Principal Software Engineer – Reliability, FinOps

AT&T

. Provide principal-level technical leadership for resilient, secure, scalable, and cost-efficient platforms across Azure, AWS, Kubernetes, and hybrid-cloud environments .

Posted 10/30/2026full-timeUnited StatesLead💰 $155,400 - $261,100 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in cloud engineering and FinOps practices, with a strong focus on automation, cost optimization, and reliability engineering. Proficient in leveraging Azure, AWS, and Kubernetes to design secure, scalable platforms while leading cross-functional teams and complex technical initiatives.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Cloud Engineering ExpertiseFinOps PracticesAutomation Using PythonInfrastructure as Code with TerraformReliability Engineering

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Azure ArchitectureAWS ArchitectureKubernetesPython ScriptingPowerShell ScriptingBash ScriptingTerraformCI/CD PipelinesGenerative AI SolutionsCost Management

Soft Skills

Excellent Communication SkillsLeadershipMentoring

Tools & Technologies

ServiceNowPower BIAzure DevOpsGitHub ActionsIBM TurbonomicAWS Cost ExplorerAzure Cost ManagementMicrosoft 365 CopilotAzure OpenAIPower Platform

Certifications & Qualifications

FinOps Certified PractitionerAzure CertificationAWS CertificationKubernetes CertificationTerraform Certification

Industry Keywords

Cloud GovernanceCost AllocationOperational ReadinessPolicy as CodeIncident Management

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSAzureCloudKubernetesNode.jsOpenShiftPythonServiceNowSnowflakeTerraform

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Provide principal-level technical leadership for resilient, secure, scalable, and cost-efficient platforms across Azure, AWS, Kubernetes, and hybrid-cloud environments
Lead FinOps and infrastructure optimization capabilities, including cost allocation, showback, anomaly detection, forecasting, rightsizing, workload scheduling, commitment optimization, waste reduction, and validated savings realization
Develop policy-driven, closed-loop optimization workflows through identification, application-owner engagement, approval, ServiceNow change control, execution, validation, evidence capture, and reporting
Apply automation using Python, PowerShell, Bash, REST APIs, Azure Functions, Power Automate, and event-driven services
Design generative AI, AI-fueled coding, and agentic automation solutions for engineering operations, cost analysis, anomaly investigation, remediation guidance, executive reporting, knowledge retrieval, and decision support
Establish cloud-governance guardrails, policy-as-code controls, exception processes, auditability, and risk-based automation patterns
Engineer secure identity and authorization models using RBAC, managed identities, service principals, privileged identity management, just-in-time access, least privilege, and time-bound permissions
Integrate optimization and automation with Terraform, GitHub, Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, ServiceNow, monitoring platforms, cost-management tools, and enterprise data sources
Advance reliability engineering practices including observability, service-level objectives, capacity management, performance analysis, incident prevention, operational readiness, post-change validation, rollback planning, and continuous improvement
Build executive dashboards and operational scorecards covering cloud spend, reliability, automation coverage, optimization pipeline health, risk, realized savings, and business outcomes
Lead proofs of concept, production readiness, phased adoption, and complex technical issue resolution with internal teams and strategic vendors
Mentor engineers, create reusable reference architectures and standards, and influence priorities across Reliability, FinOps, Security, Architecture, Finance, Operations, and application teams

Requirements

What you’ll need

7+ years of progressive experience in systems engineering, cloud engineering, site reliability engineering, platform engineering, DevOps, FinOps, or enterprise automation
Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional engineering initiatives and influence technical direction without relying solely on direct authority
Deep hands-on experience with Azure and/or AWS architecture, networking, compute, storage, identity, monitoring, governance, and cost-management services
Strong knowledge of FinOps practices, including allocation, tagging, showback or chargeback, budgeting, forecasting, unit economics, commitment management, anomaly detection, optimization, and savings validation
Experience implementing cloud optimization for virtual machines, storage, databases, platform services, Kubernetes, and idle or underutilized resources
Advanced scripting and automation experience using Python, PowerShell, Bash, REST APIs, JSON, and event-driven integration patterns
Strong Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD experience using Terraform, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or comparable enterprise tooling
Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, AKS, EKS, or OpenShift, including workload rightsizing, Helm, observability, node lifecycle management, and container cost allocation
Experience applying generative AI, prompt engineering, AI assistants, AI-fueled coding, or agentic automation to engineering and operational use cases
Strong understanding of reliability engineering, observability, incident management, capacity planning, performance optimization, recovery, change control, and operational readiness
Experience designing secure automation using role-based access control, managed identities, service principals, privileged identity management, just-in-time access, least privilege, secrets management, and auditable approval controls
Ability to analyze complex cloud cost, utilization, telemetry, and operational data and convert findings into prioritized actions and clear executive insights
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present complex technical and financial information to engineers, application owners, finance partners, vendors, and senior leaders
Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Data Science, or Finance preferred
FinOps Certified Practitioner or certifications in Azure, AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, ITIL, site reliability engineering, security, data, or artificial intelligence
Experience with IBM Turbonomic, IBM Cloudability, Kubecost, Flexera SPOT/Ocean, Flexera ElasticGroup, Azure Cost Management, AWS Cost Explorer, or comparable FinOps and optimization platforms
Experience building intelligent automation with approved enterprise AI services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Power Platform, or comparable platforms
Experience with Power BI, Kusto Query Language, Log Analytics, Snowflake, data engineering, anomaly detection, forecasting, or machine-learning pipelines
Knowledge of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS), reservation and savings-plan economics, and enterprise cost-allocation models
Experience integrating cloud automation with ServiceNow change management, configuration management databases, approval workflows, audit evidence, and operational controls
Experience designing safe remediation workflows with policy validation, human-in-the-loop approvals, post-change monitoring, rollback, evidence capture, and drift detection
Knowledge of container security, software supply-chain security, vulnerability management, policy as code, and compliance automation
Demonstrated success delivering measurable cost savings, reliability improvements, risk reduction, or productivity gains at enterprise scale
Knowledge of AT&T technology governance, public-cloud architecture patterns, internal change-management processes, or application ownership practices
Must not require employer sponsorship now or in the future

Benefits

Comp & perks

Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
401(k) plan
Tuition reimbursement program
Paid Time Off and Holidays (based on date of hire, at least 23 days of vacation each year and 9 company-designated holidays)
Paid Parental Leave
Paid Caregiver Leave
Additional sick leave beyond what state and local law require may be available but is unprotected
Adoption Reimbursement
Disability Benefits (short term and long term)
Life and Accidental Death Insurance
Supplemental benefit programs: critical illness/accident hospital indemnity/group legal
Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
Extensive employee wellness programs
Employee discounts up to 50% off on eligible AT&T mobility plans and accessories, AT&T internet (and fiber where available) and AT&T phone