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Cloud Engineer

Specialized Cloud & Platform Engineering professional focused on cloud infrastructure provisioning via terraform/opentofu and enterprise-grade execution.

CLOUD_PLATFORMO*NET-SOC: 15-1251.00Seniority: entry · mid · seniorAliases: Cloud Infrastructure Engineer, Cloud Systems Engineer

Core Responsibilities

  • Execute and maintain production-grade solutions for Cloud Engineer
  • Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams and uphold quality standards

Skills Weighting (Durable vs Perishable)

Kubernetes & Cloud-Native Platformscompetent proficiency
DURABLE
Infrastructure as Code (Terraform / OpenTofu)competent proficiency
DURABLE
Observability, OpenTelemetry & Distributed Tracingcompetent proficiency
DURABLE

Adjacent Career Transitions

Difficulty: 2/5~6-18 months

Platform Engineer

Domain specialization bridge from Cloud Engineer to Platform Engineer

View Target Role
Difficulty: 3/5~12-24 months

Observability Engineer

Deep technical transition from Cloud Engineer into Observability Engineer

View Target Role
Difficulty: 3/5~12-24 months

Engineering Manager

Transition from technical individual contribution in Cloud Engineer to engineering management

View Target Role
Difficulty: 3/5~18-36 months

Software Architect

Cross-system architectural boundaries beyond local Cloud Engineer scope

View Target Role
Difficulty: 3/5~12-24 months

Cloud Security Architect

Zero Trust architecture and cloud identity governance (IAM / CIEM)

View Target Role

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the core technical competencies required for a Cloud Engineer?

A Cloud Engineer focuses on Cloud infrastructure provisioning via Terraform/OpenTofu; VPC networking, IAM roles, cloud storage. Core responsibilities include: Execute and maintain production-grade solutions for Cloud Engineer, Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams and uphold quality standards.

What distinguishes a Cloud Engineer from adjacent engineering roles?

Unlike adjacent roles, a Cloud Engineer is specifically NOT expected to handle: Unfocused generalist work without clear domain deliverables; Pure administrative coordination without technical ownership. Seniority tracks encompass entry, mid, senior levels.

What decision authority and hands-on technical ownership does a Cloud Engineer hold?

A Cloud Engineer holds primary decision authority over Cloud resource provisioning approvals, cloud network routing, IAM boundary configuration.. This role typically maintains an estimated 80% hands-on technical focus with low customer exposure and moderate ambiguity tolerance.

What are the typical promotion ladders and career mobility pathways from Cloud Engineer?

Progression within Cloud Engineer spans entry → mid → senior seniority tiers. Common adjacent lateral and vertical mobility targets include: Site Reliability Engineer, Devsecops Engineer, Cloud Solutions Architect.

How are compensation benchmarks evaluated for a Cloud Engineer?

Salaries for Cloud Engineer are aggregated from verified statutory and market reports across 6 tech hubs, normalized with k ≥ 5 cohort suppression to preserve privacy, and evaluated across P10 to P90 percentiles.

Which international visa pathways apply to a Cloud Engineer?

Qualifying roles in this family align with statutory shortage criteria under frameworks such as the Germany EU Blue Card (§ 18g AufenthG) and Netherlands Highly Skilled Migrant regulations (Kennismigrant), using official O*NET-SOC (15-1251.00) and ESCO/ISCO-08 classifications.

AI Summary

Cloud Engineer: Core role responsible for cloud infrastructure provisioning via terraform/opentofu, decision authority over cloud resource provisioning approvals, cloud network routing, iam boundary configuration., and cross-team execution.