Cloud Engineer

HU101 The Howard University; United States; On-site; USD 130,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & Wellness

PTO & holidays

403(b) with company match

Tuition reimbursement

Career advancement

Wellness programs

Commuter benefits

Vibrant company culture

Job summary

Howard University is seeking a Cloud Engineer to design, deploy, and optimize a secure, scalable Microsoft Azure cloud platform supporting institutional data and enterprise services. You will work with cross-functional teams to automate provisioning, manage IAM, networking, and monitoring, while ensuring governance compliance and cost efficiency.

The role involves contributing to cloud modernization initiatives, CI/CD support, and maintaining robust disaster recovery and documentation for cloud

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in IT/Engineering with Azure experience.
• Azure certifications and experience in higher education or similar complex orgs preferred.
• Strong background in cloud security and governance.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, configure, and maintain secure Azure cloud infrastructure.
• Manage networking, compute, storage, IAM, and security configurations.
• Develop IaC and automation for standardised provisioning.
• Implement RBAC, encryption, secrets management and governance.
• Monitor performance, security, cost, and availability; troubleshoot issues.
• Support data platforms, analytics environments, applications, and integrations.
• Maintain monitoring, backup, disaster recovery, and CI/CD processes.
• Document cloud architecture and operational procedures.
• Collaborate with security, data engineering, and business teams.

Skills

SQL & Python

PySpark

Distributed data processing

Azure architecture

RBAC & security

CI/CD tooling

IaC scripting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT/Engineering

Master’s degree in related field

Tools

Azure

Terraform / IaC

Git

Job description

The Talent Acquisition department hires qualified candidates to fill positions which contribute to the overall strategic success of Howard University. Hiring staff “for fit” makes significant contributions to Howard University’s overall mission. At Howard University, we prioritize well-being and professional growth.

Here is what we offer:

• Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus mental health support
• Work-Life Balance: PTO, paid holidays, flexible work arrangements
• Financial Wellness: Competitive salary, 403(b) with company match
• Professional Development: Ongoing training, tuition reimbursement, and career advancement paths
• Additional Perks: Wellness programs, commuter benefits, and a vibrant company culture

Join Howard University and thrive with us! https://hr.howard.edu/benefits-wellness

We are seeking a Cloud Engineer for the university's new data team.

The Cloud Engineer is responsible for designing, implementing, maintaining, and optimizing secure and scalable Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure supporting institutional data, analytics, applications, and enterprise technology services. The position reports to Chief Data and Analytics Officer, and works closely with Senior Data Engineering, infrastructure, application, and business teams to ensure cloud environments are reliable, secure, cost-effective, and aligned with institutional technology and governance standards. The Cloud Engineer will support cloud architecture, infrastructure automation, identity and access management, networking, security, monitoring, and deployment while contributing to the institution’s broader cloud and data modernization initiatives.

NATURE AND SCOPE

The Cloud Engineer/Architecture designs, deploys, and optimizes Howard University's secure, scalable Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure to fully support institutional data, analytics, and enterprise technology services. Reporting directly to the Chief Data and Analytics Officer, this role automates cloud provisioning, establishes identity and access management, and monitors environment performance alongside data engineering and security teams. Ultimately, the position guarantees operational reliability and cost-efficiency while ensuring cloud environments strictly comply with university governance standards and technical architecture goals.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Design, deploy, configure, and maintain secure and scalable Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure and services.
• Manage Azure networking, compute, storage, identity and access management, and cloud security configurations.
• Develop and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and automation to standardize cloud provisioning and configuration.
• Implement and maintain role-based access controls, security policies, encryption, secrets management, and cloud governance standards.
• Monitor cloud infrastructure performance, availability, security, and utilization; troubleshoot and resolve infrastructure issues.
• Support cloud-based data platforms, analytics environments, enterprise applications, and system integrations.
• Develop and maintain monitoring, logging, backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity processes.
• Support CI/CD pipelines, automated deployments, and production release processes.
• Monitor and optimize cloud resource utilization and costs while maintaining performance and availability requirements.
• Maintain technical documentation for cloud architecture, configurations, security controls, operational procedures, and infrastructure standards.
• Collaborate with security, infrastructure, data engineering, application, and business teams on cloud architecture and technology initiatives.
• Evaluate emerging Azure capabilities and recommend solutions that improve scalability, security reliability, and operational efficiency.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Familiarity with SQL and Python with experience using PySpark or comparable distributed data-processing technologies.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Azure architecture, networking, storage, compute, and identity and access management.
• Experience designing, deploying, and maintaining secure and scalable Azure cloud environments and services.
• Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code (IaC), scripting, and cloud automation.
• Knowledge of Azure security, role-based access control (RBAC), encryption, secrets management, and security best practices.
• Experience with cloud monitoring, logging, performance optimization, backup, and disaster recovery.
• Familiarity with containers, virtualization, APIs, and modern application and data architectures.
• Experience with Git/version control, CI/CD, automated testing, and production deployment practices.
• Knowledge of cloud governance, resource management, compliance, and cost optimization.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills with the ability to independently manage complex cloud infrastructure projects.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to collaborate with infrastructure, security, data, application, and business teams.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Information Systems, Engineering, Cybersecurity, or a related field, with at least five (5) years of relevant technology experience, including Microsoft Azure cloud experience; or Master’s degree in a related technical field, with at least three (3) year of relevant technology experience, including Microsoft Azure cloud experience.
• Microsoft Azure certifications and experience supporting cloud environments in higher education or similarly complex organizations are strongly preferred.

Compliance Salary Range Disclosure Compensation Range: $130,000 - $140,000

Howard University is a comprehensive, research-oriented, historically Black private university providing an educational experience of exceptional quality to students of high academic potential with particular emphasis upon the provision of educational opportunities to promising Black students. Further, the University is dedicated to attracting and sustaining a cadre of faculty who are, through their teaching and research, committed to the development of distinguished and compassionate graduates and to the quest for solutions to human and social problems in the United States and throughout the world. Howard University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin, sex,sexual orientation,gender or gender identity, marital status, religion, disability or protected veterans status. Veterans and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Inquiries regarding provisions for persons with disabilities or veterans status, Equal Employment Opportunity and Title IX should be directed to the Office of Employee Relations and Equal Employment Opportunity at 202-806-1280. This position description should not be construed to imply that these requirements are the exclusive standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions, and perform any other related duties, as may be required. The university has the right to revise this position description at any time. This position description is not be construed as a contract for employment.