AWS Cloud Engineer Job Description: Guide, Sample Template & More

An AWS cloud engineer is responsible for designing, building, and managing cloud-based applications and services using Amazon Web Services (AWS). Typical job duties include:

• Planning and designing the cloud infrastructure with AWS
• Maintaining and deploying the cloud applications
• Troubleshooting and resolving issues with the cloud infrastructure
• Developing new cloud-based solutions

Such specialists are in high demand now due to the increasing popularity of cloud computing. The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge influence on the market. It locked people at their houses and created a need to move numerous activities to the remote, digital environment — and there is no better solution to do that than the cloud.

According to TechRepublic, cloud-certified IT employees are highly desired by businesses. The result: they can demand better salaries. Finding the best candidates might not be easy, as positions related to cloud computing require specific knowledge and a broad skill set.

What to do if you are an HR rep looking for an AWS cloud engineer? Start with the basics and craft a perfect, eye-catching, and interesting job description. It’s a chance to make an excellent first impression and grab the attention of a potential future employee.

Your company will have to compete with many others for this talent, so every detail should be in place. But don’t worry: we’ve got your back! This article will provide guidelines, examples, tips, and tricks for all of you interested in hiring such specialists. Here’s what you can expect:

• Our carefully-tailored example of AWS cloud engineer job description.
• The process of writing a professional job description for this position, explained step by step.
• Some advice from experienced industry insiders that will change your recruitment game.
• Answer to every question you might have wondered about when writing AWS cloud engineer job descriptions.

Ready? Let’s jump right in!

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Sample AWS Cloud Engineer Job Description Template

Here is a template that will help you understand better how to write an AWS engineer job description and make it stand out from the crowd. We’ve prepared it, so you can freely use it and adjust it to your company’s needs and goals. Read on for a more in-depth discussion on creating such descriptions.

We are looking for an experienced AWS cloud engineer to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for designing, deploying, and maintaining our cloud-based infrastructure based on Amazon Web Services and, occasionally, other technologies. You will collaborate with other teams to ensure that our cloud environment meets all requirements.

Who are we?
We are XYZ, a tech startup from New York. Our mission is to build robust, innovative digital solutions to revolutionize the marketing industry. Automation, machine learning, and cloud are the solid base of the products we create to make promotional and sales activities more data-based and insightful. Become a part of our team, and you will participate in exciting projects for our international clients and well-known brands. More about our work culture below!

About you:
• Experience with cloud platform Amazon Web Services (AWS). Knowledge of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) would be nice to have.
• Experience with Linux/Unix operating systems, web and application servers like Apache Tomcat or Nginx.
• Knowledge of scripting languages such as Python or Ruby.
• Experience with continuous integration tools such as Jenkins or Travis CI.

AWS cloud engineer responsibilities:

• Designing and implementing secure network solutions that meet business requirements.
• Creating and configuring virtualized systems in the AWS environment.
• Performing infrastructure upgrades and updates to maximize system efficiency while minimizing downtime.
• Deploying applications in AWS using EC2 instances and Elastic Beanstalk.
• Creating blueprints using CloudFormation templates for common workloads.
• Maintaining, testing and implementing disaster recovery procedures.
• Implementing automation using scripting languages (e.g., Python, Perl) to manage AWS services.
• Building tools for deployment, monitoring, and troubleshooting of system resources in an AWS environment.
• Developing software components in Java/Python .NET that interact with AWS cloud services by leveraging the AWS APIs.

Salary & benefits:
• $121,000 - $230 000 DOE
• Unlimited paid vacation
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Personal and professional development budget
• Flexible hours and a possibility to work remotely
• Paid gym membership
• In-house library of ebooks, courses, and other materials related to IT, marketing, and business
• Integration retreats

Working at XYZ
You can expect a friendly atmosphere, constant support from your co-workers, and countless possibilities to grow. We believe in people and their individuality, so you can be sure we will always listen to your suggestions and concerns. We work in an environment without imposed structures and micromanagement - everyone contributes to the company's success and can make their own decisions.

Our collective goal is to thrive in the world of marketing, so if you want to be a part of this mission - don't hesitate and REACH OUT! The XYZ team is waiting for you.

How do we recruit?
Our approach focuses on feedback, and we think it's best not to stretch out the process too much. Here are a few steps you will have to go through after you send your resume:

• At first, we conduct a 15-minute phone call because we want to get to know you better.
• If we feel like we are a good match, we invite you to a 1-hour video call with a technical interview.
• Within a week, you will get our feedback — we always give you an answer, whether it's a yes or no.
• Our positive evaluation means you get an offer.
• Like what we proposed? Apply today to join our team as our new Amazon Web Services cloud engineer!

