Cloud career paths: 2025 job guide

Cloud computing is bigger than you think! There are many different career moves available, both advancing within your chosen domain or shifting to a new one. Here is a comprehensive list of the career paths available in cloud computing in 2025.

* Note: All average salary data is in USD and sourced from LinkedIn as of June 2025. Salary ranges will differ depending on your country and state.

1. Cloud Infrastructure & Operations

Every cloud service needs a rock-solid foundation. Professionals in infrastructure and operations are the ones who build it—and keep it running. This field includes the people provisioning virtual machines, managing cloud environments, responding to incidents, and fine-tuning systems for speed, security, and scalability. It’s the field that makes sure everything stays online.

Who would thrive

This path is great for problem-solvers who enjoy working behind the scenes. If you love figuring out how complex systems work, enjoy improving efficiency, and like being the person others rely on when things go sideways, you’ll thrive here.

Typical salary range

$45,000 – $190,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Cloud Support Technician
Junior Cloud Engineer
Systems Administrator (Cloud-focused)

These roles build your foundational knowledge of cloud platforms, scripting, troubleshooting, and system maintenance.

Tools and technologies to know

Cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, and GCP—pick one and get hands-on.
Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC): Tools like Terraform and CloudFormation automate environment setup.
Operating systems & scripting: Linux, Bash, Python, and PowerShell are everyday essentials.
Monitoring & incident response: Get comfortable with CloudWatch, Datadog, or Prometheus.
CI/CD & automation: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or similar tools help streamline ops tasks.
Containers & orchestration: Docker and Kubernetes experience is a big plus.

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Resilience under pressure: When systems go down, you’re often the first line of defense.
Process-oriented thinking: Stability comes from structure, clear documentation, and repeatable playbooks.
Collaborative attitude: You’ll be working with devs, SREs, and security—strong communication is key.
Eagerness to learn: Cloud tech moves fast; your curiosity will help you keep up.

Career promotion pathways

As you gain experience, you can move into senior technical roles like:

Senior Cloud Engineer
Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
Platform Engineer

From there, you might grow into visionary or leadership roles like:

Cloud Infrastructure Architect
Principal Cloud Engineer
Infrastructure Engineering Lead or Cloud Operations Manager

Lateral moves

This field shares strong overlap with DevOps, cloud security, platform engineering, and solutions architecture—offering multiple branching paths for specialization.

Portfolio idea

Build and document a cloud environment using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC). Include a CI/CD pipeline, a monitoring dashboard, and a simple uptime alerting system. Host it in GitHub and write a walkthrough that shows your thinking.

2. Cloud Development

Cloud developers build the applications that live in the cloud. That could mean designing serverless APIs, writing microservices, or modernizing legacy software for cloud-native platforms. This field blends classic software development with the scalability, speed, and architecture of the cloud.

Who would thrive

If you enjoy building applications that are scalable, performant, and built to last, cloud development is a strong fit. This path is ideal for software engineers who want to deepen their cloud knowledge and play a more strategic role in how modern apps are built and deployed.

Typical salary range

$65,000 – $180,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Junior Cloud Developer
Entry-level Serverless Developer
Cloud Software Engineer

These roles build your expertise in cloud SDKs, APIs, deployment models, and common patterns like microservices and event-driven design.

Tools and technologies to know

Cloud platforms: AWS (especially Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB), Azure Functions, or GCP Cloud Run.
Languages: JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Java, or Go are all popular in cloud development.
Serverless frameworks: Learn tools like the Serverless Framework, AWS SAM, or Azure Functions CLI.
CI/CD pipelines: GitHub Actions, AWS CodePipeline, or similar tools help automate deployments.
API development: REST and GraphQL, Postman for testing, and API Gateway configuration.
Infrastructure-as-Code: Use IaC to deploy your code and supporting infrastructure together.

