM, Zero Trust, encryption, network segmentation, security monitoring, and least-privilege access.
• Experience supporting NIST RMF, NIST SP 800-53, FedRAMP, FISMA, or Department of State cloud security requirements.
• Experience with cloud monitoring and observability tools such as Amazon CloudWatch and comparable multi-cloud platforms including Azure Monitor, Google Cloud Operations Suite, Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Grafana, or Prometheus.
• Strong leadership, troubleshooting, communication, and customer engagement skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
• AWS Certified Security – Specialty
• AWS Advanced Networking – Specialty
• Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert or comparable Azure certification.
• Google Professional Cloud Architect or comparable GCP certification; hands-on GCP engineering experience is highly desirable. Experience with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and/or relevant OCI certifications is also a plus.
• Broad multi-cloud experience spanning AWS, Azure, GCP, and/or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), with the ability to contribute across technical disciplines and help teams operate efficiently using consistent processes and standards.
• Demonstrated ability to lead AWS-focused engineering while collaborating effectively with Azure specialists and contributing across multi-cloud teams; experience applying common engineering, automation, governance, and operational processes across platforms is highly valued.
• CISSP, CCSP, Security+, or other DoD 8140-approved cybersecurity certification.
• Experience supporting the U.S. Department of State or other federal civilian agencies.
• Experience implementing enterprise cloud governance, landing zones, FinOps, cloud resilience, disaster recovery, and operational excellence frameworks across hybrid or multi-cloud environments, including efforts to standardize processes and increase efficiency across cloud teams.
• Experience with VMware Cloud, hybrid cloud, enterprise storage, and large-scale cloud migration initiatives.
• Experience supporting enterprise modernization, observability, automation, and AI-enabled cloud operations.

Clearance Requirement 

• Active security clearance (Secret or Top Secret)

Min

USD $160,000.00/Yr.

Max

USD $220,000.00/Yr.

Salary Range

The salary range for this position represents Acuity's good faith estimate of the compensation for this job title at the time of posting. Final compensation will be determined based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate's qualifications, experience, education, certifications, skills, geographic location, contract requirements, applicable labor categories, and, where applicable, contract award and funding.