Azure Cloud Engineer

The Azure Cloud Engineer designs, implements, secures, automates, and supports enterprise Microsoft Azure environments, including cloud infrastructure, Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), cloud migrations, and DevOps automation using CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC). The role delivers secure, scalable, resilient hybrid-cloud solutions and partners across Infrastructure, Security, Networking, Database, and Application Development teams on Zero Trust, PCI DSS compliance, SQL/data-platform migrations, and application modernization.

Key Responsibilities

Cloud Architecture & Azure Virtual Desktop

• Design, deploy, maintain, and optimize secure, highly available Azure IaaS environments, including VMs, storage, backup, monitoring, recovery, landing zones, governance, and operational baselines.
• Design and administer AVD environments, including host pools, session hosts, images, application delivery, scaling, user experience, and FSLogix.
• Secure and automate AVD using Entra ID, Conditional Access, MFA, RBAC, Zero Trust, Terraform, PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Azure DevOps.

Cloud Migration, DevOps & Automation

• Plan and execute on-premises infrastructure and application migrations to Azure, including readiness assessments, modernization, re-platforming, remediation, and hybrid transition support.
• Design and maintain Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines and IaC using Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, PowerShell, Azure CLI, and YAML.
• Establish version control, release management, automated validation, repeatable deployment standards, and technical/operational documentation.
• Partner with database teams on Azure infrastructure for SQL Server Always On to Azure SQL Managed Instance and SQL Server to Cosmos DB migrations, including networking, sizing/capacity, backup/recovery, monitoring, and cutover support.
• Support modernization of IIS-hosted applications through containerization, CI/CD, and deployment to Kubernetes/AKS in partnership with application development teams.

Identity, Networking & Security

• Administer Entra ID, Conditional Access, Identity Governance, PIM, RBAC, MFA, access reviews, service identities, and segregation-of-duties controls.
• Design and enforce Zero Trust, least-privilege access, segmentation, and micro segmentation across Azure environments.
• Design and support hybrid connectivity and application delivery using ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, Virtual WAN, VNets, routing, DNS, Azure Firewall, Front Door, Application Gateway, load balancing, NSGs, ASGs, and private endpoints.
• Partner with network teams to integrate Azure with datacenter, branch, and third-party connectivity.

Compliance, Governance & Operations

• Support Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Sentinel, logging, alerting, threat detection, vulnerability remediation, and cloud security monitoring.
• Design and maintain solutions supporting PCI DSS and enterprise security requirements, including access control, encryption, segmentation, monitoring, vulnerability management, and audit evidence.
• Partner with Security, Compliance, and Audit teams on PCI assessments, remediation, evidence collection, and control validation; align practices with PCI DSS, NIST, CIS Controls, and CIS Azure Benchmarks.
• Monitor and optimize Azure performance, availability, resiliency, cost, and security posture.
• Develop platform standards, operational procedures, runbooks, implementation plans, and support documentation.
• Participate in incident response, problem management, root cause analysis, maintenance, and change management while providing technical guidance across technology teams.

Work Details

• Regular business hours with occasional after-hours maintenance, migrations, incidents, or production changes.
• Participation in change management, operational support, and on-call activities as required.
• Occasional travel for meetings, datacenter activities, vendor engagements, or project work.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; equivalent professional experience considered.
• 5+ years of enterprise infrastructure engineering experience, including 3+ years of hands-on Microsoft Azure engineering.
• Hands-on experience with Azure infrastructure, AVD, cloud migrations, hybrid networking, IaC/automation, identity/access management, and cloud security.
• Experience supporting regulated environments using PCI DSS, NIST, CIS, or similar frameworks.
• Working knowledge of SQL Server/Azure SQL Managed Instance, containerization/Kubernetes/AKS, and Azure Cosmos DB.

Technical Skills

• Cloud: Azure IaaS, Landing Zones, VMs, Storage, Backup, Site Recovery, Monitor, AVD, FSLogix, image management, capacity/scaling.
• Identity: Entra ID, Conditional Access, PIM, Identity Governance, RBAC, MFA, SSO, least privilege.
• DevOps: Azure DevOps, CI/CD, Terraform, Bicep, ARM, Git/GitHub, PowerShell, Azure CLI, YAML.
• Network/Security: ExpressRoute, Front Door, Application Gateway, Azure Firewall, Virtual WAN, VPN Gateway, NSGs, ASGs, routing, micro segmentation, Zero Trust.
• Compliance: PCI DSS, NIST, CIS Controls/Benchmarks, policy management, audit evidence, risk assessment, remediation.
• Migration & Modernization: SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Docker, Kubernetes/AKS, Azure Cosmos DB.

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Security Engineer Associate, Azure Administrator Associate, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, and/or HashiCorp Terraform Associate certifications preferred.
• Experience with PCI DSS environments and audit evidence; Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, CrowdStrike or similar security platforms; and multi-site hybrid data center/cloud environments also preferred.
• Prior exposure to SQL Server or Cosmos DB migrations, or to containerizing legacy .NET/IIS applications, is a plus.