Senior/Staff Cloud Engineer

About Sovrn

Every interesting company solves important problems for other people.  Sovrn is a Software and Data business that helps Open Web businesses be and remain independent.  We help them understand their business better, operate more efficiently, and make & keep more money.

• We believe in the freedom and free-flow of information.
• We believe the Open Web is the largest source of this information.
• We believe in helping Open Web businesses be and remain Independent.

Through Software products and Data solutions we help our customers:

• Understand their business better, so they can make better decisions
• Operate their business more efficiently, so they can invest in what matters most
• Make (and Keep) more money, so they control their own destiny

About the Role

As a Senior or Staff Cloud Engineer at Sovrn, you are a key technical decision-maker and force multiplier for our engineering organization. You'll design large-scale, enterprise-grade AWS architectures, lead the adoption of Infrastructure as Code and automation best practices across teams, and serve as an escalation point for complex production incidents. This role bridges deep technical ownership with cross-functional dependencies — you'll mentor engineers at multiple levels, translate architectural decisions for non-technical stakeholders, and shape how we bjuild, observe, and continuously improve our data cloud platform.

• Design large-scale, enterprise-level AWS cloud architectures (VPC, EC2, S3, IAM) that are secure, scalable, and cost-effective; act as the primary decision-maker on platform selection and cloud-native design patterns for your domain.
• Manage, optimize, and scale a Databricks lakehouse layer to maximize performance, reduce costs and enforce governance frameworks (RBAC/ABAC, IAM, SCIM). 
• Lead IaC adoption across teams — develop internal Terraform modules, implement policy-as-code, and architect CI/CD pipelines that fully automate infrastructure deployment and management.
• Own observability for your services: design comprehensive monitoring, metrics, and alerting strategies that drive data-driven root cause analysis and meaningfully reduce escalation noise.
• Implement AIOps solutions for automated anomaly detection; define standards for responsible AI use in operations and ensure AI tooling measurably improves reliability without introducing new risk.
• Serve as an on-call escalation point for complex, cross-team incidents; apply expert-level troubleshooting skills to diagnose and resolve issues spanning multiple services and systems.
• Own delivery of projects with multiple dependencies and lead large cross-team initiatives — coordinating across engineering to maintain clarity on scope, quality, and timelines.
• Create high-level architectural documentation, contribute to the long-term technology roadmap, set documentation standards for the team, and help junior engineers develop their technical writing skills.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and evaluate new tools for team adoption; contribute learnings back through internal tech talks, certification roadmaps, and structured mentorship of junior and mid-level engineers.

The successful candidate will have:

• Deep proficiency in AWS cloud services (VPC, EC2, S3, IAM, CloudWatch, etc) with a track record of designing and owning secure, scalable, production-ready architectures using cloud-native design principles.
• Deep familiarity with industry leading architecture and administration of Peta-scale data lakehouse platforms, such as Databricks, Snowflake, or similar.
• Extensive hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) — building reusable internal modules, implementing policy-as-code, and architecting CI/CD pipelines for full infrastructure automation.
• In-depth knowledge of cloud networking, security best practices, and Identity and Access Management; experience enforcing governance through automated policy checks.
• Experience designing observability systems (metrics, logs, alerting) and applying data-driven approaches to incident management, root cause analysis, and operational improvement.
• Demonstrated experience designing agent skills that will reduce the administrative drag of the engineering team. Champions for AI integration from inception and responsible for adoption into production environments.
• Strong communication skills: ability to present complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences, negotiate cross-team requirements and timelines, and produce architectural documentation that others build from.
• AWS certifications (Solutions Architect – Professional or DevOps Engineer) are a strong plus.

We understand that no candidate is perfectly qualified for any job. Experience comes in different forms, many skills are transferable, and passion goes a long way. Even more important than your resume is a clear demonstration of accountability and the ability to thrive in a fluid and collaborative environment. We expect you to learn new things in this role and encourage you to apply if your experience is close to what we're looking for.

Location: Sovrn offices are located in Boulder, CO. We believe collaboration and shared purpose lead to deeper relationships, more creative problem-solving, and more learning, faster. For employees located near one of our offices, working in-person is our default. We trust people to use personal agency when focused work or life circumstances call for flexibility. #LI-Hybrid

Application Deadline: Priority deadline October 1, 2026. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis thereafter until the position is filled.

Compensation and Benefits: The base salary for a Senior position is $135,000 to $165,000 annually, and for a Staff position, it is $165,000 to $195,000 annually. Actual base salary will depend on the candidate's education, experience, skills, and location. In addition to salary, the total compensation package includes bonus and equity. Sovrn offers a full slate of benefits from medical, dental, and vision coverage, short and long-term disability, life insurance, paid parental leave, 401(k) plan and match, 11 paid holidays, flexible vacation, and commuter benefits.

How to Apply: Submit your application through https://www.sovrn.com/careers/. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in any part of the application or interview process, please contact [email protected].

Equal Opportunity Employer: Sovrn is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, parental or pregnancy status, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Reasonable accommodations will be made to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Recruitment Agencies: Sovrn does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias or Sovrn employees. Sovrn is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.