Job Description

Volunteer Opportunity: AWS DevOps Engineer (Container Deployment Specialist)

Unpaid Volunteer Role | Remote

Organization Type: Nonprofit research and public-interest organization

Location: Remote / Virtual

Time Commitment: Flexible, approximately 3–8 hours per week

Duration: Spring–Fall 2026 aligned with project milestones

About the Project

We are a nonprofit-led technical research initiative developing a cloud-based platform that supports large-scale analysis of cybersecurity, AI, and technology governance materials for research, policy, and civil society use.

The work is conducted within a nonprofit initiative connected with United Nations–affiliated programs and global research partners.

The platform has reached a working proof-of-concept prototype and currently operates in development environments within AWS. We are now transitioning the system toward a containerized architecture suitable for stable demonstration and eventual public deployment.

Role Summary

We are seeking a volunteer AWS DevOps / Cloud Deployment Engineer to help finalize and stabilize the platform’s deployment architecture.

This role focuses on cloud infrastructure and container deployment rather than application coding. The objective is to implement a robust deployment environment that supports safe updates and minimal service disruption.

Additional Technical Focus

This role is particularly relevant for engineers with experience in:

• Container orchestration on AWS (ECS / Fargate)
• Blue-green or zero-downtime deployments for production systems
• Docker-based service deployment pipelines

The platform prototype is being transitioned to a container-based architecture where parallel deployment environments can run alongside the live instance , allowing new versions to be validated before traffic is switched. This approach supports low-risk updates without service interruption.

Key Responsibilities

• Possible areas of contribution include:
• Designing and configuring AWS container infrastructure using ECS and Fargate
• Managing container images through Amazon ECR
• Containerizing services using Docker
• Implementing blue-green deployment architecture for safe production updates
• Helping establish parallel staging and production environments
• Supporting zero-downtime deployment strategies for new releases
• Advising on best practices for scaling, reliability, and deployment workflows

Required Skills

• Experience deploying containerized applications on AWS ECS and Fargate
• Experience working with Docker containers
• Familiarity with Amazon ECR container registries
• Understanding of blue-green, rolling, or zero-downtime deployment strategies
• Experience managing cloud infrastructure for production-style systems

Desired (But Not Required)

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, AWS CodePipeline, etc.)
• Infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or CDK
• Experience deploying research, nonprofit, or open-source platforms
• Interest in public-interest technology, governance, or cybersecurity

Recognition, Service Hours & Professional Value

• Volunteer participation may be recognized within UN-affiliated ecosystems and nonprofit partner channels where appropriate.
• Contributors gain experience working on a real-world cloud architecture supporting international research and governance initiatives.
• All volunteer hours may be tracked for U.S.-based volunteers to support eligibility for the Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) when the federal program resumes.

How to Apply

Please provide:

A brief introduction

Relevant AWS / DevOps experience

Links to GitHub or examples of prior deployments if available

Approximate weekly availability

Applications may be submitted through VolunteerMatch or through the contact information listed in the posting.

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