DevOps & cloud engineers needed for $200k Banking tech roles
Many things may have changed from early 2021, but one thing remains constant: banks need DevOps experts and cloud engineers with cloud computing skills last year and continue to do so. Because of difficulties in filling cloud positions, some positions have been vacant for months.
“Cloud experts and DevOps/solution architects are especially difficult to find,” says one top JPMorgan engineer. “Many of our teams are looking for “internal solutions,” which means giving mobility to developers who are only tangentially enticed in DevOps and the public cloud,” he explained.
JPMorgan now has 118 open positions for cloud engineers on its own website. A few hundred are listed by Goldman Sachs. Banks require thousands of individuals to function across cloud positions as they restructure their operations.
“The issue is that every organization in every industry should be on their own cloud journey, thus there is a scarcity of cloud professionals throughout the market,” says an unnamed head of a technology recruitment firm. “Demand for capable cloud architects, cloud security specialists, and cloud transformation experts has never been greater.”
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The date stamps on job postings on banks’ websites indicate the difficulties they have in filling cloud posts. JPMorgan, for example, is offering eight vacant cloud posts from last year and has been seeking a cloud engineer for its Chase UK branch in London since April. Citi has been looking for a head for public cloud architecture in London for at least one month.
Global shortages exist: Since January, Bank of America has been seeking a cloud infrastructure engineer in Texas.
Part of the issue is that, while many people have cloud credentials, few have the necessary experience. “Those who have been a key to a successful cloud transition at scale are in short supply,” adds the recruiter. “And everyone desires them. Keeping and recruiting talent is difficult right now.”
That’s why banks such as JPMorgan are promoting cloud expertise from within. Jonathan Elvers, JPMorgan’s manager of cloud platforms in London, has been with the firm since 1992, beginning in broad IT infrastructure. Stephen Flaherty, JPMorgan’s Glasgow-based manager of cloud and engineering architecture, joined the firm in 2008 as an engineer in wealth management.
In the year 2000, Stephen Johnston, another notable specialist in cloud engineering at JPMorgan, arrived as a software engineer. Likewise, at Goldman Sachs, Mehdi Houshmand, the firm’s CTO of consumer cloud, began as an engineer in 2012.
The scarcity of cloud expertise will be resolved over time. According to a JPMorgan source, several Indian employees at the bank are already pursuing AWS certification and are willing to work in the cloud field. Banks are still looking for cloud talent in other industries for the time being. Even when they do find someone, it is not necessarily permanent: Ben Houghton, former UBS CTO for cloud applications, comes from Microsoft in March 2019 and will leave in September 2021 to work for a software business.
The scarcity has the ability to boost wages. According to Levelsfyi data, banks pay well for cloud professionals but might pay more. In January, a Goldman Sachs specialist in cloud engineering in New York with 2 years of experience was reported to be on a $160,000 salary. In May, a 14-year JPMorgan vice president claimed to be making $250k working on public cloud projects in Seattle.
“It’s a supply and demand problem,” the headhunter explains. “In a market where many organizations seek this skill, there are just not enough skilled people with a decent degree of experience.”
