Azure Cloud Architect

Job Title : Azure Cloud Architect

Job Location : Chicago, IL

Job Type : Contract

Job Description :

Key skills required for the role

Infrastructure as Code IaC Mastery

Proficiency in Azure CloudFormation and Terraform is essential

Must understand declarative syntax modular design and version control to build reproducible secure environments

IaC enabled automation of infrastructure provisioning and configuration

CICD Pipeline Engineering

Strong experience with DevOps tools like Jenkins GitHub Actions Azure Code Pipeline and Code Deploy

Should be able to design and maintain automated pipelines for build test and deployment stages integrating security scans and rollback mechanisms

Cloud Security and Compliance

Understand Azure AD RBAC policies and encryption standards

Able to embed security into deployment workflows manage secrets and ensure that infrastructure adheres to organizational and regulatory standards

Networking and Cloud Architecture Fundamentals

Knowledge of VPC design subnetting load balancing and security groups

Grasp cloud service models IaaS PaaS SaaS and be able to architect scalable solutions using Azure services

Scripting and Automation

Proficiency in Python Bash or PowerShell for scripting tasks API integrations and pipeline automations

Roles and Responsibilities

Infrastructure as Code IaC Development

Responsible for designing and maintaining infrastructure using IaC tools like Azure CloudFormation and Terraform This includes

Writing reusable modular templates for provisioning cloud resource

Ensuring version control and change tracking via Git or similar tools

Integrating IaC into CICD pipelines for automated deployments

CICD Pipeline Design and Automation

Building and maintaining deployment pipelines that support continuous integration and delivery

Automating build test and deployment workflows using tools like Jenkins Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions

Ensuring pipelines are secure scalable and compliant with organizational standards

Supporting rollback strategies and blue green or canary deployments

Security and Compliance Integration

Embedding security into every layer of the deployment process

Implementing IAM policies encryption and secure networking practices

Ensuring compliance with internal standards and external

Conducting vulnerability assessments and integrating security scans into pipelines

Monitoring Logging and Optimization

Once deployed cloud engineers monitor infrastructure and applications to ensure performance and reliability

Using tools like CloudWatch Azure Monitor or Datadog to track metrics and logs

Identifying bottlenecks and optimizing resource usage

Setting up ing and incident response mechanisms

Collaboration and Governance

Work closely with DevOps architecture and security teams to align infrastructure with business goals

Participating in architecture reviews and governance boards

Documenting infrastructure decisions and maintaining operational runbooks

Supporting onboarding and mentoring of team members on cloud best practices