Principal Engineer (Cloud) - AWS

About QinetiQ

At QinetiQ, we are shaping the future by creating cutting-edge defence technology and ground-breaking innovations to empower and protect lives. Join us as a Principal AWS Cloud Engineer at any of our main UK sites and work with brilliant minds on advanced technology.

The Role

As a Principal AWS Cloud Engineer, you will be instrumental in defining our cloud strategy and architecting highly resilient, scalable, and secure distributed systems on AWS. You will serve as the highest level of technical escalation and act as a trusted advisor to engineering leadership. This role involves providing technical leadership and mentorship to senior, mid-level, and junior engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning, rigorous peer review, and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architect complex, multi-region, and highly available AWS cloud environments aligned with business goals and product roadmaps.
• Continuously evaluate emerging AWS services and third-party tools to enhance our technology stack and reduce time-to-market.
• Guide technical decision-making across multiple engineering squads and collaborate cross-functionally to ensure seamless integration of cloud infrastructure with product development.
• Maintain complex, modular codebases using Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform, AWS CDK, or Pulumi.
• Architect internal developer platforms and enterprise-grade CI/CD frameworks to enable autonomous and secure team operations.
• Implement AWS cost optimization strategies and drive optimizations to resolve systemic performance bottlenecks across microservices, databases, and network layers.

Essential Experience:

• Extensive experience in cloud infrastructure specifically dedicated to AWS.
• Expert knowledge of the entire AWS ecosystem, including complex networking (Transit Gateway, Direct Connect), compute, data storage, and enterprise security configurations.
• Exceptional proficiency in Infrastructure as Code and configuration management.
• Strong software background with deep expertise in at least one modern programming language (Python, Go, Java, or Node.js).
• Demonstrated experience leading large technical projects, influencing organizational engineering culture, and driving cross-team consensus.
• Proven track record of designing, deploying, and maintaining large-scale, distributed software systems and microservices architectures.

Essential Qualifications:

• Minimum of AWS Associate certification or higher.

Working Environment:

This role is 37 hours per week, based at any of our main UK sites, with a minimum average site attendance of three days per week. You may be asked to work at specific times to cover shift patterns between 07:30-18:30 GMT. As part of our commitment to maintaining high service availability and rapid incident response, this role will require participation in an on-call rota.

Clearance:

All applicants for this role must be eligible for SC clearance, as a minimum.

Why Join QinetiQ?

Join QinetiQ during an exciting growth phase and contribute to innovation and tackling complex challenges. We offer a unique working environment where diverse teams collaborate openly to solve problems. We value authenticity, and you can realize your full potential in a diverse and inclusive culture.

Benefits:

• Matched contribution pension scheme with life assurance.
• Generous holiday allowance, with the option to purchase additional days.
• Options for Health Cash Plan, Private Medical Insurance, and Dental Insurance.
• Employee discount portal offering discounts on Personal Accident Insurance, Travel Insurance, Restaurants, Cinema Tickets, and more.
• Support for the Armed Forces community.
• Volunteering Opportunities.