As you can see, the description is quite detailed, and we will explain why in the further part of this article.

Remember that there is no universal formula to creating these, so feel free to adjust our example to your needs, your company’s tone of voice, and the specific requirements you have for your future employee.

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How to Write an AWS Cloud Engineer Job Description

The AWS job description is the first impression your company gives to your potential new hire. With millions of people searching for jobs each month, a great job description can help you stand out and attract the most qualified candidates for your opening. But what do you need to include? Let’s break it down.

1. Job Title

Job titles can vary from one company to another. We are mainly using “AWS cloud engineer” throughout this article — but this doesn’t mean that you should use this same term. It’s more of an umbrella title for this type of cloud-related position. So what should you use?

Start with the basics. You should be rather specific, as the title can indicate your employee’s duties when they are hired. Also, remember that the job title will be the first thing candidates will see on portals like LinkedIn, Indeed, or Arc. Don’t waste their time by crafting a misleading name for your position. Also, take into account how your job ad title will look in context on the job board — what titles are competing jobs using? What are the trends?

Look how many cloud-related jobs are out there:

• AWS DevOps engineer
• AWS backend engineer
• AWS cloud security architect
• AWS architect
• AWS developer
• AWS cloud admin

…and more!

Give some thought to the name of the position, based on duties and skills the ideal employee should have. Check out these two examples:

Bad example:

AWS cloud engineer

Good example:

Senior AWS cloud developer with Python, blockchain (remote)

Aspects you can include in a job title are:

• Seniority level (junior, mid, senior)
• Job type (architect, security engineer, network engineer, infrastructure engineer, cloud DevOps, etc.)
• Specific required skills (Python)
• Area or industry (blockchain, storage)
• Perks (remote)

2. About the company

This section of your AWS job description is where you let potential candidates know a little bit about your business and what you do. It’s the perfect place to set expectations for your AWS cloud engineer role and give potential employees a sense of what it’s like to work at your company. This will help them decide if working for you is right for them.

This is also where you have an opportunity to stand out from other companies hiring in your niche. To do this, you can talk about several things, such as:

• Why they should be excited to work with you
• What kind of people succeed at your company
• The way you think about culture, mission, and values

This section could also include:

• Who you are as a company (what you do, who you serve)
• Your mission statement or tagline
• A short history of how the organization started (and where it’s going)

Why is all that crucial in your job description? Because you want to show all interested AWS cloud engineers what you do and who you are as a brand. People like to feel connected to the companies they want to work with, and if both sides’ values are similar, your perfect candidate will definitely send their resume.

Also, we live in a world where people look for something more at their job. Companies that promote inclusivity, openness, equality, social responsibility, and care for their team’s work-life balance are more often seen as desirable workplaces by candidates.

Check out this great example from an AWS cloud security engineer job description via LinkedIn:

Verizon is one of the world’s leading providers of technology and communications services, transforming the way we connect across the globe. We’re a diverse network of people driven by our shared ambition to shape a better future. Here, we have the ability to learn and grow at the speed of technology, and the space to create within every role. Together, we are moving the world forward - and you can too. Dream it. Build it. Do it here.

Remember not to make the description too long. People generally have a short attention span, so you want to catch it with crucial information and showcase your company’s essential traits. You can also link to your website’s “About” page for more details.

3. Role summary

This section is usually called “About the job,” “Role summary,” “What you’ll do,” “About you,” or something similar. It’s a short paragraph that outlines the primary duties assigned to the particular position you are hiring for.

The simplest way to approach this: if your future AWS cloud engineer had to introduce themselves to someone and explain their job, what would they say? That’s what should be put in this part of your JD.

Check out this example we found on LinkedIn for a remote AWS cloud engineer at Collins Aerospace. The role summary does not disclose all the engineer’s day-to-day tasks, but it includes several most important ones that help to introduce the job:

As part of the Digital Technologies Software Development team, you'll help drive digital transformation by contributing to our growing Cloud initiative. This initiative is a key component to the enablement of our portfolio of aerospace digital products. In the Cloud Engineer role, you will couple your experience in DevOps, automation, CI/CD pipeline, infrastructure, development and monitoring to drive the successful cloud deployment of cloud infrastructure and applications. 

