Senior Cloud Engineer

Forge Forward Inc.; Charleston (SC); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Forge Forward Inc. in Charleston, SC is seeking a Senior Cloud Engineer to design, deploy, and secure mission-critical cloud and hybrid-cloud infrastructure in regulated DoD/Navy environments. The role requires US citizenship with a Secret clearance and on-site work.

The ideal candidate has 7+ years in enterprise IT with strong Azure Government experience (IL5/IL6 preferred) and hands-on IaC, networking, identity, and security services.

Qualifications

• US citizenship with Secret clearance and SSBI/T5 investigation; TS/SCI desired.
• 7+ years in enterprise IT or C4I with hands-on cloud architecture experience.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent technical experience in a DoD-focused environment.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy, secure, and sustain Microsoft Azure architectures with IL5/IL6 emphasis.
• Engineer hybrid-cloud solutions that integrate on-premises and Azure services.
• Manage internal networking, identity, security, and VDI in Azure.
• Develop repeatable infrastructure provisioning using Terraform and Azure Automation.
• Produce architecture diagrams, implementation plans, and RMF/ATO evidence.
• Support DoD/Navy regulated environments and participate in change management.

Skills

Azure Architecture

Azure Government

IL5/IL6 Experience

DoD C4I

Terraform

CI/CD

PowerShell

Python

Network Security

RMF/ATO

Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Arc

ExpressRoute

Kubernetes

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Relevant professional experience in lieu of degree

Tools

Azure Automation

Terraform

Azure Arc

Git

PowerShell

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Forge Forward is searching for a Senior Cloud Engineer. This position will be on-site and support a client in Charleston, SC. Position requires US citizenship with a Secret clearance. Those not meeting these requirements cannot be considered. Minimum seven (7) years of experience supporting enterprise IT or C4I systems, with substantial hands-on cloud architecture and engineering experience is required. The Senior Cloud Engineer is responsible for designing, deploying, securing, and sustaining mission-critical cloud and hybrid-cloud infrastructure in regulated DoD and Navy environments.

The preferred candidate brings deep Microsoft Azure experience, particularly Azure Government. Impact Level 5 (IL5) experience is strongly desired, and IL6 experience is ideal. The role requires the ability to design within mission, security, connectivity, and platform constraints while integrating on-premises services with cloud capabilities.

This engineer will serve as a technical authority across Azure architecture, external and internal networking, identity and access management, security services, virtual desktop, virtual machines, containers, and Infrastructure as Code automation. AWS or commercial-cloud experience is relevant, but Azure Government experience is preferred.

Functional Responsibilities and Skills:

• Design, deploy, secure, and sustain Microsoft Azure architectures, with preference for Azure Government over commercial cloud and Azure over AWS.
• Apply experience in DoD Impact Level environments; IL5 experience is strongly desired, and IL6 experience is ideal.
• Design hybrid-cloud solutions that run complementary services on premises and in Azure, including integration and management through Azure Arc.
• Engineer external connectivity and direct-connect solutions, including Azure ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, routing, and connectivity to on-premises networks.
• Design and manage internal networking, including virtual networks, subnets, network security groups, VLANs, routing, and network segmentation.
• Implement cloud security using Microsoft Defender, Azure Firewall, VPN Gateway, secure baselines, least-privilege access, and Zero Trust principles.
• Design and administer Azure identity, role-based access control, privileged access, and service identities, including integration with program-provided NIS tools.
• Architect and support Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows and Linux virtual machines, and containerized workloads.
• Evaluate technical, cybersecurity, mission, and cost constraints and develop resilient Azure solution architectures and implementation plans.
• Develop repeatable infrastructure provisioning and configuration using Azure Automation integrated with Terraform; PowerShell, Bash, Python, and CI/CD experience is valuable.
• Troubleshoot complex cloud, network, identity, security, compute, and hybrid-integration issues across lab and production environments.
• Produce architecture diagrams, implementation plans, test artifacts, operating procedures, and RMF/ATO compliance evidence; participate in technical reviews and change management.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical field desired. Relevant technical experience may be considered in lieu of a degree, subject to contract labor category requirements.
• CompTIA Security+ or equivalent certification meeting DoD Cybersecurity Workforce IAT Level II requirements.
• US citizen with a Secret clearance and current SSBI/T5 investigation. TS/SCI desired.

Desired Skills and Certifications:

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert; Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104); Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate; and HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate.
• Experience supporting Navy C4I or comparable DoD mission environments.
• Azure Government and classified-cloud engineering experience at IL6.
• Advanced Azure architecture experience with Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure Arc, ExpressRoute, Azure Firewall, Microsoft Defender, VPN Gateway, virtual machines, containers, and role-based access control.
• Hybrid-cloud architecture spanning on-premises infrastructure and Azure services.
• Terraform integrated with Azure Automation, Git-based version control, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with Azure Kubernetes Service or other Kubernetes/container platforms.
• Familiarity with DISA STIGs, ACAS/SCAP remediation, RMF controls, POA&Ms, and continuous monitoring.
• Strong communication, technical documentation, collaboration, and leadership skills in a multi-disciplinary Agile environment.