Director, Cloud Automation Engineer

BlackRock is seeking a Director, Cloud Automation Engineer to lead Compute engineering within the global System Operations Platform team. This role involves building innovative technology for financial markets, migrating the Aladdin Platform to cloud and containers, and driving architecture and engineering excellence. The ideal candidate is a visionary leader and hands-on builder with strong software development and systems knowledge, passionate about technology and organizational change.

Must Have

• Minimum 10-15 years software or systems engineering experience on large-scale systems development and deployment.
• BA/BS in Computer Science or similar, or 4+ years relevant work experience.
• Experience in a Linux environment with Kubernetes/containers.
• Experience with cloud deployment technology tools (OCI, automation, IaC, Cross plane).
• Familiarity with modern DevOps, CI/CD, Observability, and Agile SDLC.
• Team lead skills with experience leading global teams, defining strategic architectures.
• Strong programming skills in Python, Go, Java, or similar.
• Expert experience with modern Infrastructure as Code platforms like Crossplane or Pulumi.
• Proficient leading Agile development processes.
• Architectural leadership experience using industry-accepted best practices.
• Knowledge of RHEL 8+.
• Experience in Cloud Environments, with a preference for Azure and AWS.
• Experience with IaC tools for provisioning cloud resources/containers.
• Skills in security and performance monitoring and analysis using oTel.
• Conceptual understanding of storage and networking components.

Good to Have

• Google Cloud knowledge is valuable.

Perks & Benefits

• Strong retirement plan
• Tuition reimbursement
• Comprehensive healthcare
• Support for working parents
• Flexible Time Off (FTO)

About this role

Job Description

Are you interested in building innovative technology that shapes the financial markets? Do you like working at the speed of a startup, but want to solve some of the world’s most complex problems? Do you want to work with, and learn from, hands-on leaders in technology and finance?

At BlackRock, we are looking for Engineers who like to innovate and solve complex problems. We recognize that strength comes from diversity, and will embrace your unique skills, curiosity, drive, and passion while giving you the opportunity to grow technically and as an individual.

With over USD $8 trillion of assets, we have an exceptional responsibility: our technology empowers millions of investors to save for retirement, pay for college, buy a home, and improve their financial wellbeing.

Being a developer at BlackRock means you get the best of both worlds: working for one of the most advanced financial companies and being part of an engineering team responsible for next generation technology and solutions.

Team Overview

This position requires a unique blend of hands-on systems knowledge, software development skills and team leadership. The global System Operations Platform team is a sizable team of over 50 individuals located in six different regions that perform engineering and operational work in support of critical infrastructure hosted on prem & on cloud. Our team is on the front lines migrating the Aladdin Platform to the cloud and containers.

We are in search of a Principal Engineer to help lead Compute engineering. This role requires a visionary leader and hands-on builder who is also able to collaborate globally to drive architecture and engineering excellence across the breadth of our organization. We seek a multi-disciplinary expert with a strong desire to mentor and effect organizational change. We require this unique combination as we enhance the platform products and services that we host across multiple clouds for the larger Aladdin engineering community.

You are:

• Curious and eager to learn new things, with a healthy disrespect for the status quo.
• A big thinker, willing to tackle projects that require both technical and organizational creativity to be successful.
• Passionate about technology, with personal ownership for the work you do.
• Data-focused, with an eye for the details that matter to solve the problem.
• A leader who invests as much time in architecting engineering practices as they do in the technology itself

We are:

• Passionate about building quality teams and scaling our technology to meet the needs of tomorrow.
• Building solutions for BlackRock and over 100 organizations who use our technology.
• Developing in Java, Go, Python with a strong bias towards Containers, Cloud-Native distributed containerized microservice orchestration., and emerging IaC technologies.
• Product-oriented with a drive towards continuous integration and deployment with a focus on incremental innovation.

General Requirements:

• Minimum of 10 – 15 years software or systems engineering work experience on large scale systems development and deployment.
• BA/BS in Computer Science (or similar) from an accredited university (or in lieu of degree, 4+ years of relevant work experience).
• Experience in a Linux environment with Kubernetes/containers experience
• Experience with cloud deployment technology tools (Open Container Initiative (OCI) container packaging and runtime, Automation tools for configuration management and deployment, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools for provisioning cloud resources., Cross plane, etc.)
• Familiarity with modern DevOps / CI/CD, Observability and Agile SDLC is required.
• Team lead skills with experience leading global teams, defining strategic architectures, implementing process transformation and driving projects to completion.

Software Requirements

• Strong programming skills in Python, Go, Java, or similar.
• Expert experience with modern Infrastructure as Code platforms such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools for provisioning cloud resources, Crossplane or Pulumi
• Proficient leading Agile development processes
• Architectural leadership experience using industry-accepted best practices (e.g. RFC and ADR documents).

Systems Requirements

• Knowledge of RHEL 8+.
• Experience in Cloud Environments, with a preference for Azure and AWS although Google Cloud knowledge is also valuable.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools for provisioning cloud resources /containers including foundational elements (e.g. CNI/CSI) and related technologies (e.g. container registry).
• Skills in security and performance monitoring and analysis using industry-standard tools (e.g. oTel).
• Conceptual understanding of storage and networking components.

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.