Cloud Infrastructure Engineer, Principal (Contractor)

At H&P, our people are our strength. Since 1920, Helmerich and Payne has been the industry’s most trusted partner in drilling productivity and reliability. As the world changes, so does our approach. We are changing the landscape of drilling by using cutting-edge rig technologies and drilling solutions to build upon a century of success, all while continuing to deliver better outcomes for our customers. At H&P, our people are our strength. We strive to continually lead with our Core Values that enable employees to develop on their H&P Journey. We believe that doing the right thing means creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace that empowers our people to bring their authentic selves to work every day. Some companies offer career paths. We offer a Journey of a Lifetime. Let's go far, together. Hear directly from our employees, and leaders about their unique journeys at Helmerich and Payne. Location: Tulsa, OK Work Type: Onsite or Hybrid #LI-Onsite #LI-Hybrid This is a contract position providing services to Helmerich & Payne (H&P) through a third-party staffing agency. If you are selected for this role, you will be an employee of the agency and not H&P. Duration: Contract minimum of 6 months with potential for extension to full time hire At a Glance: The Cloud Infrastructure Engineer, Principal (Contractor) is the most senior IT cloud engineering role globally within H&P. This role serves as the technical authority for H&P cloud architecture, engineering standards, automation, resiliency, and platform reliability across Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and related hybrid infrastructure services. The role translates business, rig technology, application, cybersecurity, data, and infrastructure requirements into secure, reliable, cost-efficient, and scalable cloud solutions. The Principal Cloud Engineer Contractor leads technical direction without direct people-management accountability, sets engineering standards for internal teams and partners, and ensures cloud platforms support uninterrupted drilling operations, real-time rig data flow, global integration, employee productivity, and H&P growth. What you will do: The following items represent the essential functions and accountabilities for this position. This description is not meant to be all inclusive nor to prevent other duties from being assigned when necessary. Responsibilities may change at any time with or without notice. Regular and reliable attendance is essential and required in performance of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. Serve as H&P's enterprise-level technical authority for cloud engineering, cloud architecture, and hybrid cloud platform design across Azure, GCP, and related infrastructure services. Define and maintain cloud architecture patterns, landing-zone standards, platform guardrails, network integration models, identity dependencies, monitoring standards, tagging standards, and operational readiness expectations. Design and guide implementation of highly available, resilient, secure, and recoverable cloud solutions that support critical business applications, real-time rig data, global integration, automation, analytics, and operational continuity. Lead Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and automation practices using technologies such as Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, PowerShell, Python, YAML, Azure DevOps, GitHub, and CI/CD pipelines to reduce manual work and improve repeatability. Partner with IT and functional teams to translate requirements into cloud platform designs that balance speed, cost, security, reliability, and maintainability. Provide hands-on technical leadership for cloud migrations, modernization, platform integration, disaster recovery, backup readiness, observability, secrets management, and cloud-native service adoption. Establish and improve cloud operations practices, including monitoring, alerting, logging, performance management, capacity planning, incident triage, root cause analysis, and operational runbooks. Lead technical troubleshooting for cloud related major incidents (P1/P2 incidents) and make critical technical decisions to restore service quickly and safely. Translate outage impact, reliability risk, capacity constraints, and technical debt into clear business language for IT leadership, business stakeholders, and executive audiences when needed. Guide junior, senior, contractor, and managed-service engineers through cloud design reviews, implementation reviews, change planning, testing, knowledge transfer, and technical coaching. Evaluate new cloud services, vendor capabilities, automation opportunities, and architectural alternatives; recommend solutions that align to H&P strategy, security posture, operational needs, and cost expectations. Partner with Cybersecurity and Governance, Risk & Compliance on cloud security posture, identity and access controls, network segmentation, vulnerability remediation, data protection, audit readiness, and compliance-aligned architecture. Oversight of technical quality for cloud-related change controls, implementation plans, backout plans, validation plans, peer reviews, and post-change documentation in accordance with H&P standards. Support cloud financial management (FinOps) by validating consumption, recommending rightsizing and modernization opportunities, improving tagging/reporting discipline, and ensuring support contracts and cloud services deliver intended value. Maintain clear architecture documentation, decision records, operational playbooks, diagrams, standards, and knowledge articles so H&P can operate cloud platforms consistently across regions and support models. Drive continuous improvement through automation, AI-enabled visibility, dashboards, reliability engineering, process simplification, and lessons learned from incidents, projects, and operational reviews. What you need: Expert knowledge of Microsoft Azure infrastructure services including: Azure compute, Azure networking, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Azure Policy, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, Azure Kubernetes Service, and common Azure platform governance patterns. Advanced working knowledge of GCP infrastructure services, networking, identity, monitoring, logging, security controls, and hybrid connectivity patterns. Advanced knowledge of hybrid infrastructure operations, including cloud connectivity, DNS, routing, firewalls, load balancing, F5, VPN, private connectivity, identity integration, virtualization, Nutanix, and datacenter dependencies. Strong Infrastructure as Code and automation capability, including Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, GitHub, Azure DevOps, PowerShell, Python, YAML, JSON, automated testing, and repeatable deployment practices. Strong understanding of cloud security, least privilege, privileged access, secrets management, encryption, logging, vulnerability remediation, policy-as-code, and secure-by-design engineering practices. Demonstrated ability to architect resilient systems with high availability, disaster recovery, backup and recovery alignment, monitoring, failure-mode thinking, and operational runbooks. Strong IT service management capability, including change control, incident management, problem management, documentation, operational readiness, and service ownership principles. Ability to lead technical work across internal teams, contractors, managed-service providers, vendors, and business partners without relying on formal reporting authority. Strong business acumen with the ability to explain cloud engineering decisions in terms of operational continuity, cost, risk, reliability, security, rig operations, and business value. Commitment to H&P values, including Actively C.A.R.E., service attitude, innovative spirit, teamwork, and doing the right thing. EDUCATION AND WORK EXPERIENCE: Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, engineering, or a related field is preferred. Equivalent combinations of education, technical certifications, and directly relevant experience may be considered. 10 or more years of progressive experience in infrastructure, cloud engineering, cloud architecture, systems engineering, platform engineering, or related enterprise technology disciplines. 5 or more years of hands-on experience designing, engineering, and operating Azure-based solutions in a complex enterprise environment. Extra consideration for 2+ years experience within Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Experience supporting mission-critical, 24x7 operational environments is strongly preferred. Experience in energy, drilling, industrial, or other high-availability environments is preferred. Professional certifications such as Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Administrator Associate, Azure Security Engineer Associate, Google Professional Cloud Architect, Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer, Terraform Associate, Kubernetes, ITIL, or equivalent credentials are preferred. The job level and associated compensation for this position will be determined based on the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and alignment with the role’s requirements. Final compensation for this role may vary depending on individual factors. H&P is committed to employing a diverse workforce. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability. Thank you for your interest in joining our team! For more than 100 years, Helmerich & Payne (H&P) has expanded drilling operations to meet the increasing demands of a complex and globalized industry. But our industry is changing, with software, algorithms and automation playing a more important role than ever before. We are committed to being a partner to our customers in their operations by providing custom drilling solutions and technologies that don’t just meet, but exceed, their evolving goals and expectations. It’s this commitment that drives us to invest in the brightest people and the most advanced technologies, to support our customers’ operations every step of the way.