AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate

SOA-C03 · ● Active · Associate · AWS

The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate (SOA-C03) validates your ability to deploy, manage, and operate workloads on AWS. Launched September 30, 2025, this exam replaced the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02). The rebrand reflects expanded scope: containers (ECS, EKS), multi-account orchestration, infrastructure-as-code, and modern automation are now core.

Exam facts

Vendor source — AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate ↗

Official exam guide — AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate Exam Guide PDF ↗

Exam objectives — AWS Certification documentation ↗

About

The AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate validates the technical knowledge and skills of cloud operations professionals, system administrators, and DevOps engineers who operate workloads on AWS. Launched September 30, 2025, this certification replaced the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (SOA-C02), expanding its scope to include container orchestration (ECS, EKS, Fargate), infrastructure-as-code (CloudFormation, CDK, Terraform), multi-account and multi-Region architectures, and modern automation frameworks. The exam emphasizes hands-on operational skills: CloudWatch observability, AWS Systems Manager automation, compliance management, and business continuity. Recommended for engineers with 1–2 years of AWS operational experience and is a common stepping stone toward AWS DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02).

Domain context — Cloud / Systems / DevOps

Hyperscale public cloud operations across AWS infrastructure, systems management, automation, and reliability engineering.

Read full deep dive — AWS Ecosystem →

Topics covered

The SOA-C03 exam is organized into five content domains, each weighted as a percentage of scored content:

• Domain 1: Monitoring, Logging, Analysis, Remediation, and Performance Optimization (22%)

  • CloudWatch Metrics, Logs, Dashboards, and Alarms
  • Log aggregation and centralized logging
  • Performance troubleshooting and root-cause analysis
  • Cost optimization and AWS Trusted Advisor

• Domain 2: Reliability and Business Continuity (22%)

  • High availability and auto-scaling strategies
  • Backup and disaster recovery (RTO / RPO)
  • AWS Backup, Storage Gateway, Replication
  • Multi-AZ and multi-Region failover

• Domain 3: Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (22%)

  • Infrastructure as Code (CloudFormation, CDK)
  • AWS Systems Manager (Patch Manager, Run Command, Session Manager)
  • EC2 Image Builder and automated deployments
  • Configuration management and state drift detection

• Domain 4: Security and Compliance (16%)

  • IAM identity and access management
  • Data encryption (at-rest and in-transit)
  • AWS Config and compliance monitoring
  • Security group and network ACL configuration

• Domain 5: Networking and Content Delivery (18%)

  • VPC design, subnets, routing, and NAT
  • DNS and Route 53 configuration
  • CloudFront distribution setup
  • VPN and hybrid connectivity (Direct Connect, Site-to-Site VPN)

Source: AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate Exam Guide ↗

Common skills at Cloud · Associate

Shared cloud operations competencies at the Associate level — not specific to this cert.

• CloudWatch observability: real-time metrics, custom dashboards, log insights, anomaly detection
• Automated patching and configuration: Systems Manager Patch Manager, State Manager, Run Command, Session Manager
• Cost governance: AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, Compute Optimizer, Trusted Advisor insights
• Multi-AZ and multi-Region architecture: load balancing, failover, replication strategies
• Infrastructure-as-Code fundamentals: CloudFormation templates, parameter stores, stack policies
• IAM policy design: least-privilege access, role-based access control, cross-account roles

Recommended courses at Cloud · Associate

Course-selection rule: Each course listed is specifically for SOA-C03. Earlier SOA-C02 courses lack container services, updated CloudWatch features, and multi-account patterns introduced in SOA-C03.

Practice exams

Books

Book rule: All titles above are specifically for SOA-C03, released after September 2025 launch. Avoid older SOA-C02 books — containers (ECS, EKS, Fargate) and multi-account patterns are not adequately covered in C02 materials.

Typical job titles at Cloud · Associate

AWS SysOps Administrator · CloudOps Engineer · Cloud Operations Engineer · Cloud Reliability Engineer · Junior Cloud Engineer · Cloud Support Engineer II/III · IT Operations Engineer (Cloud)

(Job titles from 2026 job boards listing this cert as required or preferred.)

Salary

Salary rule: Certified CloudOps Engineers command mid-tier salaries in the cloud engineer band. Salary varies widely by region, years of experience, and workload complexity (hyperscale vs. small-to-medium deployments). No region has certified salary data specifically for this cert code yet; figures above are interpolated from general cloud operations engineer surveys.

Skills validated

Cert-specific — what SOA-C03 actually tests, distinct from broader cloud operations.

• CloudWatch (Metrics, Logs, Alarms, Dashboards, Insights, Anomaly Detection)
• AWS Systems Manager (Patch Manager, Run Command, Session Manager, Parameter Store, State Manager)
• Infrastructure-as-Code: CloudFormation (templates, stacks, parameters, exports), AWS CDK, AWS Config (compliance rules)
• EC2 Image Builder and automated golden-image pipelines
• Multi-AZ and multi-Region failover: Auto Scaling, Route 53 health checks, RDS multi-AZ, Aurora global databases
• Backup and disaster recovery: AWS Backup, Storage Gateway, AWS DataSync, recovery time / recovery point objectives (RTO/RPO)
• Container orchestration: Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS, AWS Fargate (new in C03)
• IAM Access Analyzer and identity-based / resource-based policies
• AWS Budgets, Cost Explorer, Trusted Advisor for cost optimization
• Network architecture: VPC design, subnets, route tables, security groups, network ACLs, DNS (Route 53), CloudFront, VPN, Direct Connect
• S3 versioning, lifecycle policies, object lock for data protection
• RDS and relational database administration (backup windows, parameter groups, monitoring)
• Lambda automation and event-driven remediation
• AWS Secrets Manager and credential rotation
• Compliance and audit logging: CloudTrail, AWS Config, AWS Organizations for multi-account governance

Related certifications

• Stacks with: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) ↗ · AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) ↗
• Prerequisite for: AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional (DOP-C02) ↗
• Replaces: SOA-C02 (AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate, retired September 29, 2025)
• Vendor overview: AWS Vendor Overview →

Sources

• AWS Certification official site: https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-cloudops-engineer-associate/
• AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer – Associate Exam Guide PDF: https://d1.awsstatic.com/onedam/marketing-channels/website/aws/en_US/certification/approved/pdfs/docs-cloudops-associate/AWS-Certified-CloudOps-Engineer-Associate_Exam-Guide.pdf
• AWS Certification documentation (SOA-C03): https://docs.aws.amazon.com/aws-certification/latest/sysops-administrator-associate-03/sysops-administrator-associate-03.html
• AWS blog announcement: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/training-and-certification/exam-update-and-new-name-for-operations-certification/
• Tutorials Dojo SOA-C03 exam guide: https://tutorialsdojo.com/aws-certified-cloudops-engineer-associate-exam-guide-study-path-soa-c03/
• Glassdoor CloudOps Engineer salary data: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/cloudops-engineer-salary-SRCH_KO0,17.htm
• AWS Skill Builder exam prep: https://skillbuilder.aws/learning-plan/S427S3T7B5/exam-prep-plan-aws-certified-cloudops-engineer--associate-soac03--english/D46WYPBKRS
• Stephane Maarek Udemy course: https://www.udemy.com/course/aws-certified-cloudops-associate/
• Wiley study guide: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/AWS+Certified+CloudOps+Study+Guide:+Associate+(SOA-C03)+Exam-p-9781394419135

Last verified: 2026-05-01 Parent ecosystem: AWS Ecosystem Parent domain: Cloud / Systems / DevOps Vendor overview: AWS Vendor Overview