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Early Warning Services

Sr. Distinguished Cloud Engineer

Early Warning Services, Chicago, IL


At Early Warning, we've powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Overall Purpose

This position reports to the VP of Cloud and functions as a strategic individual contributor expected to solve enterprise-wide cloud engineering and migration problems in a fast-paced and collaborative environment. You will be responsible for participating at any level of the project including coding, design, security considerations, infrastructure architecture and scaling. You will be responsible for the overall roadmap and ensuring that projects are delivered on time, on budget and adhering to the company policies.

Essential Functions
  • Serves as the overall technical leader for executing on the migration and planning of our transformation from a hybrid (on-prem + AWS) environment to one that is 100% cloud based within the next 3 years. Success will be measured by the completion of this migration in a way that is secure, resilient, cost-effective, and fully cloud native.
  • Drives best practices, architecture, and technology decisions across Early Warning Services (EWS) utilizing knowledge and lessons-learned from building enterprise-scale systems in the cloud.
  • Maintains a very high bar for execution and excellence in engineering fostering executive presence throughout; can 'coach-up' team members and leaders for a highly engaged, high-performing team and participates in the selection of top talent into the team to support these large-scale efforts.
  • As a key technical leader, work closely with teams across the entire enterprise including other engineering teams, security, audit, risk, and compliance to drive innovative cloud solutions that support our business objectives and technologies.
  • Collaborates with the VP of Cloud to ensure that we have appropriate cloud governance and guardrails in place while also balancing against the need for agility and developer productivity.
  • Owns the short-term tactical and long-term strategic roadmap.
  • Operates as a trusted advisor for architecture, product, platform and engineering teams, helping to shape use cases, define ROI and tightly integrate into overall strategy.
  • Be a role model to others on the team. Actively coach, mentor, and assist in the career development of other engineers and team members creating an engaged, motivated and collaborative work environment.
  • Supports the company's commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data
  • The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow instructions and perform other related duties as assigned by their supervisor.


Minimum Qualifications
  • Education or experience typically obtained through completion of a Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems, Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Science or equivalent professional experience.
  • Minimum 15 or more years of progressive software engineering; recognized as a technical expert with demonstrated experience in large scale cloud migrations.
  • Minimum 6 or more years of prior infrastructure technical leadership experience
  • Minimum 5 years of DevOps experience using AWS, Python, Terraform, GitHub, Artifactory and CI/CD pipelines or equivalent.
  • To be successful, you must be an expert in the realm of large scale, enterprise systems; understanding not only how to design, enhance, and grow complex systems but also how to collaborate and influence other teams and leaders to deliver on projects that may span years. You should have deep AWS expertise including automation and cloud governance at scale.
  • Proven experience developing risks, controls, policies and procedures and compliance
  • Expert-level experience in all aspects of cloud computing and cloud security
  • Recognized in the industry as a technical expert in their field through published works, patents and/or industry speaking engagements.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to think critically and analytically.
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams.
  • Strong Knowledge of Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) best practices and software development methodologies (Agile, Scrum, LEAN etc.)
  • Ability to own and manage technical debt and security vulnerabilities.
  • Ability to define OKR and KPIs and implement the processes required to measure, monitor and meet them.
  • Experience with comprehensive technology delivery that is secure and reliable including disaster recovery planning, business continuity and operations.
  • Proven leadership skills in leading technical teams and their interaction across an organization.
  • One or more current public cloud certifications
  • Ability to pass background and drug screening


Preferred Qualifications
  • Master's degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering or a related work experience preferred.
  • Industry authored content around applicable area of expertise.
  • Finance and payments industry experience.
  • Internet or Enterprise hardware/software company
  • Fortune 500 enterprise experience
  • Performed architecture, engineering and operational roles
  • Multiple current public cloud certifications
  • Experience with Azure, GCP or other cloud providers


Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling, and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers.

Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

The pay scale for this position in:

Phoenix, AZ/ Chicago, IL in USD per year is: $270,000 - $300,000.

New York, NY/ San Francisco, CA in USD per year is: $300,000 - $325,000.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate's education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary bonus, and benefits.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness
  • Healthcare Coverage - Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan - Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
  • Paid Time Off - Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
  • 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
  • Maven Family Planning - provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.


And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Early Warning Services, LLC ("Early Warning") considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.