Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer - Onsite

Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

Full Time Permanent.

Position Overview:

The Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer - Azure Platform is responsible for architecting, implementing, and optimizing cloud solutions within the Microsoft Azure ecosystem while leading our critical cloud modernization initiative. This role requires deep expertise in Azure PaaS services, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps practices, and modern application architectures, with a focus on transforming our existing monolithic applications into modular, scalable, and resilient solutions. The Senior Cloud Engineer will spearhead cloud optimization efforts, mature our Azure DevOps practices, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to enable rapid, reliable software delivery while maximizing the value of our Azure App Services and Azure SQL investments.

This position demands not only advanced technical capabilities in Azure PaaS services but also the strategic vision to guide our evolution from basic cloud hosting to sophisticated cloud-native patterns. The role requires Extreme Ownership, emphasizing complete accountability for elevating our cloud maturity, establishing engineering excellence, and fostering a DevOps culture that accelerates our modernization journey while maintaining operational stability.

Key Outcomes:

• Achieve 99.95% application uptime through implementation of multi-region App Service deployments, Traffic Manager routing, and automated failover strategies
• Successfully refactor monolithic applications into modular architectures using App Services, Azure Functions, and API Management, reducing deployment complexity by 50%
• Establish Infrastructure as Code coverage for 100% of production resources with fully automated provisioning and configuration management
• Implement comprehensive disaster recovery strategy achieving RTO of 1 hour and RPO of 15 minutes using Azure Site Recovery and geo-redundant deployments
• Improve Azure SQL performance by 40% through query optimization, proper indexing strategies, and implementation of read replicas
• Reduce cloud operational costs by 30% through App Service plan optimization, reserved capacity, and automated scaling policies
• Decrease Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) to under 30 minutes through enhanced monitoring, automated diagnostics, and self-healing mechanisms
• Accelerate deployment frequency by 3x while maintaining zero-downtime deployments through mature CI/CD practices and deployment slot strategies.

Core Responsibilities:

Cloud Architecture & Engineering

• Lead the transformation from monolithic to modular architectures using Azure App Services, Functions, and API Management
• Design and implement high-availability patterns using App Service deployment slots, Traffic Manager, and Front Door
• Optimize Azure App Service configurations including scaling rules, managed identities, and regional deployments
• Establish microservices patterns using Azure Functions, Logic Apps, and Service Bus for event-driven architectures
• Design data tier optimization strategies for Azure SQL including elastic pools, read replicas, and performance tuning in partnership with the Senior DBA.

Infrastructure as Code & Automation

• Establish Infrastructure as Code practices from ground up using Terraform, Bicep, or ARM templates to replace manual configurations
• Implement GitOps workflows for infrastructure management, bringing version control and auditability to currently ad-hoc deployments
• Create standardized, reusable modules and templates aligned with Azure Cloud Adoption Framework and Well-Architected Framework
• Automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration drift detection, and compliance validation to eliminate manual processes

DevOps & CI/CD

• Architect and implement advanced deployment strategies leveraging App Service slots for blue-green deployments, canary releases, and A/B testing scenarios
• Establish comprehensive Infrastructure as Code pipelines that orchestrate both application deployments and database schema migrations with full rollback capabilities
• Define and evangelize Git branching strategies and pull request workflows that balance development velocity with code quality, including branch protection policies and automated governance
• Collaborate with Automation Engineers to build end-to-end testing frameworks encompassing unit, integration, performance, and chaos testing, fully integrated into Azure DevOps release gates
• Drive continuous improvement of CI/CD pipelines, reducing build times by 50% through parallelization, caching strategies, and agent optimization while implementing quality gates and security scanning
• Mentor development teams on DevOps best practices, fostering a culture of ownership where developers manage their entire deployment lifecycle
• Implement pipeline-as-code patterns using YAML, enabling version-controlled, reusable pipeline templates across multiple teams
• Establish comprehensive pipeline observability with metrics, dashboards, and automated failure analysis to identify bottlenecks and improve MTTR

Observability & Reliability

• Implement end-to-end observability using Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and distributed tracing for microservices
• Establish SLIs, SLOs, and error budgets for critical services, creating data-driven reliability targets
• Design proactive monitoring and alerting strategies to identify issues before they impact users
• Implement chaos engineering and game days to validate resilience improvements and identify weaknesses

Security & Compliance

• Implement Zero Trust security architecture addressing current security gaps using Azure AD, Conditional Access, and network segmentation
• Establish comprehensive governance using Azure Policy, ensuring consistent security controls across all resources
• Implement proper secrets management using Azure Key Vault and Managed Identities, eliminating hardcoded credentials
• Ensure compliance with SOC 2, ISO 27001, and industry regulations through automated compliance validation

Cost Optimization & FinOps

• Analyze current cloud spend patterns and implement immediate cost optimization opportunities
• Design cost-efficient architectures leveraging reserved instances, spot instances, and auto-scaling
• Establish comprehensive tagging strategies and cost allocation models for financial accountability
• Implement FinOps practices including automated cost anomaly detection and optimization recommendations

Qualifications & Skills:

Technical Experience

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure platform, including production workload management
• Proven experience migrating and refactoring monolithic applications to microservices architectures
• Strong expertise in Infrastructure as Code with demonstrated ability to implement from scratch
• Proficiency in multiple programming/scripting languages (PowerShell, Python, Bash, C#/.NET)
• Experience designing and implementing high-availability, disaster recovery solutions
• Deep understanding of cloud networking, including hub-spoke architectures, network security, and hybrid connectivity
• Track record of improving system reliability and reducing operational toil through automation

Technical Competencies

• Azure Services: Comprehensive knowledge of App Services, AKS, Functions, Logic Apps, API Management, Service Bus, Event Grid, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Storage Accounts, Load Balancers, Application Gateway, Front Door, Traffic Manager
• IaC Tools: Advanced proficiency in Terraform, Bicep, ARM Templates, with experience in Pulumi or CrossPlane beneficial
• DevOps Tools: Expertise in Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, with knowledge of ArgoCD, Flux for GitOps
• Monitoring: Proficiency in Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Log Analytics, with experience in Prometheus, Grafana, or Datadog
• Security: Deep knowledge of Azure AD, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, Policy, and network security best practices
• Languages: Strong skills in Python, PowerShell, with proficiency in Go, C#/.NET for application understanding

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Exceptional problem-solving abilities with a systematic approach to addressing complex technical challenges
• Outstanding communication skills, capable of articulating technical concepts to diverse stakeholders and building consensus for architectural changes
• Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives while maintaining focus on critical path items
• Strong change management skills with experience driving technical transformation in established environments
• Demonstrated ability to mentor team members and elevate overall technical capabilities
• Resilience and patience to navigate technical debt while maintaining forward momentum

Desired Traits

• Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) certification
• Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400) certification
• Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500) certification
• Experience with large-scale cloud migrations and modernization projects
• Contributions to open-source projects or technical community leadership