Job Title: Senior Systems & Azure Cloud Engineer
Location: On-site in Houston, TX
Employment Type: Contract to Hire
Sponsorship: NONE NO C2C or 3rd PARTY
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Senior Systems and Azure Cloud Engineer to lead the design, deployment, and optimization of our Azure cloud infrastructure. This position combines deep hands-on engineering with high-level architectural strategy. A major component of the role involves supporting ongoing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by assessing, integrating, and standardizing acquired infrastructure, applications, and user environments into our enterprise cloud ecosystem.
The ideal candidate is Azure-first, infrastructure-focused, and highly effective in cross-team collaboration across infrastructure, application, and network engineering groups.
Key Responsibilities
Azure Infrastructure & Architecture
- Manage Azure IaaS resources including VMs, VNets, NSGs, load balancers, VPN gateways, and/or ExpressRoute.
- Design and implement Azure Landing Zones as a scalable, secure, and compliant foundation for cloud workloads.
- Standardize identity, networking, and security configurations (Azure AD, RBAC, NSGs, tagging standards, subscription governance).
- Deliver cloud architecture recommendations aligned with evolving business needs and cloud innovation.
M&A Integration
- Lead Azure cloud migrations and environment integrations with minimal user disruption.
- Evaluate acquired infrastructure users, applications, servers, and networks for alignment with enterprise standards.
- Integrate systems, security, and identity components from acquired organizations into enterprise cloud frameworks.
Security, Governance & Compliance
- Implement Azure security best practices including RBAC, encryption, private endpoints, and policy-based governance.
- Enforce cloud governance standards across identity, data protection, and infrastructure.
- Support continuous monitoring, compliance controls, and audit readiness.
Operations, Automation & Optimization
- Monitor cloud performance and availability through Azure Monitor, SolarWinds, and other tools.
- Drive cost-management initiatives using tagging, automation, and resource optimization.
- Automate provisioning, configuration, and policy enforcement using PowerShell, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and Azure Policy.
- Collaborate with infrastructure, network, and application engineering teams to deliver unified, reliable solutions.
Innovation & Research
- Evaluate modern cloud-native technologies such as container orchestration, service mesh, and AI-driven optimization tools.
- Explore opportunities to enhance cloud efficiency, resiliency, and scalability across hybrid environments.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- 10+ years in IT, including 7+ years in cloud infrastructure or architecture roles.
- 5+ years of hands-on Azure experience, including Azure AD, Azure SQL, Azure Policy, Terraform, and DR solutions.
- Demonstrated success integrating infrastructure, applications, and user environments in M&A scenarios.
- Deep knowledge of Azure Networking, Identity, Landing Zones, and governance frameworks.
- Proficiency in PowerShell or similar scripting languages.
- Strong communication, documentation, and cross-team collaboration skills.
Technical Qualifications
- Expert-level proficiency with Azure networking and security (VNets, NSGs, VPN gateways, routing, segmentation).
- Experience with Azure Route Server (ARS).
- Strong understanding of app registrations, OAuth, SSO integrations, and identity workflows.
- Familiarity with hybrid cloud connectivity and segmentation strategies.
- Strong grasp of enterprise security practices and least-privilege access models.
- Experience with monitoring platforms such as Azure Monitor or SolarWinds.
- Solid understanding of SaaS, PaaS, DaaS, and IaaS cloud models.
- Knowledge of logging, compliance, and continuous monitoring best practices.
Preferred Certifications (Not Required but Highly Valued)
- Azure Solutions Architect Expert / AWS Solutions Architect
- CISSP Cybersecurity & Risk Management
- CCSP Cloud Security Best Practices
- CISM Governance & Information Security Management
CIMA Consulting Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Never miss an opportunity! Create an alert based on the job you applied for.
