Cloud Engineer
Overview
Empower AI is AI for government. Empower AI gives federal agency leaders the tools to elevate the potential of their workforce with a direct path for meaningful transformation. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Empower AI leverages three decades of experience solving complex challenges in Health, Defense, and Civilian missions. Our proven Empower AI Platform® provides a practical, sustainable path for clients to achieve transformation that is true to who they are, what they do, how they work, with the resources they have. The result is a government workforce that is exponentially more creative and productive. For more information, visit www.Empower.ai.
Empower AI is proud to be recognized as a 2024 Military Friendly Employer by Viqtory, the publisher of G.I. Jobs. This designation reflects the company’s commitment to hiring and supporting active-duty and veteran employees.
Responsibilities
The Cloud Engineer is a senior technical role responsible for architecting, implementing, and managing cloud infrastructure supporting U.S. Army IT managed services. This position bridges legacy on-premises environments with modern cloud-native architectures, ensuring secure, resilient, and cost-effective operations across a hybrid IT landscape.
This is a remote-eligible position. Local candidates in the Roanoke and Radford, Virginia area are encouraged to apply, and work may be performed locally for those who prefer an on-site or hybrid arrangement. The ideal candidate will bring hands-on cloud engineering expertise, strong DoD cybersecurity compliance knowledge, and the ability to support mission-critical Army IT services across enterprise data centers and cloud-hosted environments.
Program Background
The supported organization is one of the longest-standing IT reimbursable Government-to-Government services providers within the United States Army, functioning as a full-spectrum IT managed service provider. The portfolio of services this role directly supports includes:
- Infrastructure Services
- Platform Services
- Managed Services
- Common Services
- Application Services
- Cybersecurity Services
Services are delivered across Army Enterprise Data Centers (AEDCs) CONUS and OCONUS, as well as within cARMY cloud enclaves hosted by commercial cloud service providers.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, deploy, and manage cloud infrastructure on FedRAMP-authorized platforms (AWS GovCloud, Microsoft Azure Government, Google Cloud for Government) supporting Army workloads.
- Lead technical execution of cloud migration efforts including workload assessment, lift-and-shift operations, re-platforming, and cloud-native refactoring.
- Support on-premises infrastructure environments including servers, storage, networking, and virtualization platforms (VMware, Hyper-V) as part of hybrid cloud operations.
- Develop and enforce cloud governance policies covering IAM, resource provisioning guardrails, tagging standards, and cost controls.
- Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, Azure Bicep, or equivalent tools to automate provisioning and configuration management.
- Maintain high availability, disaster recovery (DR), and business continuity plans (BCP) for both cloud and data center environments.
- Oversee hybrid network connectivity including SD-WAN, AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, and VPN solutions between on-premises and cloud environments.
- Monitor infrastructure performance and security posture using tools such as CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Splunk, or similar SIEM/observability platforms.
- Collaborate with cybersecurity teams to implement NIST 800-53 controls, continuous monitoring (ConMon), RMF processes, and FedRAMP compliance requirements.
- Support FinOps practices including cloud cost analysis, rightsizing recommendations, and budget reporting for reimbursable IT programs.
- Provide technical documentation including architecture diagrams, runbooks, migration playbooks, and system security plans (SSPs).
- Mentor junior engineers and contribute to workforce upskilling as the organization transitions to cloud-first operations.
Qualifications
Required:
- 5-8 years of hands-on cloud engineering experience, with demonstrated involvement in cloud migration or enterprise IT modernization programs.
- CompTIA Security+ CE certification - required (DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II compliant).
- Active cloud certification required, such as: AWS Solutions Architect (Associate or Professional), Microsoft Azure Administrator or Solutions Architect, or Google Professional Cloud Architect.
- Active DoD Secret Clearance - required at time of hire.
- Experience on at least one FedRAMP-authorized cloud platform (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, or Google Cloud for Government).
- Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible, or equivalent).
- Strong understanding of networking fundamentals: BGP, VLANs, SD-WAN, firewall policy, and hybrid cloud connectivity.
- Experience with virtualization and container technologies including VMware, Kubernetes, and Docker.
- Knowledge of NIST SP 800-53, FISMA, RMF, and DoD cloud security requirements.
- U.S. Citizenship required.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field required. Relevant certifications and DoD cloud engineering experience may be considered in lieu of a portion of the education requirement.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Familiarity with cARMY cloud enclaves or Army Enterprise Data Center (AEDC) environments.
- Experience with DISA STIGs, DoD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (CC SRG), or IL4/IL5 authorization processes.
- Knowledge of cloud financial management (FinOps) practices in a government or reimbursable services context.
- Prior experience supporting data center decommissioning and asset retirement within a federal agency.
- Experience with Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) principles and cloud-native security tooling (e.g., AWS Security Hub, Microsoft Defender for Cloud).
- Additional certifications such as CCNA, CISSP, or CompTIA Cloud+ are a plus.
Work Location:
This position is approved for remote work. Candidates located in or near the Roanoke / Radford, Virginia area are encouraged to apply and may perform work locally or on-site if preferred. Occasional travel to government facilities or data center locations may be required based on mission needs.
What We Offer:
- Competitive compensation commensurate with DoD cloud engineering experience.
- Comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, and retirement.
- Remote work flexibility with local on-site option for Roanoke / Radford area candidates.
- Certification reimbursement and professional development support.
- Opportunity to directly shape Army cloud-first infrastructure supporting critical national missions.
About Empower AI
All hiring and promotion decisions at Empower AI are based on merit to bring the best talent available to contribute to our firm’s overall success. It is the policy of Empower AI not to discriminate against any applicant for employment, or employee because of age, color, sex, disability, national origin, race, religion, or veteran status. Empower AI is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.
If hired for this position, the base salary range would be within the range provided. The base salary range represents the anticipated low and high end of the salary range for this position. Actual salaries may vary based on various factors including but not limited to work location, skills, experience, gov con contractual requirements, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Empower AI's total compensation package for employees.