A cloud engineer designs, builds, and manages cloud infrastructure - ensuring your systems are scalable, secure, cost-efficient, and highly available across your cloud provider.
A great Cloud Engineer does not just complete tasks. They own a function that directly frees you to grow. Here is what that looks like in a scaling business:
01Design and implement cloud architecture aligned with business and technical requirements
02Manage and optimize cloud infrastructure costs
03Implement security controls and compliance requirements in the cloud
04Build disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities
05Automate infrastructure provisioning and management
How this hire moves your business forward: Cloud infrastructure is the foundation everything else runs on. A cloud engineer ensures your infrastructure scales with your growth, costs what it should, and does not become a single point of failure.
Why LatAm
Why LatAm Produces Great Cloud Engineers.
LatAm cloud engineers hold AWS, GCP, and Azure certifications at high rates and have experience managing production cloud environments for US-facing companies. Cloud engineering is one of the fastest-growing LatAm technical disciplines.
The timezone overlap with the US is strong. LatAm professionals work within 1 to 3 hours of US Eastern time, so there is no async lag, no late-night handoffs, and no communication gap.
Skills & tools
Know What a Great Cloud Engineer Actually Brings to the Table.
Beyond the resume, here are the skills, tools, and traits that separate strong performers from strong interviewers.
Hard Skills
Cloud architecture design
Infrastructure as code (Terraform / CDK)
Security and compliance in cloud environments
Cost optimization
Disaster recovery and business continuity
Common Tools
AWS / GCP / Azure
Terraform / Pulumi
Kubernetes
Ansible
CloudFormation
Soft Skills & Traits
Security-first mindset
Cost-conscious architect
Systematic documentation
Collaborative with engineering teams
Strong troubleshooter
Compensation
What You Can Expect to Pay.
Based on Sur market data and regional benchmarks. Figures reflect total cash compensation.
Seniority
US Annual
LatAm Annual
You Save
Entry
$88,000
$33,600
$54,400 / yr
Mid level
$120,000
$48,000
$72,000 / yr
Senior
$158,000
$62,400
$95,600 / yr
Spot the right hire
What to Look For, and What to Watch Out For.
Green Flags
Holds current cloud certifications (AWS Solutions Architect, GCP Professional, etc.)
Can explain the trade-offs in their architectural decisions
Infrastructure costs are optimized and monitored proactively
Security controls are implemented at the infrastructure level, not just the application level
Red Flags
Uses cloud services without understanding what they cost
No certification and no equivalent hands-on experience
Builds infrastructure that is not documented or reproducible
Our process
Our Process for This Role.
We do not post and wait. Every Cloud Engineer search we run is built from scratch around your business, your stage, your team, and your goals. And at every step, we are thinking about how this hire helps you grow.
1
Onboarding Call
We start by understanding what you actually need.
2
Role Scoping and Assessment Design
We build a precise role profile and design the custom skills assessment before we search for anyone.
3
Sourcing
We source actively across LatAm and the Caribbean and through our network.
4
Prescreening and Phone Screen
Every candidate is internally screened then put through an English phone screen.
5
Your Shortlist
3 to 5 candidates delivered early in the process with background, audio clip, and our team's recommendation.
6
Skills Assessment
Shortlisted candidates take a custom assessment built to replicate the actual work of the role.
7
Hire and Guarantee
We support the offer, help structure compensation for retention, and back every placement with a 90-day guarantee.
4-5 weeks typically. Most placements are made within 21 days of the onboarding call.
Most LatAm professionals work within 1 to 3 hours of US Eastern time.
All Sur placements speak fluent English. We screen for language ability on every search. Moderate English acceptable depending on exposure.
A LatAm cloud engineer delivers the same infrastructure design and management capability as a US hire at 35-45% of the cost. Cloud certifications are actively pursued and widely held across the region.
If your hire does not work out within the first 90 days for any reason, we replace them at no additional cost.
AWS has the largest talent pool and most mature ecosystem. GCP is strong for data and ML workloads. Azure is dominant in enterprise Microsoft environments.
Increasingly yes. Container orchestration is central to modern cloud architecture. Confirm Kubernetes experience if it is part of your stack.
Ready to Hire a Cloud Engineer Who Actually Moves the Needle?
Let us design the role together and find you the right person from LatAm.