Freelance DevOps / Cloud Engineer – Student Success & Mentorship (Remote, Global)
Freelance | Remote | Preferred: North America | Competitive Pay + Performance Bonuses About Us We are building next-generation DevOps and Cloud engineers through hands-on, outcome-driven education. Our students don’t just watch content -they build, deploy, break, and ship real systems. To support this mission, we’re looking for a senior, hands-on DevOps / Cloud engineer who thrives in fast-moving environments and genuinely enjoys helping others grow. This is not a passive support role. You will play a key part in shaping the student experience and directly influencing learner success. The Role As a DevOps / Cloud Engineer – Student Success Manager, your primary responsibility is to actively support and mentor students throughout their learning journey with our existing training programs. You will combine deep technical expertise, excellent communication, and a startup mindset to ensure students feel supported, challenged, and successful. This role is 100% remote, open worldwide, with a strongly preferred overlap with North American time zones (ET/PT). Key Responsibilities Student Support & Mentorship - Written communication (team chat and async reviews; after hire we use Discord/Zoom/Notion/GitHub) - Live group calls (Q&A sessions, technical deep dives) - 1‑on‑1 mentoring and troubleshooting calls - Proactive check‑ins to unblock issues, guide problem‑solving, and build confidence Technical Leadership - Provide expert guidance across modern DevOps, Cloud, and AI topics - Review student projects and give feedback aligned to real‑world best practices - Keep learners aligned with current industry standards, not outdated theory Startup‑Level Ownership - Take on whatever improves the student experience - Collaborate with internal teams to refine processes, tooling, and workflows - Operate without rigid role boundaries—impact matters more than titles Required Skills & Experience - 3+ years of professional DevOps experience - Strong background with one major cloud (AWS, GCP, or Azure) - Solid experience with: - CI/CD pipelines - Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi, etc.) - Containers & orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes) - Strong understanding of DevOps concepts and workflows - Up‑to‑date knowledge of agentic DevOps / AI‑driven automation tools and practices - Ability to reason about architectures, trade‑offs, scalability, and security Mindset & Personal Qualities - Startup mindset: adaptable, proactive, impact‑driven - Thrives in fast‑changing environments; comfortable with ambiguity and ownership - Loves continuous learning of tools, concepts, and paradigms - Takes pride in delivering a great experience, not just “doing tasks” Communication - Fluent (native level) English (spoken & written) - Confident leading live calls and technical discussions - Able to explain complex concepts clearly to learners at different levels Nice to Have - Experience mentoring, teaching, or coaching engineers - Exposure to AI agents / autonomous workflows - Prior startup or high‑growth environment experience Compensation & Hours - Hourly contract on Upwork - Expected hours/week: 30 - 40 hrs - Very competitive freelance compensation for top-tier candidates - Performance‑based bonuses tied to student outcomes (in addition to hourly pay) Why Join Us - Direct influence on engineers’ careers - High‑autonomy, high‑trust collaboration - Work with modern DevOps and AI tooling - Fully remote, async‑friendly culture - Long‑term collaboration potential; shape how DevOps education is done properly How to Apply (via Upwork only) - Provide a link to a public profile/portfolio (e.g., GitHub or LinkedIn) or attach a PDF resume to your Upwork proposal. Do not include email, phone, or other contact details. All pre‑contract communication and interviews will take place on Upwork. - Provide us a short video introduction (60–90s): why this role interests you and why you enjoy helping others learn and grow. Attach it to your proposal or share a public link. - A concise summary of your technical background and the soft skills most relevant to this role. Availability - confirm you can commit 30–40 hours/week, include your time zone, and note your overlap with North American time zones. - provide 3 references from previous projects/employers (names and roles only at this stage; we’ll coordinate any reference checks via Upwork). - Your proposed hourly rate (USD) for 30–40 hrs/week. If you’re flexible, include a range. Payments via Upwork only. Optional - Links to any blog articles, videos, or other public work that demonstrate your teaching or engineering. Public links only; no contact info. All pre-contract communication and interviews will take place via Upwork Messages. Looking forward to receiving your application on Upwork. Apply tot his job