Manager - Azure Cloud Infrastructure

Cognizant; Chennai District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Lead/Principal Azure Cloud Infrastructure Engineer to own the design, standardization, and operation of enterprise Azure infrastructure at scale. You will land zones, governance, automation, and cost optimization while guiding engineering teams and engaging with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities include defining reference architectures, building reusable Terraform modules, and leading end-to-end infra programs.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years in cloud infrastructure with Azure at enterprise scale.
• Deep Azure compute, storage, networking, identity, and PaaS knowledge.
• Terraform IaC with module/framework design and policy-as-code.
• Landing zones and multi-subscription governance experience.
• Strong security, governance, and zero-trust understanding.
• Leadership and mentoring of engineers; stakeholder communication.
• Scripting proficiency: PowerShell, Azure CLI, Python.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of Azure landing zones, subscription/management-group structures, and platform foundations.
• Define and own infrastructure standards, reference architectures, and reusable IaC modules across teams.
• Architect and govern networking and connectivity at scale including hub-and-spoke, VPN/ExpressRoute, DNS, private endpoints, IPAM, and egress controls.
• Establish governance, security, and compliance frameworks (Azure Policy, RBAC, Key Vault, tagging).
• Drive reliability engineering (HA/DR, backups, observability, SLOs).
• Own cloud cost governance (FinOps), budgeting, rightsizing, chargeback/showback models.
• Lead end-to-end delivery of infra programs and POCs; mentor engineers; review architecture/code.
• Engage with senior stakeholders, security/architecture review boards, and vendors.

Skills

Azure cloud infra

Azure landing zones

Terraform IaC

Networking

Security & governance

Leadership

PowerShell

Azure CLI

Python

CI/CD

Stakeholder comms

Tools

Terraform

Azure DevOps

GitHub Actions

Job description

About Cognizant Corporate

Cognizant Corporate is a global community united by a shared purpose: to make a meaningful impact. We are committed to excellence and driven by outcomes that matter. Collaboration is at the heart of how we work, and our forward-thinking mindset fuels continuous learning, innovation, and growth.

At Cognizant, careers transcend titles. We empower our people to think strategically, inspire others, and lead with purpose – always guided by our core values. Join us in shaping future of business.

About the role

We are seeking a Lead/Principal Azure Cloud Infrastructure Engineer to own the design, standardization, and operation of enterprise Azure infrastructure at scale. This is a technical leadership role responsible for landing zone and platform architecture, automation and governance frameworks, reliability and cost optimization, and for guiding engineering teams and engaging with senior stakeholders and vendors.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the design and implementation of Azure landing zones, subscription/management-group structures, and platform foundations aligned to the Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and Well-Architected Framework.

• Define and own infrastructure standards, reference architectures, and reusable Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform preferred) modules consumed across teams.

• Architect and govern networking and connectivity at scale — hub-and-spoke/Virtual WAN, VPN/ExpressRoute, routing, DNS, private endpoints, IPAM, and egress/SASE controls — within Azure platform service limits.

• Establish governance, security, and compliance frameworks — Azure Policy guardrails, RBAC and identity models, Key Vault/secrets strategy, tagging, and baseline security controls.

• Drive reliability engineering — HA/DR design, backup strategy, capacity and quota planning, observability, and performance/availability SLOs.

• Own cloud cost governance (FinOps) — optimization strategy, budgeting, rightsizing, and chargeback/show back models.

• Lead end-to-end delivery of infrastructure programs and POCs, including orchestration/automation initiatives and migration/consolidation efforts.

• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to engineers; conduct architecture and code reviews; raise the team's engineering maturity.

• Engage with senior stakeholders, security/architecture review boards, and vendors (e.g., Microsoft, Zscaler) on design validation and roadmap.

• Evaluate emerging Azure services and tooling and define adoption recommendations and standards.

• Lead complex troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for high-impact incidents, and drive corrective/preventive actions.

What you must have to be considered

• 6–10 years in cloud infrastructure, with deep, hands-on Azure expertise and a track record of designing and operating at enterprise scale.

• Strong architecture experience across Azure compute, storage, networking, identity (Entra ID), and key PaaS services.

• Expert-level Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform) — module/framework design, CI/CD integration, and policy-as-code (Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions).

• Proven experience with landing zones, multi-subscription governance, and management-group design.

• Deep networking knowledge — hybrid connectivity, routing/BGP, segmentation, DNS, IPAM, and egress control; awareness of service limits and capacity planning.

• Strong grasp of cloud security, zero-trust principles, governance, and compliance frameworks.

• Experience leading delivery and mentoring engineers; strong stakeholder communication.

• Scripting/automation proficiency (PowerShell, Azure CLI, Python).

These will help you succeed

• Multi-cloud exposure (AWS and/or GCP) and multi-cloud governance experience.

• Experience with containers/AKS, GitOps, and platform-engineering practices.

• Familiarity with egress/SASE tooling (e.g., Zscaler) and large-scale IP remediation.

• Exposure to orchestration-based provisioning and subscription-vending automation.

• Certifications: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305), Azure Network Engineer (AZ-700), Azure Administrator (AZ-104), or equivalent.

Work model:

We believe hybrid work is the way forward as we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring 2-3 days a week in a client or Cognizant office in Pune/Hyderabad/Kolkata/Bangalore/Coimbatore. Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance though our various wellbeing programs.