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Architectural thinking: Cloud developers make decisions that affect cost, performance, and scale.
Team collaboration: You’ll work closely with product managers, designers, QA, and DevOps teams.
Efficiency mindset: You’ll often need to balance fast delivery with long-term maintainability.
Adaptability: Cloud services evolve fast—learning new frameworks and patterns is part of the job.
Strong communication: Explaining tradeoffs and technical decisions to cross-functional stakeholders is key.

Career promotion pathways

As you grow, you can move into advanced roles, such as:

Senior Cloud Developer
Lead Cloud Software Engineer
Senior Serverless Engineer

Eventually, you might expand into system-level and architectural roles like:

Cloud Application Architect
Principal Developer
Cloud Solutions Architect (with a dev focus)

Lateral moves

You may also branch into DevOps, site reliability engineering (SRE), platform engineering, or technical product roles that benefit from deep application knowledge.

Portfolio idea

Build a serverless app—like a to-do API or event tracker—using AWS Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB. Host the frontend on S3 or CloudFront and document the architecture, decisions, and deployment in GitHub.

3. Cloud Security

As more organizations move to the cloud, protecting those environments becomes mission-critical. Cloud security professionals design defenses, manage risk, respond to threats, and ensure compliance across dynamic, distributed systems. From setting identity policies to investigating breaches, this field blends engineering with strategic thinking.

Who would thrive

This path is a great fit for detail-oriented thinkers who love digging into how things work—and how they can break. If you're curious, calm under pressure, and passionate about protecting systems and data, cloud security offers a fulfilling (and growing) career.

Typical salary range

$55,000 – $180,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Junior Cloud Security Analyst
Compliance Assistant

These roles help you build a foundation in cloud environments, security tooling, risk management, and regulatory frameworks like SOC 2, HIPAA, or ISO 27001.

Tools and technologies to know

Cloud-native security tools: AWS Security Hub, Azure Security Center, GCP Security Command Center
SIEM and threat detection: Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, CrowdStrike, or open-source options like Wazuh
IAM and policy management: Understanding permissions, roles, and least-privilege access in cloud platforms
Compliance tooling: Tools like Prisma Cloud, Wiz, or built-in governance features
Encryption & key management: Learn cloud KMS systems and how to protect data in transit and at rest
Scripting and automation: Python, Bash, and policy-as-code (like OPA or Sentinel) help automate security tasks

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Risk-focused thinking: You’ll constantly weigh tradeoffs between access, usability, and security.
Ethical judgment: You’re often in sensitive systems—integrity is critical.
Communication skills: Explaining threats, recommendations, and policies to technical and non-technical stakeholders is part of the job.
Investigation mindset: Whether it’s a policy misconfiguration or a real intrusion, you’ll need to dig into the “why.”
Continuous learning: Security threats and tools evolve constantly—so will you.

Career promotion pathways

With experience, you can grow into more technical or strategic roles like:

Senior Cloud Security Engineer
Threat Detection Engineer
Cloud Security Architect
Cloud Compliance Manager

Lateral moves

Cloud security shares strong ties with roles in cloud architecture, platform engineering, DevSecOps, and IT risk & governance. If you love the intersection of tech and policy, it's a flexible and expanding career path.

Portfolio idea

Build and document a secure-by-default cloud environment—use IAM roles, security groups, encryption, and monitoring. Bonus: run a vulnerability scan and outline how you’d address the findings.

4. Cloud DevOps & Automation

DevOps and automation professionals are the force multipliers of the cloud world. They build the pipelines, processes, and tooling that help development and operations teams move faster with less friction. Whether it’s automating deployments, managing infrastructure-as-code, or improving build-and-release workflows, this field is all about accelerating delivery without sacrificing stability.

Who would thrive

If you love streamlining systems, writing code that removes manual steps, and bridging the gap between development and operations, this is your playground. It's a great fit for those who enjoy building internal tools, optimizing processes, and working across team boundaries.

Typical salary range

$65,000 – $175,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Junior DevOps Engineer
Build & Release Engineer
Entry-level Automation Engineer

These roles give you hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, configuration management, and deployment automation, building your foundation in the DevOps toolchain.

