The Lead Engineer DevOps provides technical leadership in designing, automating, and optimizing cloud infrastructure, CI/CD workflows, and deployment platforms that support Empower s engineering teams. This role applies deep DevOps expertise to develop scalable, secure, and resilient AWS-native solutions while driving best practices in automation, observability, and operational excellence. The position partners closely with development, architecture, and security teams to enhance developer experience, accelerate delivery pipelines, strengthen production reliability, and promote consistent use of infrastructure as code. The Lead Engineer, DevOps contributes to long-term platform strategy, leads components of cross-functional initiatives, evaluates emerging technologies, and supports tactical engineering needs with a continuous improvement mindset.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
- Lead the design, automation, and optimization of AWS-native cloud infrastructure using Terraform, CDK, and CloudFormation
- Architect, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines for Java, Python, and other application ecosystems(build,test,deploy)
- Drive automation-first approaches that reduce manual effort, increase deployment consistency, and improve system reliability
- Partner with engineering teams to enhance developer experience, deployment workflows, and observability capabilities
- Implement and enforce AWS security best practices, including IAM policy design, network segmentation, and data protection
- Lead performance monitoring, analysis, and optimization using AWS and third-party tools
- Guide adoption of containerization and orchestration platforms, including Kubernetes, EKS, and GitOps practices
- Troubleshoot complex production issues and provide Tier 3 operational support, including participation in an on-call rotation
- Evaluate emerging cloud, automation, and DevOps technologies and recommend improvements for resiliency, efficiency, and operational maturity
- Mentor engineers on DevOps principles, cloud architecture, automation patterns, and operational excellence
- Contribute to functional roadmaps and collaborate with leadership on long-term infrastructure and platform strategy
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor s degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience
- Typically, 7-10 years of experience in DevOps, cloud engineering, platform engineering, or software engineering
- Advanced AWS experience across EC2, S3, IAM, RDS, Lambda, VPC, CloudFormation, CloudWatch, and ECS/EKS
- Strong scripting & automation skills in Python and/or Java for automation and service integration
- Deep experience with integration and deployment using Terraform, CDK, or CloudFormation
- Strong Linux administration and shell scripting skills
- Expertise in CI/CD tooling such as Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or AWS CodePipeline
- Solid understanding of networking, security models, and distributed systems architecture
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and EKS for containerization and orchestration
- Familiarity with observability tools such as Datadog, Splunk, or CloudWatch
- Understanding of relational and NoSQL databases such as Postgres, DynamoDB, or Redshift
- Experience implementing security and compliance automation in AWS environments
- Strong communication, collaboration, and mentoring abilities, with a focus on continuous learning and improvement
This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications of the job. The employer has the right to revise this job description at any time. You will be evaluated in part based on your performance of the responsibilities and/or tasks listed in this job description. You may be required to perform other duties that are not included on this job description. The job description is not a contract for employment, and either you or the employer may terminate employment at any time, for any reason, as per terms and conditions of your employment contract.
