Cloud Operations Lead

Job Description: Job Title: Cloud Operations Lead

Location: Rockville, MD - Onsite from day1 -

Pay Rate - $60/hr on w2 ( ask for expected salary after CTH duration)

Duration: 6 months - Contract to hire

Job Description:

Responsibilities

Oversee the management and maintenance of cloud infrastructure, ensuring high availability and reliability. Act as the primary point of contact for all Cloud infrastructure related issues and escalations.

Ensure cloud resources are optimally configured and managed to meet performance and cost objectives.

Implement and maintain monitoring solutions to track the health and performance of cloud infrastructure.

Drive the major incidents and potential incidents end to end with periodic updates to client stake holders for approvals/recommendations.

Ensure due diligence and impact analysis for all the changes that get implemented in the cloud platforms.

Lead and mentor a team of cloud engineers and administrators, fostering a collaborative and high-performing work environment.

Provide guidance and support to team members, facilitating their professional development and growth.

Coordinate and manage the team's daily activities, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and priorities.

Lead the response to cloud-related incidents, ensuring timely resolution and minimal impact on business operations.

Develop and implement incident management processes and procedures.

Perform root cause analysis and implement preventive measures to avoid recurrence of issues.

Identify opportunities to automate repetitive tasks and processes to improve efficiency and reduce operational overhead.

Develop and implement automation scripts and tools, leveraging Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices.

Continuously evaluate and improve cloud operations processes and procedures.

Ensure cloud infrastructure adheres to security policies, standards, and best practices.

Implement and maintain security controls to protect cloud resources and data.

Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).

Monitor and analyze cloud resource usage, ensuring efficient utilization and avoiding over-provisioning.

Conduct capacity planning to support future growth and demand.

Implement cost management strategies to optimize cloud spending.

Develop and implement disaster recovery and business continuity plans for cloud infrastructure.

Ensure regular testing and validation of disaster recovery procedures.

Ensure cloud infrastructure is resilient and can recover quickly from failures or disruptions.

Work closely with other IT teams, business units, and stakeholders to understand requirements and deliver cloud solutions that meet their needs.

Collaborate with vendors and service providers to evaluate and integrate new cloud technologies and services.

Communicate effectively with stakeholders, providing regular updates on cloud operations and performance.

Maintain comprehensive documentation of cloud infrastructure, configurations, processes, and procedures.

Generate regular reports on cloud performance, incidents, and operational metrics.

Ensure documentation is up-to-date and accessible to relevant stakeholders.

Here ae some of the detailed responsibilities primarily from AWS environment followed by Azure and OCI environments.

IAM and User Management

IAM administration for new and existing users.

Managing IAM and cloud SSO/Organization/Permission Sets.

Cloud Services Management

Managing Cloud Services (EC2, EKS, ELB, etc.).

Managing Cloud Native Network (VPC, Transit Gateway, Route 53, API Gateways, CDN).

Managing Cloud Native Storage (FSX, EFS, Lustre, EBS, and other options).

Managing cloud native autoscaling and load balancers.

Managing public Cloud WAF/Imperva administration.

Managing Cloud Trail, Event Hub, Guard Rails.

Managing Cloud STS Token Services.

Managing cloud Management Services (ARM, CFT, system Manager functions).

Managing cloud Config.

Managing SQS, SNS, Kinesis.

Managing cloud SIEM integrations.

Managing Cloud Patching.

Cloud Resource and Cost Management

Managing Cloud Cost Management.

Managing Cost Explorers.

Managing Cloud Management Group, IDCS, Organizations, user Groups.

Managing Auto Scaling Policies.

Managing AWS/Azure/Oracle Backups.

Managing cloud Log insights, Log group, cloud Watch services, other cloud Monitoring Services.

Managing Step functions.

Managing Code Pipeline, Code Build.

Managing application migration services.

Managing AWS Lambda.

Managing Dynamo DB and cloud Database Management (infrastructure).

Managing Cloud Object Storages.

Cloud Automation and DevOps

Managing cloud Tags.

Managing Cloud Rekognition services.

Managing Cloud Transcribe Services.

Managing Cloud Comprehend Services.

Managing EKS and other Micro services across the platform.

Managing cloud Monitoring and Logging across cloud (AWS/AZ/OCI).

Managing Cloud Elastic Search.

Managing Cloud API management.

Managing Serverless Computing.

Managing cloud CDN.

Managing Machine learning and AI.

Managing Cloud Data Management and Analytics.

Project Activities

Disaster Recovery Test activities.

Additional DR Test activities due to Customer Application Requirements.

Automation on cloud infra Build/Image Build Process.

Automation on Patch/Inventory/Tag Management.

Additional Application Deployment.

Implementing, Managing, and Automating all Cloud enabled Services.

Managing Image Builder Create Process for Regular Updates.

Managing Azure Automation for creating and managing automated tasks and runbooks.

Managing Automation via Azure DevOps and GitHub.

Managing Azure DevOps Pipelines.

Managing Azure DevOps, Repos, Projects and Organizations.

Managing GitHub GitLab.

Cloud Security Services

AWS Guard Duty

AWS WAF / Imperva WAF

AWS Inspector

Key Vault + KMS + Secrets management

AWS Macie

Security groups

Rapid 7

Azure NSG, Routing tables.

OCI VCN, Native Firewalls

OCI Cloud Operations

OCI Infrastructure Management, Golden gate, Rack Clusters, Guard Duty and Essbase Services support.

Azure Cloud Operations

Azure Subscription, Resource groups, Storage Accounts, Networking and License Management, SSO, App proxy, NDES, AAD Sync.

Qualifications we seek in you!

Minimum Qualifications / Skills

Bachelor s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Electrical Engineering, or a related field. Advanced degrees or relevant professional training are a plus.

Good experience in System administration, and good experience in Cloud operations and leadership/senior technical role.

Proficiency in AWS cloud platforms. Strong working experience in Azure, OCI clouds platforms.

Strong understanding of cloud architecture, services, and best practices.

Experience with cloud management and monitoring tools.

Proficiency in scripting and automation (e.g., PowerShell, Python, Terraform, Ansible Playbooks/Ansible Tower, Cloud Formation, Puppet, Chef).

Strong knowledge of cloud security principles and practices.

Proficiency in Windows/Linux Server administration and management.

Proficiency and working experience in VMWare/AD and Azure AD SSO platforms.

Strong networking skills - DNS, DHCP, PKI and LAN/WAN protocol understanding.

Effective communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to interact with stakeholders at all levels.

Experience in vendor management and contract negotiations.

A proactive approach to continuous improvement and innovation in data center operations.

Preferred Certifications and experience

Cloud certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate or Professional. Microsoft Certified: Azure Architect Certified, Experience with DevOps practices and tools (CI/CD, Jenkins, Git).

Familiarity with ITIL or other IT service management frameworks.

Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to effectively interact with technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels of the organization.

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes of issues and implement effective solutions in a timely manner.

Proven ability to work independently as well as part of a team, with a proactive and self-motivated attitude towards achieving project goals.