Tools and technologies to know

CI/CD platforms: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI, or Azure DevOps
Infrastructure-as-Code: Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation, or Ansible
Containers & orchestration: Docker, Kubernetes, Helm
Version control & collaboration: Git, GitHub, GitLab
Scripting languages: Python, Bash, or Groovy for custom automations
Monitoring & alerting: Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, or ELK Stack

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Process improvement mindset: You’ll always be looking for smarter, faster, more reliable ways to ship.
Cross-functional collaboration: DevOps is all about breaking silos. Strong communication with developers, testers, and ops teams is key.
Ownership: Your work impacts entire pipelines—reliability and accountability matter.
Documentation habits: Well-documented systems and scripts are critical for scaling and handoffs.
Curiosity and iteration: You'll constantly tune systems based on performance, usage, and team feedback.

Career promotion pathways

From your entry-level role, you can move into advanced engineering or architecture roles like:

Senior DevOps Engineer
Infrastructure Automation Engineer
CI/CD Architect

Lateral moves

DevOps & automation opens doors to site reliability engineering (SRE), platform engineering, infrastructure architecture, and cloud security, especially in roles that overlap with automation or deployment pipelines.

Portfolio idea

Build and document a fully automated CI/CD pipeline that tests, builds, and deploys a sample app to a cloud platform. Include Infrastructure-as-Code, versioning, rollback, and monitoring setup. Host it on GitHub with a visual pipeline diagram.

5. Cloud Architecture

Cloud architects are the strategic minds behind cloud environments. They design high-level solutions that meet business needs, scale efficiently, and follow best practices for security, cost, and performance. Whether it’s building a new platform from scratch or migrating legacy systems to the cloud, this field is all about seeing the big picture—and shaping it.

Who would thrive

This path is ideal for systems thinkers who enjoy solving complex problems, weighing trade-offs, and guiding both technical teams and business stakeholders. If you like connecting dots between infrastructure, development, and long-term strategy, cloud architecture offers a high-impact career.

Typical salary range

$58,000 – $200,000+ depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Cloud Solutions Analyst
Cloud Design Assistant

These roles help you develop a foundation in cloud service selection, system diagrams, workload assessments, and cost-performance tradeoffs, often supporting senior architects on large-scale projects.

Tools and technologies to know

Cloud platforms: Deep knowledge of AWS, Azure, or GCP is essential. Certifications in the Big Three will validate your expertise.
Architecture frameworks: Familiarity with TOGAF, AWS Well-Architected Framework, or Azure Architecture Center
Infrastructure-as-Code: Terraform, CloudFormation, or Pulumi to design repeatable, scalable environments
Diagramming tools: Lucidchart, Draw.io, or cloud-native design tools to document and communicate systems
Monitoring & logging: Knowing how to design observability into systems (Datadog, CloudWatch, Stackdriver)
Multicloud tooling: Understanding workload placement, identity federation, and hybrid-cloud orchestration

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Strategic thinking: Your work impacts cost, performance, compliance, and long-term business outcomes.
Communication skills: You’ll act as a translator between business goals and technical execution.
Decision-making skills: Architecture is full of trade-offs—you’ll need to justify choices and guide others.
Mentorship: Architects often lead without authority, guiding engineers and developers toward good design practices.
Adaptability: Cloud platforms evolve rapidly, as do architectural best practices.

Career promotion pathways

After foundational roles, you can move into senior and specialized titles, such as:

Cloud Solutions Architect
Enterprise Cloud Architect
Platform Architect (Cloud)
Multicloud Strategy Architect

Lateral moves

Architects often pivot into cloud consulting, technical product management, platform engineering, or executive roles like CTO or VP of Technology depending on their interest in business strategy or technical depth.

Portfolio idea

Design and document a scalable cloud solution for a realistic business case (e.g., global e-commerce or media streaming platform). Include a system diagram, service selection rationale, cost estimate, and future growth plan.

