Principal Cloud Engineer – Microsoft Azure

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• The Principal Cloud Engineer serves as a senior technical leader, responsible for the design, governance, and optimization of cloud infrastructure and platforms across the company.

• This position acts as the senior technical authority for cloud architecture and infrastructure within the organization, leveraging extensive expertise to establish engineering standards and governance, and to lead complex cloud initiatives from conception to execution.

• In addition to technical leadership, you will mentor and guide the Systems Administration and Information Security teams, ensuring that knowledge is effectively disseminated through documentation, standards, and coaching.

• You will translate intricate technical concepts into clear business and operational decisions, provide leadership during critical production events, and set the standard for engineering excellence.

• Responsibilities include serving as the top technical authority and subject matter expert for all Azure cloud infrastructure and architecture.

• Define and implement cloud engineering standards, architectural patterns, and governance practices that the organization will adopt and adhere to.

• Take ownership of cloud infrastructure projects from start to finish—ranging from design and planning to execution, delivery, and post-deployment operations.

• Assist the Manager of IT & IS with cloud strategy, architecture roadmap, and platform investment decisions.

• Mentor and cultivate the Systems Administration and Information Security teams, enhancing organizational cloud competency through practical guidance, intentional coaching, and knowledge transfer.

• Collaborate with Development teams to design and deliver application infrastructure on Azure.

• Provide Tier 2/3 escalation support to the IT Help Desk for complex infrastructure and cloud-related issues.

• Partner with the Information Security team to implement and demonstrate compliance controls for HITRUST 11.3r2 and SOC2.

⛳️ Requirements

• 7 to 10 years of experience in infrastructure, systems, or cloud engineering.

• A minimum of 5 years in a senior or principal role specifically within Microsoft Azure.

• Proven experience in establishing a cloud engineering practice or function—not merely operating an existing one; comfortable setting standards for others to follow.

• Expert knowledge of Azure networking, including hub-spoke topology, Virtual Networks, NSGs, Azure Firewall, Application Gateway, ExpressRoute, Private Endpoints, and DNS.

• Demonstrated capability to independently design Azure environments—creating governance, security, and operational frameworks from scratch rather than inheriting them.

• Extensive experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or Azure Bicep), including module design, state management, CI/CD integration, and strict adherence to no-manual-change disciplines.

• Strong background in CI/CD pipeline tools (Azure DevOps, GitLab, or GitHub Actions), including automated security scanning and progressive delivery practices.

• Proven track record in leading cloud migration projects, encompassing workload assessment, planning, execution, and legacy decommissioning.

• Strong project leadership skills—capable of managing multiple complex initiatives simultaneously with minimal supervision.

• Ability to mentor and develop technical staff across various teams; experience in building organizational capability through intentional knowledge transfer and hands-on coaching.

• Experience in establishing incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity practices with clearly defined and tested RPO/RTO targets.

• Expert knowledge of Azure identity and security services, including Entra ID, RBAC, PIM, Key Vault, and Defender for Cloud.

• Strong fundamentals in networking and security: network segmentation, secrets management, least-privilege access, and certificate lifecycle management.

• Proficiency in at least one scripting or automation language (PowerShell, Python, or Bash).

• Familiarity with compliance frameworks (HITRUST, SOC2, HIPAA) and experience in creating audit evidence processes that withstand scrutiny.

• Excellent written communication skills and sound judgment under production pressure—capable of making decisions and conveying technical context to non-technical stakeholders.

• Preferred experience with Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solutions.

• Experience with Azure AI and platform services is a plus.

• Familiarity with healthcare data exchange standards (EDI, HL7, or SFTP-based interfaces) is preferred.

🏝️ Benefits

• Healthcare, vision, and dental insurance.

• A generous 401(k) match.

• Paid vacation.

• Personal time.

• Holidays.

• Opportunities for growth and training.

• An award-winning remote work environment.