Application Guide

How to Apply for Lead Cloud Engineer

at Mill

🏢 About Mill

Mill is a mission-driven company focused on revolutionizing home waste management through technology, aiming to create a cleaner, greener future. Unlike typical tech companies, Mill combines hardware (their food recycler) with software and cloud services to tackle environmental sustainability directly. Working here means contributing to tangible environmental impact while building innovative tech solutions.

About This Role

As Lead Cloud Engineer at Mill, you'll lead the technical delivery of cloud backends and data pipelines that power their web/mobile apps and IoT-connected food recyclers. This role is impactful because you'll architect systems that handle real-time waste management data, optimize resource usage, and enable seamless user experiences for environmentally conscious consumers. You'll champion modern practices like CI/CD and observability while collaborating across engineering, product, and design teams.

💡 A Day in the Life

A typical day might involve designing AWS architecture for new features, reviewing Python code for backend services, and collaborating with product teams on user experience improvements. You could be optimizing data pipelines from IoT devices, implementing infrastructure as code, and ensuring system reliability through observability tools while mentoring other engineers on best practices.

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Interview Prep

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🎯 Who Mill Is Looking For

  • A cloud/backend engineer with 6+ years experience, specifically strong in AWS (IoT experience is a major plus) and Python for building scalable systems
  • Someone with proven API design skills and deep understanding of asynchronous systems and robust error handling patterns
  • A technical leader who can drive end-to-end delivery from architecture to operations, while championing CI/CD, IaC, and test automation
  • A collaborative engineer excited to work on sustainability tech, comfortable partnering with product/design teams to create intuitive user experiences

📝 Tips for Applying to Mill

1

Highlight specific AWS projects in your resume, especially any involving IoT or data pipelines, and quantify their impact (e.g., 'reduced latency by X%', 'handled Y million events daily')

2

Demonstrate your Python expertise with concrete examples of building asynchronous systems or APIs, and mention any relevant frameworks/libraries (e.g., FastAPI, Celery, asyncio)

3

Research Mill's food recycler product and mention in your application how your cloud engineering skills could enhance its connected features or data capabilities

4

Prepare to discuss how you've implemented CI/CD, IaC (like Terraform or CloudFormation), and observability (like Datadog or CloudWatch) in past roles with specific metrics

5

Show enthusiasm for sustainability in your application—explain why Mill's mission resonates with you and how your tech skills align with their environmental goals

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

['Your experience with AWS and Python in building scalable cloud backends, specifically highlighting projects involving APIs, asynchronous systems, or IoT', 'Examples of leading end-to-end technical delivery and championing modern practices like CI/CD, IaC, and observability', 'How your collaboration skills have helped bridge engineering, product, and design teams to deliver user-focused solutions', "Why you're passionate about applying your cloud engineering skills to sustainability and waste management technology"]

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Mill's food recycler product—how it works, its connected features, and customer reviews to understand the user experience
  • → The company's sustainability mission and recent news about their environmental impact or partnerships
  • → Their tech stack hints from job descriptions and engineering blog posts if available (look for mentions of specific AWS services beyond IoT)
  • → The waste management industry challenges and how technology is transforming it, to understand the broader context of Mill's work

💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 Deep dive into your AWS architecture decisions, especially around scalability, cost optimization, and IoT implementations if applicable
2 Scenario-based questions on designing APIs for Mill's web/mobile apps and handling asynchronous data from their food recyclers
3 Discussion of your Python backend experience, including error handling strategies and performance optimization techniques
4 How you've implemented and improved CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and observability in production environments
5 Your approach to collaborating with cross-functional teams and leading technical projects from design through operations
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⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Submitting a generic cloud engineer resume without tailoring it to emphasize AWS, Python, and API/async system experience
  • Failing to demonstrate specific examples of leading technical delivery or modern DevOps practices in your application
  • Not showing any knowledge or enthusiasm for Mill's sustainability mission and how it connects to the engineering role

📅 Application Timeline

This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.

Typical hiring timeline:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Mill!

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