Lead Azure Cloud Engineer

Premier Staffing Partners; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Premier Staffing Partners is seeking a hands-on Lead Azure Cloud Engineer to guide the Azure cloud strategy, architecture, and implementation across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. You will lead design, deployment, migration, governance, and optimization while mentoring engineers and aligning with security and cost practices.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years in cloud engineering with Azure, strong leadership, and experience integrating deployments with CI/CD pipelines.

Qualifications

• Five+ years of cloud engineering experience with Microsoft Azure.
• Experience as technical lead or senior engineer on cloud initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of Azure management tools, networking, security, and RBAC.
• Proven datacenter-to-Azure or cloud-to-cloud migration experience.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (ARM, Bicep, Terraform) and CI/CD integration.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for Azure cloud infrastructure, engineering, and migration initiatives.
• Lead design, deployment, maintenance, and optimization of Azure solutions in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
• Establish and promote cloud standards, best practices, documentation, and repeatable processes.
• Mentor cloud engineers and ensure consistent technical execution across the team.
• Own cloud governance, Azure Policy, security practices, and role-based access control.
• Plan and execute cloud-to-cloud and datacenter-to-Azure migrations with risk and dependency management.
• Design, write, review, and maintain Infrastructure as Code using ARM, Bicep, Terraform.
• Collaborate with DevOps to integrate IaC into CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.
• Provide architecture guidance on scalability, availability, performance, security, and cost.

Skills

Cloud engineering leadership

Technical leadership

Strong communication

Collaboration across teams

Problem-solving

Tools

ARM templates

Bicep

Terraform

Azure DevOps

GitHub Actions

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Location: Remote (U.S.-based candidates only)

Type: W2 Contract-to-Hire

Duration: Six-month contract with expected conversion to a full-time employee

Position Summary

We are seeking a hands‑on Lead Azure Cloud Engineer to provide technical direction and help advance a growing cloud environment. This person will lead the design, deployment, migration, governance, and ongoing optimization of Azure infrastructure across hybrid and multi‑cloud environments.

The Lead Azure Cloud Engineer will serve as a senior technical resource for the team while remaining actively involved in engineering and operational responsibilities. The ideal candidate is comfortable establishing cloud standards, guiding other engineers, influencing architectural decisions, and shifting between strategic initiatives, hands‑on implementation, and daily operational needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and guidance for Azure cloud infrastructure, engineering, and migration initiatives.
• Lead the design, deployment, maintenance, and optimization of Azure solutions within hybrid and multi‑cloud environments.
• Establish and promote cloud engineering standards, best practices, documentation, and repeatable processes.
• Guide and mentor cloud engineers while supporting knowledge sharing and consistent technical execution across the team.
• Own cloud governance, Azure Policy, security best practices, subscription management, resource organization, tagging, and role‑based access control.
• Lead cloud‑to‑cloud and datacenter‑to‑Azure migration planning and execution, including risk identification, dependency management, and post‑migration optimization.
• Design, write, review, and maintain Infrastructure as Code using ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform, or similar technologies.
• Partner with DevOps teams to integrate Infrastructure as Code and automated deployments into CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.
• Provide technical direction on architecture decisions involving scalability, availability, performance, security, reliability, and cost efficiency.
• Review technical designs and implementations to ensure alignment with established cloud standards and business requirements.
• Identify opportunities to improve automation, platform stability, operational efficiency, monitoring, and cloud cost management.
• Troubleshoot complex cloud infrastructure issues and serve as an escalation point for engineering and operational support.
• Collaborate with security, infrastructure, networking, development, DevOps, and business teams to deliver cloud initiatives.
• Balance project‑based responsibilities with daily support needs and changing priorities in a fast‑paced environment.
• Assist with technical planning, work prioritization, and coordination across cloud‑related projects.
• Support the development of cloud roadmaps and provide recommendations for future platform improvements.

Required Qualifications

• Five or more years of experience in cloud engineering, including strong hands‑on experience with Microsoft Azure.
• Previous experience serving as a technical lead, senior engineer, mentor, or primary technical resource for cloud initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of Azure management tools, subscriptions, management groups, resource groups, Azure Policy, networking, identity, security, and RBAC.
• Proven experience leading datacenter‑to‑Azure or cloud‑to‑cloud migration projects.
• Advanced understanding of Infrastructure as Code principles and experience with ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform, or comparable tools.
• Experience integrating cloud infrastructure deployments with CI/CD pipelines and release automation.
• Working knowledge of Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or similar DevOps platforms.
• Experience supporting hybrid infrastructure and multi‑cloud environments.
• Strong understanding of cloud governance, security, scalability, availability, performance, and cost‑management practices.
• Ability to provide technical direction while remaining actively involved in engineering, troubleshooting, and operational support.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across technical and business teams.
• Proactive, adaptable approach with the ability to manage competing priorities and shift between projects as needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft Azure certifications such as AZ‑104, AZ‑305, or AZ‑400.
• Experience mentoring engineers or coordinating technical work across a cloud or infrastructure team.
• Familiarity with Agile or Scrum methodologies.
• Experience developing cloud standards, reference architectures, operational procedures, and technical documentation.
• Knowledge of cloud monitoring, disaster recovery, business continuity, and cost‑optimization practices.