Job Description

Principal Cloud Engineer

The Pearson Virtual Schools Cloud Engineering & Operations team is seeking a Principal Cloud Engineer to guide the ongoing development of our cloud-native platforms following the migration from legacy data centers. In this role, the Principal Cloud Engineer will provide technical leadership, mentor engineering teams, and oversee the design and implementation of robust, scalable, and high-availability systems across AWS and Azure. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with architecture, software engineering, rapid response, and incident management teams to promote operational excellence and foster innovation at scale.

Job Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and strategic direction for cloud architecture, reliability engineering, and automation initiatives.
• Partner with engineering leadership to define and implement best practices for cloud adoption, resiliency, and cost optimization.
• Drive the integration of AI/ML technologies into cloud-native platforms to enable predictive analytics, automation, intelligent monitoring, and generative AI solutions for operational efficiency and innovation.
• Lead the design and review of complex, large-scale distributed systems, ensuring alignment with business goals and security standards.
• Mentor and coach cloud and software engineers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and technical excellence.
• Participate in incident management processes, facilitate blameless post-mortems, and drive systemic improvements to eliminate recurring issues.
• Champion Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, and DevOps practices across teams.
• Guide the selection and implementation of monitoring, logging, and alerting solutions to ensure proactive detection and resolution of issues.
• Lead cross-functional efforts to automate operations, reduce toil, and improve deployment velocity.
• Represent cloud engineering in architectural reviews, technical steering committees, and executive discussions.
• Participate in a 24/7 on‑call rotation as an escalation point for critical incidents.

Qualifications – Desired Experience

• 8+ years of experience architecting, designing, and implementing cloud solutions, with deep expertise in AWS and Azure.
• Demonstrated leadership in designing and operating mission‑critical, large‑scale cloud platforms.
• Proven ability to integrate AI/ML technologies into cloud-native platforms for predictive analytics, automation, intelligent monitoring, and operational optimization, leveraging frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and cloud AI services (AWS SageMaker, Azure ML), with awareness of emerging trends such as generative AI for automation and code optimization.
• Advanced knowledge of AWS services (API Gateway, CloudWatch, EC2, ECS, ElastiCache, FSx, IAM, Lambda, ECR, Route53, S3) and Azure equivalents.
• Mastery of Infrastructure as Code (CloudFormation, Terraform) and automation frameworks.
• Extensive experience with containers (Docker, Kubernetes) and orchestration at scale.
• Proficiency in multiple programming and scripting languages (PowerShell, Python, Go, Java, C#, etc.).
• Strong background in Linux and Windows administration, networking, and cybersecurity best practices.
• Proven track record of building and optimizing CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions).
• Experience leading technical teams, mentoring engineers, and influencing organizational change.
• Deep understanding of the AWS Well‑Architected Framework and cloud cost management.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Skills

• AWS Solutions Architect Professional or equivalent advanced certifications.
• HashiCorp Terraform certification.
• Experience presenting at industry conferences or publishing technical content.
• Demonstrated impact on driving cloud transformation and reliability engineering at scale.

Applications will be accepted through 12/18/2025. This window may be extended depending on business needs.

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific location. As required by the California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, Vermont, Washington State, and Washington DC laws, the pay range for this position is as follows:

The minimum full‑time salary range is between $135,000 - $150,000.

This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.

Who we are:

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: We are Pearson.

Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E‑Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com.

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