Experience coding in one or more of C# or Java is required. Experience with more than one of Azure DevOps, AWS Code Pipeline, Jenkins, Azure, AWS and Agile is required for this role. You will collaborate with multiple teams worldwide on cloud technologies, application development and DevOps processes. You will report to the Associate Director of Software Engineering & Mexicali | Digital Technology, or his designated representative.

4. Must-haves and nice-to-haves

If you want to write a compelling AWS engineer job description that attracts the best candidates, you must emphasize your ideal candidate’s technical qualifications and soft skills. Must-haves and nice-to-haves are two groups of skills and experience indicators you can put in your JD to get even more specific about suitable candidates for the position.

Obviously, the first one is dedicated to some traits that your candidate for an AWS cloud engineer should have to be hired. It’s the clearest signal about suitability and tells potential candidates what’s most important to you. The second list is for “bonus points” that can be useful while working with your company on this specific position, but can also be learned in the process or not be necessary at all.

Check out this example of must-haves and nice-to-haves for an AWS cloud engineer job candidate at JPMorgan Chase & Co. via LinkedIn:

Required Skills And Experience
• Should have been working as a Cloud Engineer and evolved to be an Architect
• Terraform Enterprise and/or other firm-specific multi-cloud provisioning platform
• Programming with AWS APIs, Java, Golang
• Leveraging AWS SDKs to interact with AWS services from your application
• Writing code that optimizes performance of AWS services used by your application
• Code-level application security (IAM roles, credentials, encryption, etc.)
• Developing and maintaining applications written for Amazon Simple Queue Service, Amazon Simple Notification Service and Amazon EventBridge.
• Knowledge and experience with testing, releasing, and CI/CD pipeline deployments into AWS using tools like Bitbucket, Jenkins, ServiceNow
• Developing with RESTful API interfaces
• General troubleshooting and debugging
• Demonstrated ability to build self-service, self-healing, highly scalable and secure cloud software capabilities
• Experienced with Agile development methodologies, processes, and procedures
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or any other Engineering field
• Certification on AWS Solution Developer/Solution Architect

Good To Have Skills And Experience
• Experience on development projects using open source tools
• Experience on other public clouds like GCP or Azure
• Automation using RedHat Ansible
• Operations of Cloud Infrastructure

As you can see, the first list is slightly shorter – that’s because you have to keep it accurate and put only dealbreakers in this section. If your expectations are too high, no one will be able to meet them, and you won’t find the specialist you’re looking for.

No AWS cloud engineer has 100% expertise in all the existing cloud platforms, has +15 years of experience (as the industry is relatively young), and can fulfill all your cloud-related needs. Be realistic with your requirements.

The second list is more elaborate and sometimes can include soft skills useful for a specific job. If you want to underline your company’s culture and style of work, you can add here some fun characteristics that will suit your team’s approach to work and leisure.

5. Education and certificates

As all types of AWS cloud engineers should have extensive knowledge of platforms (especially Amazon Web Services), programming languages, and software development in their work, some companies also require specific certifications and education requirements in the job description. While no single certificate is required to become an AWS cloud engineer, some can help prove a candidate’s skills.

There are several cloud-related certifications, and one is not necessarily better than another. The first step is to decide if you want your future employee to have an AWS certification, or if it’s not necessary — as long as they can prove their skills in that area. 

Also, you can require a vendor-specific certification (e.g., Oracle, Google) — if it’s needed. Ask yourself: what types of technologies and platforms your AWS cloud engineer will have to work with on a daily basis? Is there something else besides Amazon Web Services?

If adding certification requirements to your job description, bear in mind that this will limit the number of people who can apply. So if in doubt, consider not adding this requirement.

What about qualifications?

While a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science is one of the most common educational backgrounds for this position, it’s not the only option. Your ideal AWS cloud engineer might also have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Information Technology or Computer Engineering. Or they may be entirely self-taught, with skills gained on the job.

If you do require a qualification, specify it in a job description. However, a college degree shouldn’t be the most significant factor in your decision-making process.

6. Working time and location

More and more people want to have a choice when it comes to working time and location. Many people are specifically looking for employers that offer remote work or hybrid models — so be clear about flexible options for the offer, if any.

Of course, some employees have to be present during face-to-face meetings, but is AWS cloud engineer one of them? If you believe that video calls are not enough, state that clearly in your JD and inform the candidates where the offices are located. Companies that require their team to be on-site can offer relocation packages or other support for people that will move to work for them. Do you? That’s also a crucial thing you should put in the AWS job description.

