Azure Cloud Architect

Azure Cloud Architect

Location of offices are Boston, Hamilton Township NJ or NYC.

Note this is contract to hire and the candidate must work at a local office 4 days per week.

Job Description:

• Azure Cloud Architect
• Must have hands-on Postgres experience.
• Client is looking for a seasoned Azure Cloud Architect with hands-on development experience to lead cloud infrastructure strategy, design, and delivery.
• The ideal candidate brings deep Azure expertise, strong architectural thinking, and the ability to implement enterprise-grade solutions using Infrastructure as Code and modern DevOps practices.

Core Technical Requirements:
The following skills are essential for this role. Candidates must demonstrate strong proficiency across these areas:
Infrastructure and Automation:

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Terraform (primary and non-negotiable) ? Mandatory
• CI/CD pipeline automation: Bitbucket, Jenkins, XLR, AWS CodePipeline, GitHub Actions

Azure Architecture:

• Strong Azure architecture experience: compute, storage, networking, and platform services
• Enterprise-scale Azure landing zones: management groups, subscriptions, and governance models
• Compute platforms: Azure VMs, App Services, Azure Functions, AKS (architecture-level understanding)

Identity and Security:

• Identity and access management using Entra ID (Azure AD), RBAC, PIM, and managed identities
• Security architecture: Zero Trust principles, Azure Defender, and secure baseline controls
• Secrets and encryption: Azure Key Vault, certificate and key lifecycle management
• Policy and compliance: Azure Policy, initiatives, and governance enforcement at scale

Networking:

• Azure networking (hands-on): hub-spoke VNETs, subnets, NSGs, UDRs, and routing
• Private connectivity: Private Endpoints, Azure DNS (public/private), name resolution patterns

Observability and Resilience:

• Observability and operations: Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, alerting and diagnostics
• High availability and DR design: availability zones, regional failover, and backup strategies

Database Experience:

• Candidates should have experience with one or more cloud database platforms:
• PostgreSQL (preferred) managed cloud PostgreSQL (Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server) ? Mandatory
• Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, or equivalent cloud-native database services
• Database security, encryption at rest/transit, and backup/restore strategies
• Performance tuning and query optimization on cloud database platforms

Good To Have:

• The following are not mandatory but will strengthen a candidate's profile:
• Experience migrating on-premises or AWS/Google Cloud Platform workloads to Azure cloud ? Good to have
• Familiarity with Azure Migrate, Azure Site Recovery, or lift-and-shift patterns ? Good to have
• Knowledge of FinOps practices and Azure Cost Management ? Good to have
• Exposure to containerization strategies and AKS production operations ? Good to have
• Experience working in regulated financial services environments ? Good to have

Architect Profile and Soft Skills:

• Ability to own end-to-end architecture: from whiteboard design to hands-on implementation
• Strong communication skills able to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Collaborative mindset with experience working across engineering, security, and compliance teams
• Comfortable working in fast-paced, client-facing delivery environments
• Hands-on coder: does not just design, but actively builds and validates solutions

Note:

• Type: Full-time / Engagement
• Experience: 8 Plus years in Cloud Architecture (Azure preferred)
• Client Domain: Financial Services