I have only started using thr API for this after you switched, so as far as I know this is the normal level of complication. 
Are there situations where the following isn’t sufficient?
POSTfile info to/uploads/generate-presigned-put- result includes a remote URL to upload to (which includes authentication parameters) and a unique upload ID
PUTimage data to the URL from above- handle error if this fails
POSTupload ID from above to/uploads/complete-external-upload- result is an image ID one can use other places in the API (like badge creation)