Principal Cloud Platform Operations Director

Herring Bank is seeking a hands-on Principal Cloud Platform Operations Lead to oversee the bank’s cloud platform, DevOps, database, Linux, application operations, and deployment automation functions. This is a senior-level player/coach role requiring both technical leadership and hands-on operational expertise. The ideal candidate will lead engineers, establish technical direction, review deployment strategies, approve production changes, and actively participate in troubleshooting and operational governance. This position will play a key role in modernizing infrastructure and application operations while maintaining the operational discipline required within a regulated financial institution. Texas-based candidates are preferred. Hybrid or remote work may be considered for exceptional candidates; however, regular travel to Amarillo and other Herring Bank locations is required. An in-person interview will be required prior to any offer being extended. What You’ll Do Cloud Platform & DevOps Leadership Lead operational direction for cloud-hosted platforms and deployment automation Build and govern CI/CD pipelines for application and infrastructure deployments Establish Infrastructure-as-Code standards and deployment practices Support modernization efforts toward containerized and automated production environments Define deployment workflows, rollback procedures, monitoring standards, and operational support practices Platform Modernization & Operations Lead modernization of Linux-based and application-hosting environments Support and improve containerized deployment practices Establish operational standards for runtime support, patching, monitoring, backups, and lifecycle management Balance modernization initiatives with production stability and business continuity Release Engineering & Change Governance Oversee production deployment pipelines for cloud, application, and mobile workloads Review infrastructure code, deployment changes, and automation prior to production release Ensure releases are properly tested, documented, approved, and supportable Review and approve change management requests while ensuring compliance with operational controls and audit requirements Database, Linux & Application Support Provide leadership over database operations and Linux platform administration Ensure production systems are monitored, secured, patched, and maintained according to operational standards Improve application operations through enhanced monitoring, documentation, and deployment consistency Support legacy environments while driving practical modernization initiatives Monitoring, Reliability & Incident Response Improve observability, alerting, dashboards, and service health monitoring Participate directly in major incident response and root cause analysis Translate operational lessons learned into improved automation, procedures, and reliability standards Help define operational metrics surrounding deployment quality, vulnerability remediation, and platform stability What You’ll Bring

Strong technical leadership with the ability to remain hands-on in engineering and operational functions Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure, DevOps, CI/CD, Linux administration, and application operations Experience operating in regulated or high-control environments with strong governance expectations Ability to communicate effectively with engineers, executives, auditors, vendors, and business stakeholders Strong troubleshooting, operational governance, and production support experience Ability to mentor technical teams while driving modernization and operational excellence, 10+ years of progressive experience in cloud operations, DevOps, platform engineering, Linux administration, infrastructure engineering, or related technical roles 5+ years of experience leading technical teams or serving as a senior technical lead Strong hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure and production cloud operations Experience building and supporting CI/CD pipelines Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code tools such as Terraform or similar platforms Strong Linux administration experience Experience with container technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, Podman, or similar platforms Experience supporting relational database platforms and production application environments Experience reviewing production deployments, infrastructure code, and operational changes Understanding of change management, operational controls, audit expectations, and risk management Strong written and verbal communication skills Preferred Qualifications Experience within banking, financial services, healthcare, insurance, or other regulated industries Experience with AWS or similar enterprise cloud platforms Experience with mobile application deployment pipelines Experience with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or similar tooling Experience with Kubernetes, ECS, EKS, OpenShift, or similar orchestration platforms Experience with secrets management, artifact repositories, image scanning, and software supply chain controls Experience modernizing legacy Linux-hosted applications Relevant cloud, Linux, DevOps, or infrastructure certifications are a plus

401(k) 401(k) matching Dental insurance Health insurance Paid time off Vision insurance Principal Cloud Platform Operations Director