About this role.
Mactores seeks a freelance AWS DevOps Engineer to modernize enterprise infrastructure and workloads on AWS in a client-facing, forward-deployed delivery model. The role focuses on Terraform and CloudFormation infrastructure automation, CI/CD ownership, configuration management, observability, and reliable production releases. The engineer will support legacy-to-cloud migrations and data platforms using services such as EMR, Redshift, and SageMaker, while improving tools including Jenkins, Bitbucket, Consul, Graphite, and Grafana. This is an experienced, independent consulting engagement requiring strong customer communication and hands-on operational judgment.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
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4/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
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Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would first map the current dependencies, environments, security boundaries, and release process, then define a target AWS architecture with rollback and operational requirements. I would build reusable Terraform modules, use remote state with appropriate access controls, deploy through staged environments, and validate the migration through automated testing, monitoring, and a rehearsed cutover plan.
I use version-controlled pipeline definitions with branch protections, automated unit and integration tests, security and artifact checks, and immutable build artifacts. Deployments should be environment-specific, observable, and reversible, using approval gates where risk warrants them and automated rollback or progressive delivery strategies for production.
I separate environments through dedicated state and access boundaries, keep modules versioned and reviewed, and run formatting, validation, linting, security scanning, and plan review in CI. I also minimize manual state changes, protect state storage with encryption and locking, and document an emergency recovery process.
I would define service-level indicators around job completion, data freshness, query performance, failures, and infrastructure capacity. I would collect CloudWatch and application metrics, centralize actionable logs, build Grafana dashboards for operations and stakeholders, and configure alerts with clear severity, ownership, and runbooks.
I would quickly assess the technical risk, dependencies, and impact on the agreed scope, then communicate the trade-offs transparently to the engagement team and customer. I would recommend options such as sequencing the request into a later release, reducing scope safely, or adding a tested mitigation, while documenting the decision and preserving production readiness.
Mactores is the agent-native AWS modernization firm. Most modernization work doesn’t ship, it stalls in pilots, slips a year, or lands at three times the budget. We exist to ship it: production systems running, legacy retired, outcomes measured. Our delivery is built on Aedeon, the agent platform built by Mactores’ founders’ sister company, which absorbs the repetitive 60–70% of engagement work, discovery, dependency mapping, validation, test generation, that traditional consulting bills human hours against. Forward-deployed engineers own the rest: architecture, judgment, and cutover, on dates we commit to in the contract.
This freelance role sits in our infrastructure modernization work under the Application & Database Modernization pillar: moving legacy infrastructure and large enterprise workloads to AWS, and making the resulting platforms boring to operate. Customers come to us with hand-built environments, release cycles that depend on heroics, and big data workloads that outgrew their monitoring years ago.
You’ll work as a hands-on DevOps engineer on customer deployments, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, automated monitoring — for enterprise applications, customer applications, and big data workloads. Aedeon absorbs the discovery and validation grind; your billed hours go to the automation and reliability engineering that gets releases out and keeps them out. It’s client-facing work: you set customer expectations and then meet them.
What you will do?
- Automate infrastructure creation using Terraform and AWS CloudFormation.
- Run application configuration management and enable Infrastructure as Code through deployment tools.
- Own and manage the build and release cycle for customer projects.
- Share responsibility for deploying releases and other operations and maintenance activities.
- Improve operations infrastructure: Jenkins clusters, Bitbucket, monitoring tools (Consul), and metrics tools like Graphite and Grafana.
- Provide operational support for the engineering team and help migrate legacy infrastructure to the cloud.
- Establish and enforce operational best practices, including monitoring for automated system health checks.
- Build scalable infrastructure for data platforms-Amazon EMR, Redshift, and SageMaker.
- Build our CI pipeline, and train and guide the team in DevOps practices.
What are we looking for?
- 4+ years of experience using Terraform for IaaC.
- 4+ years of configuration management and engineering for large-scale customers, ideally supporting an Agile development process.
- 4+ years of Linux or Windows administration experience.
- 4+ years with version control systems (git), including branching and merging strategies.
- 2+ years of experience working with AWS infrastructure and platform services.
- 2+ years of experience with cloud automation tools (Ansible, Chef).
- Exposure to container services on AWS: Kubernetes, ECS, and EKS.
- A proactive eye for what can be made more reliable — and the follow-through to make it so.
You will be preferred if
- Expertise across multiple cloud providers: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform.
- AWS Solutions Architect Professional or Associate certification.
- AWS DevOps Professional certification.
How we work?
We run a forward-deployed model: engineers embed with delivery teams, own their piece of the outcome, and ship against committed dates. This is a remote freelance engagement, so we’ll be straight about the shape: you work project-by-project inside that model, with Aedeon absorbing the repetitive layer so your time goes to infrastructure judgment, not checklist work. You’ll work independently, coordinate closely with the engagement team, and your automation will carry production traffic for named customers.
Compensation
Additional Information
Life at Mactores
We care about creating a culture that makes a real difference in the lives of every Mactorian. Our 10 Core Leadership Principles that honor Decision-making, Leadership, Collaboration, and Curiosity drive how we work.
1. Be one step ahead
2. Deliver the best
3. Be bold
4. Pay attention to the detail
5. Enjoy the challenge
6. Be curious and take action
7. Take leadership
8. Own it
9. Deliver value
10. Be collaborative
We would like you to read more details about the work culture on https://mactores.com/careers
The Path to Joining the Mactores Team
At Mactores, our recruitment process is structured around three distinct stages:
Pre-Employment Assessment:
A series of evaluations of your technical proficiency and suitability for the role.
Managerial Interview: The hiring manager engages with you in multiple discussions, 30 minutes to an hour each, covering technical skills, hands-on experience, leadership potential, and communication.
HR Discussion: During this 30-minute session, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss the offer and next steps with a member of the HR team.
Mactores provides equal opportunities in all employment practices. We don’t discriminate based on race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military status, genetic information, or any other category protected by federal, state, and local laws. This applies to every part of the employment relationship, recruitment, compensation, promotions, transfers, disciplinary action, layoff, training, and social and recreational programs.
Note: Please answer as many questions as possible with this application to accelerate the hiring process.
Annual salary information is not provided for this position. Explore salary ranges for similar roles in our Salary Directory ›
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