Azure Cloud Operations Specialist - Hybrid, Security‑Driven

Sporting Life Group; Vaughan; Hybrid; CAD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Employee discounts

Hybrid work environment

Vendor Pro Deals

Career growth opportunities

Salary range $100,000–$115,000 + bonus

Job summary

Sporting Life Group is seeking an Azure Cloud Operations Administrator to manage daily Azure operations, monitoring, and optimization within a hybrid infrastructure that spans corporate, retail, and production environments. You will collaborate with infrastructure, security, architecture, and business teams to ensure security, reliability, and cost efficiency.

The role emphasizes incident response, governance, and continuous improvement, with a focus on transitioning vendor-managed services to

Qualifications

• 3-6+ years in cloud, infrastructure, or operations administration with hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure.
• Experience supporting production environments and business-critical systems with exposure to enterprise monitoring, Defender for Cloud, or Sentinel.
• Strong troubleshooting across infrastructure, connectivity, and performance and experience with incident, change, and problem management processes.
• Retail, multi-site, or hybrid enterprise environments with MSP/vendor-managed services.
• Azure migration or cloud transformation experience.
• Experience with ITSM tools (Freshservice, ServiceNow, Jira)

Responsibilities

• Deploy, configure, and maintain Azure compute, storage, networking, and platform services.
• Manage the full lifecycle of cloud resources, ensuring performance, availability, reliability, and governance standards.
• Maintain Azure subscriptions, resource groups, naming conventions, and tagging standards.
• Support and troubleshoot hybrid infrastructure, including connectivity, authentication, DNS, and networking.
• Assist with cloud migration and modernization initiatives across corporate, retail, and production environments.
• Monitor Azure environments and respond to incidents, service requests, and operational alerts.
• Perform patching, upgrades, maintenance, and root cause analysis while following ITSM incident, problem, and change management processes.
• Identify recurring issues and implement continuous operational improvements.
• Administer Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, and privileged access controls.
• Manage MFA, Conditional Access, PIM, access reviews, and least-privilege security practices.
• Maintain Azure security posture through vulnerability remediation, Defender for Cloud, and governance policies.
• Enforce Azure Policy, resource organization, tagging, cost controls, and compliance standards.
• Configure Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights to monitor performance, availability, and security.
• Automate operational processes using PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Infrastructure as Code (ARM, Bicep, Terraform).
• Develop dashboards, scripts, runbooks, and standardized operational procedures.
• Manage Azure Backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity processes, including regular recovery testing.
• Monitor Azure spend, optimize resource utilization, and recommend cost-saving initiatives.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and operational procedures.
• Support the transition of services from vendor-managed to internal operations while collaborating with infrastructure, cybersecurity, vendors, and business stakeholders.

Skills

Microsoft Azure

Defender for Cloud

Sentinel

Identity & Access

ITSM tools

Incident & problem management

Tools

Azure CLI

PowerShell

Terraform

Bicep

ARM templates

Job description

Sporting Life Group is a proudly Canadian company of retail banners, Sporting Life, Golf Town, and Team Town Sports, united by a shared passion for sport and active living.

From individual pursuits to team sports, we offer the best equipment, expert services, and experiences to help Canadians play, move, and live well.

Why Work Here?

• Access to our benefits package, with the choice of different levels of health, dental, and vision coverage to suit you.
• Employee discounts at Golf Town, Sporting Life, and Team Town Sports that are shareable with friends and family.
• Team-first culture that celebrates an active, sports lifestyle.
• Fun, fast-paced hybrid environment where your passion for sport and style belongs.
• Vendor Pro Deals and expert product training to fuel your knowledge and performance.
• A salary range of $100,000 – 115,000 (dependent on experience), bonus, and opportunities to grow your career in the sports lifestyle.

What You’ll Do;

As the Azure Cloud Operations Administrator, you will be responsible for the day-to-day administration, monitoring, support, and optimization of our Microsoft Azure environment, ensuring our cloud platform remains secure, stable, and high performing. In this hands-on operational role, you will support our hybrid infrastructure, manage production incidents, optimize cloud resources, and drive continuous improvements that enhance reliability, security, governance, and cost efficiency.

