Principal Cloud Engineer (Relocate to Brisbane, Australia)

With many experienced engineers from New Zealand relocating to Brisbane for new opportunities, this role presents an excellent chance to join a high-performing cloud team within a leading organisation undergoing significant modernisation.Our client within the insurance sector is seeking a Principal Cloud Engineer to play a key role in the continued evolution of their cloud platform. The organisation recently migrated to AWS and is now strengthening its internal capability to build and scale its Kubernetes environment, establishing the foundations for long-term operational maturity. This is a hands-on engineering role focused on extending and automating the existing AWS and Kubernetes platform to support future delivery across the enterprise.This is a permanent position based in the Brisbane City QLD, Australia with 50% WFH flexibility.ResponsibilitiesBuild and evolve AWS foundations, including networking, IAM, and security guardrails using IaC.Engineer and extend Kubernetes (EKS) environments, implementing automation, cluster standards, and reusable deployment patterns.Design scalable and secure platform components to support new applications and workloads.Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines, observability, and policy-as-code frameworks to enable consistency and compliance.Implement monitoring, logging, and alerting to improve reliability and visibility across environments.Partner with delivery teams to onboard applications, streamline deployments, and embed cloud-native practices.Contribute to the governance of multi-account AWS environments, including cost management and access control.Drive continuous improvement in performance, cost optimisation, and operational resilience.Mentor and upskill engineers, building permanent capability and reducing reliance on contractors.Collaborate with security, operations, and platform teams to align engineering standards and delivery practices.The successful candidate will have proven experience building and scaling AWS and Kubernetes platforms within complex environments, with a strong background in automation, platform engineering, and cloud security. You’ll thrive in a collaborative setting, enjoy leading through code, and bring a practical approach to maturing cloud environments as part of a growing internal capability.For more information, contact Michael Tran on +61 424 686 570 or email michael@retained.com.au.