Sr. Cloud Engineer

Job Title: Sr. Cloud Engineer
Location: Washington, DC
Type: Contract
Compensation: $73.00 - $85.00
Work Model: Onsite – onsite
Hours: 40 hours per week
Security Clearance: Must be able to obtain a Public Trust clearance

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and manage cloud infrastructure solutions in Microsoft Azure and AWS, with Azure as the primary platform and support focused on integration with project-team-managed workloads and potential future expansion. Build and maintain cloud networking, storage, compute, app services, virtualization, and containerized environments. Ensure scalability, resiliency, and high availability through proactive performance tuning, capacity planning, and operational optimization. Partner with operations teams to monitor production services, resolve incidents, and improve reliability across cloud platforms.
• Implement and maintain cloud security configurations aligned with security policies and zero-trust principles. Engineer and support identity and access controls using Microsoft Entra Identity, RBAC, conditional access, and least-privilege models. Enforce governance controls and policy compliance to support organizational and regulatory requirements, audit readiness, and risk reduction. Drive patching, vulnerability remediation, and secure configuration baselines across cloud-hosted infrastructure.
• Develop and maintain automation using PowerShell, Bicep, ARM templates, and Terraform to provision and manage infrastructure. Integrate infrastructure workflows with CI/CD pipelines to standardize deployments, reduce manual effort, and improve release quality. Implement reusable IaC modules, scripting standards, and version-controlled operational artifacts. Advance automated operating models to increase consistency, security, and scalability.
• Lead migration of workloads from legacy/on-premises platforms to modern Azure cloud and hybrid architectures with minimal disruption. Optimize cloud resource utilization, cost, and service performance based on operational and mission priorities. Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior engineers and cross-functional infrastructure teams. Create and maintain architecture documentation, SOPs, and implementation guidance to support sustainable operations.

Requirements

• Candidates must be able to work in the US without sponsorship.
• Ability to obtain and maintain SEC Public Trust (or higher if required).
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in IT infrastructure roles, including 5+ years focused on Azure cloud engineering.
• Demonstrated experience designing and managing secure, highly available cloud environments for enterprise services.
• Proven experience leading Azure cloud migration and modernization efforts in regulated environments.
• Experience designing, configuring, and administering Azure cloud enterprise implementations using compute cloud resources such as Virtual Machines, Scale sets, Azure containers or Kubernetes, and Cloud Services.
• Strong experience with Azure tools such as Azure DevOps, Repos, Pipelines, and Boards.
• Experienced in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).
• Cloud networking, storage, app services, virtualization, and containerization skills.
• DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipeline implementation, and automation practices.
• Infrastructure-as-Code at production scale: PowerShell, Bicep, ARM templates, and Terraform, with reusable modules, automated validation, and drift detection.
• Cloud governance, policy enforcement, operational compliance, and security in Azure: Azure Policy, RBAC, conditional access, managed identities.
• Microsoft Entra Identity services and zero-trust security principles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Experience supporting federal agency IT environments with FISMA/FedRAMP security requirements.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes/OpenShift and cloud-native container platform operations.
• Experience integrating observability and ITSM platforms to improve incident response and service reliability.
• Experience implementing immutable infrastructure and policy-as-code controls in enterprise environments.
• Experience with cloud cost management and FinOps practices.
• HashiCorp Terraform Associate

System One, and its subsidiaries including Joulé and Mountain Ltd., are leaders in delivering outsourced services and workforce solutions across North America. We help clients get work done more efficiently and economically, without compromising quality. System One not only serves as a valued partner for our clients, but we offer eligible employees health and welfare benefits coverage options including medical, dental, vision, spending accounts, life insurance, voluntary plans, as well as participation in a 401(k) plan.

System One is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, family care or medical leave status, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Ref: #851-Rockville-S1