Working closely with infrastructure, security, architecture, and business teams, you will play a key role in supporting the transition of vendor-managed services to internal ownership while maintaining operational excellence. You'll bring a proactive, security-first mindset, strong troubleshooting abilities, and the judgement to prioritize work based on business impact. Clear communication during incidents, thorough documentation, and adherence to established processes will be essential as you help ensure a resilient and well-governed Azure environment.

You'll have the autonomy to execute day-to-day Azure operational activities within established processes, while identifying opportunities to improve platform performance, operational efficiency, security, governance, and cloud costs. More complex or high-risk issues will be escalated to leadership and architecture teams as appropriate. Success in this role will be measured through platform availability, incident response and resolution, reduction of recurring issues, backup and recovery performance, patching and security compliance, cloud cost optimization, governance and tagging standards, the maturity of operational documentation and runbooks, and the successful transition of Azure services from external vendors to internal support.

• Deploy, configure, and maintain Azure compute, storage, networking, and platform services.
• Manage the full lifecycle of cloud resources, ensuring performance, availability, reliability, and governance standards.
• Maintain Azure subscriptions, resource groups, naming conventions, and tagging standards.

Hybrid Infrastructure & Connectivity

• Support and troubleshoot hybrid infrastructure, including connectivity, authentication, DNS, and networking.
• Assist with cloud migration and modernization initiatives across corporate, retail, and production environments.

Operations & Incident Management

• Monitor Azure environments and respond to incidents, service requests, and operational alerts.
• Perform patching, upgrades, maintenance, and root cause analysis while following ITSM incident, problem, and change management processes.
• Identify recurring issues and implement continuous operational improvements.

Identity & Access Management

• Administer Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, and privileged access controls.
• Manage MFA, Conditional Access, PIM, access reviews, and least-privilege security practices.

Security & Governance

• Maintain Azure security posture through vulnerability remediation, Defender for Cloud, and governance policies.
• Enforce Azure Policy, resource organization, tagging, cost controls, and compliance standards.

Monitoring & Automation

• Configure Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights to monitor performance, availability, and security.
• Automate operational processes using PowerShell, Azure CLI, and Infrastructure as Code (ARM, Bicep, Terraform).
• Develop dashboards, scripts, runbooks, and standardized operational procedures.

Business Continuity & Cost Optimization

• Manage Azure Backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity processes, including regular recovery testing.
• Monitor Azure spend, optimize resource utilization, and recommend cost-saving initiatives.

Documentation & Service Transition

• Create and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and operational procedures.
• Support the transition of services from vendor-managed to internal operations while collaborating with infrastructure, cybersecurity, vendors, and business stakeholders.

What You’ll Bring;

• 3–6+ years in cloud, infrastructure, or operations administration with hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure.
• Experience supporting production environments and business-critical systems with exposure to enterprise monitoring, Defender for Cloud, or Sentinel.
• Strong troubleshooting across infrastructure, connectivity, and performance and experience with incident, change, and problem management processes.
• Retail, multi-site, or hybrid enterprise environments with MSP/vendor-managed services.
• Azure migration or cloud transformation experience.
• Experience with ITSM tools (Freshservice, ServiceNow, Jira)

Technical Skills

• Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC, MFA, Conditional Access, PIM
• Azure Backup and disaster recovery solutions
• Infrastructure as Code (ARM, Bicep, Terraform)
• Windows Server and hybrid infrastructure

Certifications

• SC-300: Identity & Access Administrator
• SC-200: Security Operations Analyst
• ITIL Foundation

AI is used as part of our application review process to assist in screening and assessment. All applications are also reviewed by our recruitment team.

This posting is for an open existing role in our organisation.

Sporting Life Group Limited is an equal opportunity employer and committed to providing accommodations for persons with disabilities. In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, please advise the Sporting Life Group Human Resources team of any accommodations required to ensure fair and equitable access through the recruitment and selection process.