6. Data & AI in the Cloud

Data and AI professionals in the cloud turn raw information into intelligence. From building scalable pipelines to training machine learning models, this field blends engineering, analytics, and cutting-edge AI to power modern decision-making. Whether you're designing data lakes or deploying neural networks, you're helping organizations unlock value from their cloud data.

Who would thrive

If you’re analytical, curious, and excited by data-driven problem-solving, this field is for you. It’s a great fit for those who enjoy working with large datasets, coding efficient workflows, and exploring what AI can do when it meets the scale of the cloud.

Typical salary range

$65,000 – $185,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Junior Cloud Data Engineer
Cloud ML Assistant
Cloud Data Analyst

These roles help you build skills in cloud data platforms, ETL pipelines, query languages, and foundational AI/ML workflows.

Tools and technologies to know

Cloud data services: BigQuery, AWS Redshift, Azure Synapse, Snowflake
Data pipeline tools: Apache Airflow, dbt, Glue, or Dataflow
Languages: Python, SQL, and possibly R or Scala depending on the role
Machine learning frameworks: scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch
Model ops & deployment: SageMaker, Vertex AI, Azure ML, MLflow
Data visualization: Power BI, Looker, Tableau, or cloud-native dashboards

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Analytical thinking: You’ll spend time cleaning, transforming, and understanding complex datasets.
Curiosity: Digging into patterns, anomalies, and model results requires a natural sense of exploration.
Problem-solving: Both data engineering and AI workflows require inventive, iterative thinking.
Stakeholder communication: Translating data insights or model outcomes into clear business value is critical.
Attention to detail: Small data errors can skew large-scale results—precision matters.
Continuous learner: The field evolves constantly—so will you.

Career promotion pathways

With experience, you can grow into more advanced roles, such as:

Senior Cloud Data Engineer
Cloud Machine Learning Engineer
Cloud Data Architect
AI Platform Engineer

Lateral moves

This field offers flexible transitions into analytics engineering, data science, MLOps, cloud architecture, or AI ethics and governance—especially for those who develop a hybrid skillset.

Portfolio idea

Build a project that ingests public data into a cloud platform, transforms it with a pipeline, and runs a basic ML model (e.g., churn prediction or classification). Share the full architecture and outcomes in a GitHub repo or portfolio blog post.

7. Cloud Networking

Cloud networking professionals design and maintain the connectivity that makes cloud services accessible, secure, and scalable. From virtual private clouds to global content delivery networks, this field ensures data flows efficiently between services, users, and regions—whether across the internet or within multicloud environments.

Who would thrive

If you love understanding how systems communicate, enjoy configuring networks, and find satisfaction in troubleshooting tricky connection issues, cloud networking is your sweet spot. It’s perfect for those who enjoy both structure and complexity in their work.

Typical salary range

$60,000 – $180,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Cloud Network Support Technician
Junior Cloud Network Engineer

These roles build your foundation in networking protocols, cloud connectivity tools, routing, firewall rules, and DNS, usually within one major cloud platform.

Tools and technologies to know

Cloud networking services: AWS VPC, Azure Virtual Network, GCP VPC
Networking protocols: TCP/IP, BGP, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, VPN, IPsec
Infrastructure-as-Code for networking: Terraform, CloudFormation
Firewalls & access controls: Network ACLs, security groups, and cloud-native firewalls
Monitoring tools: Wireshark, VPC Flow Logs, CloudWatch, Azure Network Watcher
Content delivery & edge services: CloudFront, Azure Front Door, GCP Cloud CDN

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Precision and detail orientation: One misconfigured route table can break a system—accuracy matters.
Analytical problem-solving: Network engineers must identify and resolve complex connectivity issues.
Security awareness: Every configuration impacts network exposure. Thinking like a defender is a must.
Communication skills: You’ll often work with devs, infra teams, and security—explaining setups is key.
Continuous learning: Networking in the cloud is different from traditional networking. Expect constant updates.

