Senior AWS Cloud Engineer

Company Background and Summary

Vela is a Cerberus-backed aerospace and defense manufacturing platform building the enterprise infrastructure, capabilities, and operational foundation to support a growing network of manufacturing companies, including Votaw Precision Technologies. Through its operating companies, Vela supports demanding aerospace, defense, and industrial programs by combining advanced manufacturing expertise with scalable business and technology infrastructure. 

The Senior AWS Cloud Engineer will build and own Vela’s cloud foundation in AWS GovCloud (US), where CUI and manufacturing data will reside. This hands-on role will establish the landing zone, infrastructure-as-code standards, and secure data architecture connecting manufacturing operations to analytics. The engineer will help build the cloud environment that supports Vela and its operating companies as the platform grows.

What You Will Own (Essential Functions)

• Design and build the GovCloud landing zone in AWS GovCloud (US) accounts, networking, identity, guardrails, and logging aligned to FedRAMP High / CMMC L2 expectations.
• Establish infrastructure-as-code standards using infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar) so the environment is version-controlled, repeatable, and auditable.
• Build the platform data architecture— secure ingestion from the shop floor via industrial IoT / edge connectivity, a CUI-tiered data lake, and downstream analytics.
• Stand up secure access — bastion/jump hosts, private connectivity (Direct Connect/VPN), and least-privilege access patterns for a controlled environment.
• Implement FIPS-validated encryption in transit and at rest, KMS key management, immutable logging, and boundary controls.
• Own cloud networking — VPC design, Transit Gateway, and Direct Connect/VPN connectivity to on-prem sites, in partnership with the network engineer.
• Establish delivery automation with CI/CD pipelines and Git-based workflows so infrastructure and deployments are automated and repeatable.
• Own operational health — monitoring, logging, and observability (e.g., CloudWatch), plus cost visibility and optimization discipline appropriate to a lean, PE-backed platform.
• Partner on M&A integration to integrate acquired companies' data and systems into the platform on a repeatable pattern.

Qualifications and Skills

Education & Experience

• 7+ years of cloud engineering, with deep hands-on AWS experience.
• Direct experience with AWS GovCloud (US) (not only commercial AWS) — 2+ years in GovCloud or another accredited/regulated cloud strongly preferred.
• Strong AWS networking skills — VPC, Transit Gateway, and hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect/VPN).
• Strong infrastructure-as-code skills (Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar) and CI/CD / Git-based automation.
• Experience designing secure data pipelines / data lakes on AWS (S3, IAM, KMS, VPC, networking).
• Familiarity with CMMC / NIST SP 800-171 or FedRAMP control expectations in a cloud context (a plus; willingness to learn required).
• Comfortable operating independently in an early-stage environment and documenting for a team that will grow around them.

Preferred Qualifications

• Industrial IoT / edge experience — AWS IoT Greengrass / SiteWise, Azure IoT, or similar OT data-ingestion technologies.
• Manufacturing or defense-sector cloud experience.
• AWS certifications (Solutions Architect / DevOps / Security).
• Bachelors in a technical field or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Experience integrating acquired companies onto a common cloud platform.

Key Performance Indicators

• Establish and maintain a secure AWS GovCloud foundation aligned with CMMC Level 2/NIST 800-171 requirements. 
• Implement repeatable, version-controlled infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD automation. 
• Deliver secure, scalable manufacturing data architecture connecting shop-floor systems to analytics. 
• Maintain 99.9%+ availability, monitoring, logging, and operational resilience for critical cloud services. 
• Maintain strong cloud security, access controls, encryption, and audit readiness. 
• Establish repeatable cloud integration patterns for new sites and M&A activity. 
• Optimize cloud infrastructure for security, scalability, performance, and cost. 
• Maintain accurate architecture, security, and operational documentation.

Personal Attributes

• Highly self-motivated and directed.
• Keen attention to detail.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment.
• Ability to work both independently and in a team-oriented, collaborative environment.

Work Conditions

• Ability to work onsite, including hours outside of a normal working day, to meet critical deadlines.  
• This position operates within a precision manufacturing environment supporting the production of mission-critical aerospace and defense components. Success requires a high sense of urgency, attention to detail, proactive problem-solving, and the ability to coordinate effectively across multiple departments to ensure uninterrupted manufacturing operations and customer delivery commitments. 
• Ability to work safely in a manufacturing environment, including walking the production floor, climbing stairs or ladders, occasionally lifting up to 25 pounds, and wearing required personal protective equipment (PPE).

Additional Requirements

• This position requires the use of information or access to hardware subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). All applicants must be U.S. persons as defined by ITAR. 
• Able to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge, skills, education, and experience.

Votaw Precision Technologies, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer including Disability/Vets.