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Waites

Senior Cloud Platform Engineer

Waites · United States

  • Hybrid
  • Full-time
  • $150,000 / year
  • United States
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Job highlights

  • Design and operate scalable AWS cloud infrastructure.
  • Architect reliable APIs, services, and data pipelines.
  • Lead infrastructure standardization with Terraform.
  • Ensure system reliability, security, and cost optimization.
  • Collaborate with engineering teams for operational excellence.

About the role

About Waites

Fun, fast-paced, client-focused, people-centric, inviting, flexible, and rapidly growing. We are not overly structured, uncompromising, disengaged, or disconnected. We build large-scale industrial and IoT software systems that ingest, process, and analyze data from hundreds of thousands of connected devices. Our platform supports high-volume telemetry ingestion, real-time processing, cloud APIs, web applications, and AI-assisted diagnostics across globally distributed infrastructure. We are looking for a highly experienced Senior Cloud Platform Engineer to take ownership of our cloud infrastructure and platform architecture. This role is responsible for designing, scaling, securing, and operating critical AWS-based systems that power our products and internal engineering operations. This is a senior technical leadership role for someone who has built and operated production cloud systems at scale and understands the tradeoffs involved in reliability, cost, security, and developer velocity. Company Description Waites is a leading provider of wireless, mesh-networked, "Internet of Things" (IoT) sensors for industrial environments. Our cost-effective, plug-and-play products empower plants of all sizes to conduct predictive and preventative maintenance on mission-critical and secondary equipment in order to maximize uptime. Our innovative sensors, machine learning, services, and solutions have been revolutionizing this industry for the past 15 years. Reports to: Chief Technology Officer Location: Based in the United States - Cincinnati, OH or Huntsville, AL preferred Job Type: Remote Travel: Minimal travel required Work Authorization: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. **Sponsorship is not available at this time** Exemption Status: exempt

Job Description

This position will give you the opportunity to:
  • Design, implement, and maintain scalable cloud infrastructure primarily in AWS
  • Architect and operate highly reliable APIs, web services, and data ingestion pipelines
  • Lead infrastructure standardization using Infrastructure as Code (Terraform and related tooling)
  • Design and optimize event-driven and queue-based systems for high-volume telemetry and distributed processing workloads
  • Develop scalable and secure serverless and containerized architectures where appropriate
  • Establish infrastructure best practices for: reliability, observability, disaster recovery, security, cost optimization, deployment automation
  • Support compliance initiatives including SOC2 and GDPR requirements
  • Design and maintain secure networking architectures, IAM strategies, and secrets management practices
  • Collaborate with firmware, backend, AI, and product engineering teams to support platform scalability and operational excellence
  • Evaluate and recommend appropriate database technologies based on workload requirements and tradeoffs
  • Improve CI/CD pipelines and engineering workflows
  • Participate in operational troubleshooting and incident response for production systems
  • Carry out additional responsibilities as needed to support business objectives

Required Qualifications

  • 10+ years of professional software and infrastructure engineering experience
  • Deep hands-on AWS experience operating production systems at scale
  • Strong experience designing and maintaining cloud-native infrastructure
  • Significant experience with Infrastructure as Code using Terraform
  • Strong understanding of distributed systems, asynchronous processing, and event-driven architectures
  • Experience building and operating data ingestion pipelines using queues, streams, and serverless services
  • Strong understanding of networking, security, IAM, DNS, TLS, and API architecture
  • Experience supporting SOC2-compliant environments and familiarity with GDPR requirements
  • Experience operating and troubleshooting production APIs and web applications
  • Strong understanding of database technologies and architectural tradeoffs including: relational databases, time-series databases, object storage systems, caching systems
  • Strong understanding of monitoring, logging, observability, and operational tooling
  • Experience designing resilient and fault-tolerant systems
  • Excellent communication and technical leadership skills

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with Azure infrastructure and services
  • Experience with high-scale IoT or telemetry platforms
  • Experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration
  • Experience with streaming and messaging technologies such as SQS, Kafka, Kinesis, RabbitMQ, or MQTT
  • Experience with PostgreSQL, MySQL, DynamoDB, Redis, TimescaleDB, or similar systems
  • Familiarity with edge computing or hybrid cloud architectures

What Success Looks Like

  • Infrastructure is scalable, secure, observable, and reproducible
  • Engineering teams can deploy confidently and efficiently
  • Data pipelines are reliable and resilient under high load
  • Cloud costs are well understood and optimized
  • Security and compliance requirements are built into systems from the beginning rather than retrofitted later during collective panic
  • Operational issues are identified proactively before customers notice them

Technologies We Use - Examples Include:

  • AWS
  • Terraform
  • Serverless architectures
  • SQS / MQTT / event-driven systems
  • PostgreSQL / MySQL / time-series databases
  • Docker
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Observability and logging platforms

Culture Fit Requirements

  • High intellect and strong analytical skills
  • Innovative and driven to constantly improve
  • Non-bureaucratic, flexible, and able to thrive in a fast-moving environment
  • Positive energy and attitude towards people and problem-solving
  • Demonstrates a balance of humility, strong work ethic, and interpersonal savvy ("Humble, Hungry, and Smart") in approach to teamwork and problem-solving.
  • A genuine human.
  • Demonstrates a “Can Do” mentality.