Career promotion pathways

You can grow from early roles into advanced and specialized positions like:

Senior Cloud Network Engineer
Cloud Connectivity Architect
Network Security Engineer (Cloud)
Cloud Edge Engineer

Lateral moves

With a solid foundation in cloud networking, you may branch into cloud security, infrastructure architecture, edge computing, or platform engineering, especially if you develop cross-domain expertise.

Portfolio idea

Create a demo cloud network with multiple subnets, routing, security groups, and a load balancer. Include diagrams and explain how traffic flows securely and efficiently across regions or services.

8. Cloud Support & Operations

Cloud support and operations professionals keep cloud environments stable, available, and performing well. They monitor systems, respond to incidents, resolve user issues, and handle the day-to-day operations that make cloud services reliable. Whether it’s troubleshooting outages or improving response processes, this field is all about keeping things running smoothly.

Who would thrive

If you enjoy helping people, solving puzzles, and making systems more dependable, this field is a great fit. It’s ideal for calm, detail-oriented thinkers who like being in the loop on how everything works and who thrive under pressure.

Typical salary range

$60,000 – $150,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Cloud Operations Analyst
Cloud Support Specialist

These roles help you build skills in monitoring, ticketing, incident response, root cause analysis, and navigating cloud management consoles.

Tools and technologies to know

Monitoring and alerting: CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, Datadog, Prometheus
Incident management tools: PagerDuty, Opsgenie, Jira Service Management
Cloud consoles & CLIs: AWS, Azure, or GCP administrative tools
Ticketing systems: ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira
Scripting for support: Bash, Python, or PowerShell to automate frequent tasks
Knowledge base tools & documentation platforms: Confluence, Notion, or custom runbooks

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Responsiveness: Support and operations are real-time fields—urgency and calm are equally important.
Empathy and patience: Many support roles involve customer or stakeholder interaction.
Pattern recognition: Spotting recurring issues leads to better long-term fixes.
Team coordination: Escalations and incident response often involve multiple roles. Collaboration is key.
Process improvement: Suggesting fixes to reduce ticket volume or improve SLAs adds major value.
Resilience and stress management: Outages happen, and how you handle them matters.

Career promotion pathways

With time and technical growth, you can move into higher-impact roles like:

Senior Cloud Support Engineer
Cloud Operations Lead
Escalation Engineer (Cloud)
Cloud Reliability Analyst

Lateral moves

Cloud support and ops can be a launchpad into site reliability engineering (SRE), platform engineering, technical account management, or cloud infrastructure roles, especially if you develop automation and IaC skills.

Portfolio idea

Build a monitoring and alerting setup for a sample cloud application using a public cloud platform. Include alert thresholds, response runbooks, and a sample incident postmortem that shows how you'd investigate and resolve an issue.

9. Cloud Product & Program Management

Product and program managers in the cloud space connect strategy with execution. They define product goals, prioritize features, align cross-functional teams, and ensure cloud projects are delivered on time and on budget. Whether guiding internal platform tools or external cloud products, these roles bridge business needs with technical solutions.

Who would thrive

If you enjoy solving problems, organizing complex projects, and working with diverse teams, this field may be for you. It’s a strong fit for strategic thinkers who enjoy tech but prefer to guide rather than build, and who excel at translating big-picture goals into actionable steps.

Typical salary range

$60,000 – $160,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Cloud Project Coordinator
Junior Cloud Product Analyst

These early roles introduce you to cloud product roadmaps, sprint planning, stakeholder communication, and technical documentation—often in support of senior PMs or engineering leads.

