Lead Cloud Engineer

MRJ Recruitment; Warrington; On-site; GBP 124,000 - 179,000; Full time

Job summary

MRJ Recruitment is seeking an experienced Lead Cloud Engineer for an urgent contract to design, develop and modernise Azure cloud infrastructure as part of a major transformation programme. You will work at the intersection of infrastructure and engineering to deliver enterprise-scale Azure solutions.

This role focuses on deep cloud expertise, not just DevOps, tackling complex networking, security and automation challenges.

Qualifications

• Proven design and delivery of Azure infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience with Terraform or Bicep to automate deployments.
• Strong CI/CD implementation skills for cloud environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, build and optimisation of enterprise Azure infrastructure.
• Manage secure, scalable, highly available cloud environments.
• Own core Azure services across compute, storage, networking, identity and security.
• Drive cloud modernisation and automation initiatives.

Skills

Azure

Networking

Terraform

Bicep

DevOps

CI/CD

Security

Tools

Azure DevOps

Job description

We have an urgent contract role available for an experienced and hands‑on Lead Cloud Engineer to take a leading role in the design, development and modernisation of our client's Azure cloud infrastructure as part of a major technology transformation programme.

Working at the intersection of the infrastructure and engineering teams, we are looking for technically strong engineer with deep expertise across Azure infrastructure, networking and modern cloud engineering to help shape the future of the technology environment.

The role & responsibilities:

You’ll play a key role in designing, building and optimising secure, scalable and highly resilient cloud infrastructure, ensuring our platforms can support business‑critical applications, complex integrations and evolving engineering requirements.

This is not simply a DevOps or CI/CD role. We need someone who understands cloud infrastructure from the ground up, can solve complex networking and connectivity challenges, and has the technical expertise to design and deliver enterprise‑scale Azure solutions.

Summary of the responsibilities:

• Lead the design, implementation and ongoing optimisation of enterprise Azure infrastructure.
• Build and maintain secure, scalable, highly available and resilient cloud environments.
• Take ownership of core Azure services across compute, storage, networking, identity and security.
• Drive cloud infrastructure modernisation, performance optimisation and continuous improvement.
• Design and implement infrastructure solutions that support business‑critical applications, integrations and cloud‑native services.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex infrastructure, performance and availability issues.

Networking & Connectivity

• Design, build and manage complex Azure networking environments, including virtual networks, subnets, routing, firewalls and load balancing.
• Implement and optimise secure connectivity across cloud, hybrid and on‑premise infrastructure.
• Work extensively with Azure networking technologies including VNets, NSGs, Azure Firewall, Application Gateway, private endpoints, VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute.
• Take ownership of network security, segmentation, DNS, connectivity and traffic management.
• Diagnose and resolve complex networking, routing and infrastructure connectivity issues.
• Ensure network architectures are secure, resilient, scalable and aligned with enterprise requirements.
• Develop and maintain Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and/or Bicep.
• Design and implement automated infrastructure provisioning, configuration and deployment processes.
• Build and improve CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions or equivalent technologies.
• Establish reusable infrastructure templates, engineering standards and deployment patterns.
• Support modern cloud‑native architectures, serverless technologies and Azure integration services.
• Drive automation initiatives that improve engineering efficiency, consistency and reliability.

Security, Resilience & Engineering Standards

• Embed security‑by‑design principles across Azure infrastructure, networking and cloud services.
• Implement secure identity and access management, including Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC and managed identities.
• Support cloud security, governance, compliance and DevSecOps practices.
• Implement monitoring, logging and alerting to ensure platform performance and operational resilience.
• Design and maintain high availability, disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities.
• Contribute to cloud architecture decisions, technical roadmaps and engineering best practices.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineers across infrastructure, networking and cloud engineering.

About You

This is an urgent requirement and we’re looking for a Lead Cloud Engineer who can hit the ground running and above all else:

• Will take a leading role in shaping the now and the future.
• Has a deep expertise across the full Azure infrastructure stack, from networking and connectivity through to automation, security and modern platform engineering.
• Is equally comfortable designing enterprise cloud architectures, troubleshooting complex infrastructure and networking challenges, and developing automated solutions that improve the way infrastructure is delivered and managed.
• Will bring a hands‑on approach, strong problem‑solving skills and the confidence to take technical ownership of complex environments.
• Can influence technical decisions, challenge existing approaches and help drive the adoption of modern, secure and scalable cloud engineering practices.