Cloud/Platform/Systems Specialist

Job Title: Cloud/Platform/Systems Specialist Location: Des Moines, IA Assignment will extend on 7/1/26. Additional background check requirements apply for Public Safety assignments. Due to the long-term nature of the assignment, DPS will require a Level 1 (L1) background check. To begin work, the contractor must first successfully complete the DOM DOIT background check and fingerprinting, as well as a DPS Level 2 (L2) background check. Continued employment after the start date is contingent upon the contractor successfully clearing the DPS L1 background check.

Note: Experience with Ansible would be handy; Experience related to AWS IAM functionality for controlling RBAC is needed. FIN OPS - strong understanding on how to estimate costs and delivery quickly needed.

The Service Delivery Public Safety IT Team is seeking a candidate for a critical cloud/platform/systems specialist to Support senior resources. Expectations include Leading infrastructure initiatives to modernize IT infrastructure and operations to enhance efficiency, scalability, and reliability across hybrid cloud environments. This role supports enterprise modernization goals by providing support for modern approaches to hybrid-cloud administrative and engineering practices to eliminate expensive and inefficient legacy solutions, while improving operational efficiency, reducing manual intervention, and enabling scalable infrastructure solutions.

5 or more years of experience required in the following areas:

Designs, Maintains, And Optimizes Hybrid Platforms That Bridge On Premises Infrastructure With AWS Cloud Services, Aligning With The Shift Toward Cloud Centric Operations

• Designing and administering AWS environments (EC2, VPC, IAM, S3) to support enterprise workloads.
• Creating hybrid workload patterns where identity, authentication, and application services function seamlessly across cloud and on premises systems.
• Migrating legacy systems to AWS, including developing modernization roadmaps and workload readiness assessments.
• Documenting system architectures and producing AWS architecture diagrams showing network topology, dependencies, and service interactions.
  
  

Provides senior tier support for issues escalated from Service Desk, Applications, Networking, or automation teams:

• Diagnosing complex AWS identity, network, or compute issues affecting dependent applications.
• Documenting troubleshooting workflows, root causes, and long term mitigation strategies.
• Guiding teams through hybrid dependency failures such as directory sync disruptions, routing conflicts, or misconfigured IAM policies.
  
  

Ensures platform resilience by monitoring, optimizing, and maintaining cloud and on prem compute, storage, networking, and identity components:

• Eliminate single points of failure in designs patterns
• Provide backup, recovery, and DR to meet all RTO/RPO requirements.
• Implementing performance dashboards covering compute utilization, storage I/O, and network throughput across AWS and on prem.
• Conducting root cause analysis for performance issues and documenting remediation steps.
• Identifying cost optimization opportunities through instance rightsizing, storage tier adjustments, and lifecycle automation.
• Maintaining architecture diagrams, standards, IaC manifests, and operational procedures in version controlled environments.
• Preparing change impact statements for major infrastructure modifications.
• Creating release documentation for platform updates promoted through CI/CD pipelines. Ensuring consistency across platform standards, enforcement rules, and automation artifacts.
  
  

Works closely with automation specialist and other team members to ensure infrastructure deployments follow consistent, automated, and auditable patterns:

• Defining IaC patterns and collaborating on Terraform module designs.
• Documenting provisioning workflows, configuration standards, and parameter usage for automated deployments.
• Supporting CI/CD infrastructure pipelines that promote test, staging, and production environments through automated checks.
• Collaborate with engineering and application teams to optimize workloads for hybrid cloud environments.
• Provide guidance on migration strategies, performance tuning, and cost optimization for hybrid-cloud deployments.
  
  

Maintain comprehensive documentation for hybrid cloud architecture, operational procedures, and automation workflows. Ensure documentation supports knowledge transfer and compliance audits.

Responsibilities

Supports organizational security and compliance goals by implementing and documenting platform controls across cloud and on prem environments. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Enforcing AWS guardrails such as encryption, MFA, IAM role boundaries, and network segmentation.
• Producing audit evidence packages (configuration exports, pipeline logs, screenshots).
• Documenting platform hardening guidelines for compute, identity, and storage systems.
• Creating policy interpretation guides to clarify required platform configurations for other technical teams.
• Writing operational guides, onboarding materials, and "how to" documentation for AWS and hybrid operations.
• Delivering platform standards, architecture reference materials, and annotated diagrams explaining system interactions.
• Producing executive level briefings summarizing modernization progress and platform initiatives.