As for work hours, engineering positions can often be flexible, but maybe there are some specific times when your employee should always be available. Before they apply, let them know if they can — or can’t — adjust their schedule. Remember that AWS cloud engineers and other IT specialists value the ability to work at times that suit them best, so giving them stiff work plans might make your company not interesting for them.

Last but not least, if you work in an international environment, remember about work permits and other legalities. State them in the JD to avoid problematic situations when hiring candidates from outside your country or region.

7. Salary and benefits

Compensation is naturally one of the most important parts of your AWS engineer job description. Here are some examples of what you can put in this section — adjust them to your company’s offer:

• Annual salary range (that’s a must!)
• Paid time off (PTO) policy
• Health perks: medical, dental, vision, mental health insurance (and more)
• Referral programs
• Budget for trainings
• Software and hardware
• 401(k) & retirement savings programs
• Stock / equity options
• Sick & parental leave policies
• Retreats and integrations
• Gym memberships
• Company events

…and more!

8. Other elements to consider on a job description for AWS roles

There are so many things you can include in the job description. It all depends on your company’s goals, mission, vision, and tone of voice.

Here are some suggestions you can consider:

Looking ahead: In this section, you inform your future employee what they should achieve in their position within one month, three months, and six months. These success criteria clearly showcase your expectations.

The ideal candidate: A short paragraph that describes the ideal AWS cloud engineer you would like to hire. Include hard skills and soft skills, and focus on them as a person and not a machine that has to do its job.

Type of employment: Most AWS cloud engineers are hired full-time, but if you are looking for a part-time employee or a contractor, it’s important to state that in JD.

Legal disclosure: Some countries require them to protect personal data and offer equality in recruitment. Make sure to include them in the AWS job description and inform the candidates if they should place them on their resumes.

Company culture: Do you have a unique approach to people and work? Is your company mission something that can get people fired up? Let the candidates know that they can be a part of that. People want to work in an exciting environment with open-minded, creative, and caring co-workers.

How to apply: Depending on where you publish your job offer, the methods of applying can differ. If you want your candidates to always apply via your website, give them an easy way to do so and link the recruitment form in the JD.

Point of contact: Putting the HR rep’s name, photo, and contact information add a human factor to the job description. It also gives your candidates a chance to get in touch and ask questions before they decide to send their resumes.

Tips for Optimizing an AWS Job Description to Land Great Candidates

1. Inclusivity is the key

Remember that we live in a diverse global village and, as an employer, you have to give potential candidates an equal opportunity to be a part of the recruitment process. Gender-neutral language is the first step to creating an inclusive job description, and you should always pay attention to your language.

Research shows that certain words and phrases can discourage some applicants — mostly females and people of color. Aggressive, dominant language used by corporations doesn’t promote diversity, and it focuses on the wrong traits of potential employees. It prioritizes competitiveness, lack of work-life balance, and hustle culture instead of the true potential that a person can bring to the company.

We mentioned that your JD could have requirements divided into must-haves and nice-to-haves, but if you can limit the former and drop the latter, it can bring you a more diverse group of candidates. For example, women usually apply for job offers if they match 100% of listed expectations, and men only need 60%.

2. Speak to the candidates personally

These are people you might work with soon, so avoid impersonal phrases. You will get their engagement, and the JD will feel more like a conversation with a human.

For example:

The perfect candidate for the AWS cloud engineer position should…

Try instead:

You will be a perfect candidate for this AWS cloud engineer position if you have…

3. Format your job description

Every text published in the online environment should be formatted. It makes them easier to quickly scan for the most important parts. Use the following formatting options to help make your JD easy on the eye:

• Headings (H2) and subheadings (H3, H4)
• Bold the most crucial information
• Bulleted lists in certain sections which list information
• Shorter paragraphs where possible

It’s a simple piece of advice, but it will definitely change your game. Remember — no one wants to read huge blocks of text!

4. Include “How to apply” instructions

Why include “how to apply” instructions? It’s the fastest way to find out who carefully read the JD — and who didn’t. As we mentioned before, your candidates should use the suggested method of sending their resumes so that you can control the number of applications.

If you are using a dedicated form, it’s easier; but if you prefer email, tell your potential future employees what they should put in the heading (e.g., the position title) and what has to be included in the message. This way, you will have the whole process organized — and if someone doesn’t follow the instructions, they probably can’t be considered for the job.

5. Remember the CTA!

A job offer is marketing content for your company. It advertises your brand as a good employer and reaches the potential audience that might be interested in working with you. Make the call-to-action button or text visible and clear, inviting the potential applicant to actually apply.

Good luck!

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