Azure Infra Architect

Cognizant; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an experienced Azure Infra Architect with 10-14 years to design, guide, and support scalable, secure, cloud-native solutions on Microsoft Azure. You will work across infrastructure, container platforms, API management, event streaming, IaC, and DevOps practices.

The role requires hands-on expertise with OpenShift/Kubernetes, 3scale API Management, Kafka, Terraform, and GitHub Actions, plus strong collaboration with product owners, developers, QA, security, and operations to

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of IT experience in cloud solution design and delivery.
• Strong understanding of Azure services including networking, storage, identity, security, monitoring and governance.
• Hands-on OpenShift/Kubernetes deployment, scaling and troubleshooting.
• Experience with 3scale API Management or similar API gateway platforms.
• Knowledge of Kafka or similar event streaming platforms.
• CI/CD design and implementation using GitHub Actions or comparable tools.
• Terraform IaC experience for provisioning and managing resources.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement Azure infrastructure patterns covering compute, networking, identity, storage, monitoring and governance.
• Design deployment and management of OpenShift/Kubernetes-based platforms for containerized workloads and microservices.
• Design and integrate API management/gateway solutions including security and lifecycle management.
• Support architecture of Kafka-based event streaming for real-time integrations.
• Develop and review Terraform modules and reusable automation patterns.
• Design and support CI/CD workflows to improve deployment quality and release efficiency.
• Provide technical guidance to development and operations teams and ensure architecture standards.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Technical leadership

Stakeholder collaboration

Communication

DevOps practices

Tools

Azure

OpenShift

Kubernetes

3scale API Management

Kafka

Terraform

GitHub Actions

Job description

Job Summary

As an Azure Infra Architect with 10-14 years of experience you will be responsible for designing guiding and supporting the implementation of scalable secure and cloud-native solutions on Microsoft Azure. The role requires strong hands-on experience across Azure infrastructure container platforms API management event streaming Infrastructure as Code and DevOps practices.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Cloud Infrastructure: Define and implement Azure infrastructure patterns covering compute networking identity storage monitoring and governance.
• Container Platform: Support the design deployment and management of Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO) or Kubernetes-based platforms for containerized workloads and microservices.
• API Management: Design and integrate 3scale API Management or equivalent API gateway solutions for API security governance lifecycle management and consumption control.
• Event Streaming: Support architecture and implementation of Kafka or similar event-streaming platforms for real-time event-driven integrations.
• Infrastructure as Code: Develop and review Terraform modules and reusable automation patterns to provision and manage cloud resources across environments.
• DevOps Enablement: Design and support CI/CD workflows using GitHub Actions or similar DevOps tools to improve deployment quality and release efficiency.
• Technical Leadership: Provide technical guidance to development and operations teams review solution approaches resolve design issues and ensure adherence to architecture standards.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Work with product owners business analysts developers QA security and infrastructure teams to clarify requirements and drive solution delivery.

Required Skills and Experience

• Experience: 8-10 years of overall IT experience including strong experience in cloud solution design implementation and enterprise application delivery.
• Azure Platform: Strong understanding of Azure services including networking storage identity security monitoring and governance.
• Kubernetes/OpenShift: Hands-on experience with OpenShift Kubernetes containerized application deployment service exposure scaling and troubleshooting.
• API Management: Experience with 3scale API Management or similar API gateway platforms including API security routing policies and lifecycle management.
• Kafka/Event Streaming: Working knowledge of Kafka or equivalent messaging and streaming platforms used for asynchronous integration and event-driven architecture.
• DevOps: Experience with CI/CD pipeline design and implementation using GitHub Actions or comparable tools.
• Terraform/IaC (nice to have): Strong practical experience creating maintaining and reviewing Terraform scripts/modules for repeatable infrastructure provisioning.
• Communication: Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to explain technical solutions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Certifications Required

Not required