Senior Cloud Platform Engineer

We’re seeking a Cloud & Platform Systems Specialist in Des Moines, Iowa. CONTRACT opportunity! Step into a high impact role where you’ll shape the future of hybrid cloud infrastructure, modernize critical platforms, and help drive enterprise level transformation. This position is ideal for someone who thrives in complex environments, enjoys solving deep technical challenges, and wants to influence the direction of cloud and platform engineering. Hybrid Cloud Architecture & Engineering:

Design, maintain, and optimize hybrid platforms that integrate on premises systems with AWS services. Architect and administer AWS environments (EC2, VPC, IAM, S3) to support enterprise workloads. Build hybrid workload patterns where identity, authentication, and applications operate seamlessly across environments. Lead modernization efforts, including migration planning, readiness assessments, and legacy workload transitions. Produce clear architecture documentation and AWS diagrams showing topology, dependencies, and service interactions. Advanced Troubleshooting & Escalation Support:

Provide senior tier support for complex AWS identity, network, and compute issues. Diagnose hybrid failures such as directory sync issues, routing conflicts, or IAM misconfigurations. Document root causes, troubleshooting workflows, and long term mitigation strategies. Platform Reliability & Optimization:

Monitor and maintain compute, storage, networking, and identity components across cloud and on prem systems. Eliminate single points of failure and ensure backup, recovery, and DR meet RTO/RPO requirements. Build performance dashboards for compute, storage I/O, and network throughput. Conduct root cause analysis for performance issues and document remediation steps. Identify cost optimization opportunities through rightsizing, storage tiering, and lifecycle automation. Maintain architecture diagrams, standards, IaC manifests, and operational procedures in version controlled repositories. Prepare change impact statements and release documentation for platform updates. Automation & Infrastructure Consistency:

Collaborate with automation specialists to ensure deployments follow consistent, automated, and auditable patterns. Define IaC patterns and contribute to Terraform module design. Document provisioning workflows, configuration standards, and parameter usage. Support CI/CD pipelines promoting test, staging, and production environments. Partner with engineering and application teams to optimize workloads for hybrid cloud performance and cost. Documentation & Knowledge Sharing:

Maintain comprehensive documentation for hybrid cloud architecture, operational procedures, and automation workflows. Ensure documentation supports knowledge transfer, onboarding, and audit readiness.

• 5+ years of experience in hybrid cloud engineering, including: AWS design and administration (EC2, VPC, IAM, S3)
• Hybrid identity and authentication patterns
• Migrating legacy systems to AWS
• Creating architecture diagrams and system documentation
• Troubleshooting complex cloud and hybrid infrastructure issues
• Performance tuning, DR planning, and cost optimization
• Working with IaC tools (Terraform preferred)
• Supporting CI/CD driven infrastructure workflows