Tools and technologies to know

Project management tools: Jira, Asana, Trello, Monday.com
Roadmapping platforms: Productboard, Aha!, or Notion
Cloud platforms (foundational knowledge): AWS, Azure, GCP, enough to speak the language of engineers
Collaboration tools: Slack, Confluence, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365
Analytics tools: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or cloud service monitoring dashboards to inform product decisions
Agile frameworks: Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, or hybrid models

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Communication and translation: You’re often the bridge between execs, engineers, and stakeholders.
Strategic thinking: Prioritizing work means understanding business impact, tech feasibility, and user needs.
Organization and follow-through: Timelines, dependencies, and deliverables are your day-to-day.
Empathy and leadership: Guiding teams requires emotional intelligence, trust-building, and influence.
Curiosity: Asking the right questions—about customers, constraints, and outcomes—keeps projects aligned and impactful.

Career promotion pathways

As you gain experience, you can grow into more advanced leadership and ownership roles, such as:

Senior Cloud Product Manager
Cloud Program Manager
From there, many professionals step into Director or VP-level roles in product or program leadership.

Lateral moves

This field overlaps well with UX design, technical program management, solutions architecture, or customer success, especially if you develop cross-functional skills.

Portfolio idea

Build a sample product requirements document (PRD) for a cloud-based tool or service, including target users, key features, success metrics, and a launch plan. Bonus: mock up a roadmap and sprint board to show your project planning process.

10. Cloud Sales & Solutions Engineering

This field blends deep technical knowledge with business impact. Professionals in cloud sales and solutions engineering help customers understand, adopt, and succeed with cloud technologies. Whether you're guiding pre-sales conversations or supporting long-term success, your job is to match cloud capabilities to real-world business needs.

Who would thrive

If you’re technically savvy, enjoy working with people, and love explaining how things work in plain language, this path could be a great fit. It’s ideal for those who want to stay close to the tech without being deep in the code and who enjoy solving problems with a mix of logic and empathy.

Typical salary range

$60,000 – $180,000 depending on role, region, and experience level.

Common career entry points

Associate Cloud Solutions Engineer
Cloud Technical Sales Support

These early roles help you build a foundation in cloud services, customer interaction, solution design, and technical presentations, often shadowing senior engineers or working alongside account teams.

Tools and technologies to know

Cloud platforms: Proficiency in AWS, Azure, or GCP to speak to product capabilities and use cases
Demo & presentation tools: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Miro, or product-specific demo environments
CRM platforms: Salesforce, HubSpot, or other customer tracking tools
Technical documentation: The ability to read, write, and tailor documentation for various audiences
Whiteboarding & architecture diagrams: Tools like Lucidchart, Draw.io, or native cloud diagramming tools
Industry knowledge: Understanding the specific business needs of industries like healthcare, finance, or retail can boost your value

Valued mindsets and soft skills

Customer-first thinking: Success depends on understanding client needs and guiding them to the right solution.
Communication clarity: You’ll need to explain technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Consultative approach: Listening deeply, asking good questions, and tailoring your guidance is key.
Presentation skills: Whether it’s a pitch or a training session, your ability to engage an audience matters.
Problem-solving under pressure: Expect curveball questions, last-minute changes, and the need to improvise with confidence.

Career promotion pathways

From foundational roles, you can move into higher-impact positions like:

Senior Cloud Solutions Engineer
Cloud Solutions Architect
Pre-sales Cloud Engineer
Customer Success Cloud Engineer

Lateral moves

You can pivot into technical account management, cloud consulting, product management, or cloud marketing roles, especially if you develop skills in messaging, storytelling, or user advocacy.

Portfolio idea

Design and document a mock customer solution that includes goals, requirements, architecture diagrams, trade-off analysis, and a value proposition. You could even record a sample pitch or demo video to showcase your presentation skills.

Conclusion

Cloud computing offers a rewarding path for virtually everyone. The rapid evolution of tech (*cough* AI *cough*) may make it challenging to plan and prepare for many careers, but cloud skills are only growing in demand. After all, organizations scrambling to adopt AI need fundamental AI-native practices established first.

For all the cloud skills you need to fuel your cloud career journey, check out Pluralsight's Cloud+ plan (which includes the A Cloud Guru library). Happy learning, and good luck on your cloud adventure!