Why Waites?

At Waites, we offer an attractive base salary with a strong history of profit sharing. We are intensely customer-focused, with a culture that encourages hard work, fun, and mutual success. As we continue to grow, there will be many opportunities for professional advancement and development. If you are a talented cloud platform professional looking for an exciting new challenge, please apply! Learn more about who we are and what we do by checking out our website at www.waites.net. WST is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Skills & topics

  • Cloud Platform Engineer
  • AWS
  • Terraform
  • Infrastructure as Code
  • DevOps
  • IoT
  • Data Pipelines
  • System Architecture
  • Cloud Security
  • Observability
  • Remote

How to get hired

  • Tailor your resume: Highlight AWS, Terraform, and large-scale system experience.
  • Showcase leadership: Emphasize your experience in technical leadership and mentoring.
  • Prepare for technical questions: Be ready to discuss distributed systems and cloud architecture.
  • Demonstrate culture fit: Express your innovative, flexible, and collaborative approach.
  • Apply online: Submit your application through the Waites careers portal.

Technical preparation

Master AWS core services for production workloads.,Become proficient with Terraform for IaC.,Understand distributed systems and event-driven architectures.,Practice CI/CD pipeline optimization and automation.

Behavioral questions

Describe a complex system you designed.,How do you handle infrastructure cost optimization?,Explain your approach to proactive troubleshooting.,How do you balance technical leadership and teamwork?

Frequently asked questions

What specific AWS services are most critical for the Senior Cloud Platform Engineer role at Waites?
The Senior Cloud Platform Engineer role at Waites heavily utilizes core AWS services for building and maintaining large-scale systems. Key services include those for compute (e.g., EC2, Lambda), storage (e.g., S3, EBS), databases (e.g., RDS, DynamoDB, TimescaleDB), networking (VPC, Route 53), security (IAM), messaging/queuing (SQS, Kinesis), and containerization (ECS, EKS). A strong understanding and hands-on experience with these are crucial for success in this role.
How does Waites ensure the reliability and scalability of its IoT platform?
Waites ensures reliability and scalability through several key engineering practices. This includes designing event-driven and queue-based systems for high-volume telemetry, employing Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) for reproducible environments, implementing robust observability and disaster recovery strategies, and developing scalable serverless and containerized architectures. The focus is on building resilient systems that can handle massive data ingestion and processing.
What kind of technical leadership is expected from a Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Waites?
The Senior Cloud Platform Engineer is expected to provide strong technical leadership by owning the cloud infrastructure and platform architecture. This involves designing and implementing scalable solutions, leading infrastructure standardization efforts, establishing best practices for reliability, security, and cost optimization, and collaborating with various engineering teams. The role requires someone who can make informed decisions about system tradeoffs and guide technical direction.
Can I work remotely as a Senior Cloud Platform Engineer for Waites if I am not in Cincinnati or Huntsville?
Waites is open to remote work for this Senior Cloud Platform Engineer position within the United States. While Cincinnati, OH, or Huntsville, AL are preferred locations, the job is listed as remote, indicating flexibility for qualified candidates located elsewhere in the U.S. Ensure your application highlights your ability to work effectively in a remote setting.
What is the importance of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) for this role at Waites?
Infrastructure as Code, particularly using Terraform, is fundamental to this role at Waites. It is used to lead infrastructure standardization, ensuring that cloud environments are provisioned, managed, and updated in a consistent, repeatable, and automated manner. This approach is critical for scalability, reliability, and efficient deployment of their large-scale IoT systems.
How does Waites approach security and compliance for its industrial IoT platform?
Waites takes a proactive approach to security and compliance. This includes designing and maintaining secure networking architectures, robust IAM strategies, and secure secrets management. The role also involves supporting compliance initiatives such as SOC2 and GDPR, ensuring that security and compliance requirements are integrated into the infrastructure design from the outset.
What opportunities are there for professional development as a Senior Cloud Platform Engineer at Waites?
Waites emphasizes professional advancement and development. As the company continues to grow, there will be numerous opportunities for a Senior Cloud Platform Engineer to expand their skills, take on new challenges, and advance their career within the organization. The role itself offers significant opportunities to impact the company's core technology.