Senior Cloud Engineer

California Lottery; Sacramento (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

California Lottery is seeking a Senior Cloud Engineer to lead cloud infrastructure and data solutions within a fast‑paced IT environment in Sacramento. The role focuses on building scalable Azure-based services, optimizing costs, and ensuring robust security and reliability across hybrid deployments.

The ideal candidate will have extensive Azure experience, DevOps practices, and a proactive approach to leveraging Gen AI for automation, documentation, and metadata management while collaborating

Qualifications

• Experience architecting cloud-based solutions in Microsoft Azure, including hybrid environments.
• Knowledge of networking, capacity planning, elasticity, and cost optimization for cloud resources.

Skills

Azure cloud

Networking

DevOps

Gen AI

Stakeholder engagement

Problem solving

Documentation

Education

Information Technology Specialist II exam

Tools

Azure Data Factory

Azure App Services

Azure Monitor

Redis

SQL Server

Synapse

PowerShell

Azure DevOps

Git

Job description

Under general direction of the Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) Infrastructure Services Information Technology (IT) Manager I; the Information Technology Specialist II will serve as the Senior Cloud Engineer for the California State Lottery (Lottery). The duties for this position are focused in the System Engineering domain; however, work may be assigned in other domains as needed.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement.

This position requires a current Information Technology Specialist II exam.

This position is headquartered in Sacramento and is eligible for a hybrid telework schedule. Employees must be able to report to their assigned headquarters office as assigned. Travel expense to and from the assigned headquarters are the responsibility of the employee. Eligibility for telework requires the employee to reside in California per California Government Code Section 14200 which states: “telecommuting means the partial or total substitution of computers or telecommunication technologies, or both, for the commute to work by employees residing in California.

When choosing a state organization to work for, there are a lot of options. Why choose the California State Lottery?

People Are Drawn To The Lottery Because We:

• Are an energetic, creative, and talented team
• Value diversity and inclusion in the workplace
• Empower team members to bring their knowledge, expertise, and innovation
• Recognize individual and team contributions
• Support the importance of work-life balance
• Invest in the professional development of our team members
• Are dedicated to preserving our environment by lowering our carbon footprint

Working Conditions

The Senior Cloud Engineer will work in a fast‑paced environment, with competing priorities, and critical deliverables.

• Schedule: This position supports the Lottery during normal business hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. unless otherwise approved by the unit manager. Weekends, long and/or irregular hours, after‑hours work, and holiday work may be required.
• Travel: Statewide overnight travel may be required.
• Other: This position will be required to carry a Lottery issued cell phone. This position will be required to be reachable outside of normal business hours.

Required Application Package Documents

The Following Items Are Required To Be Submitted With Your Application. Applicants Who Do Not Submit The Required Items Timely May Not Be Considered For This Job:

• Current version of the State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678 (when not applying electronically), or the Electronic State Employment Application through your Applicant Account at www.CalCareers.ca.gov. All Experience and Education relating to the Minimum Qualifications listed on the Classification Specification should be included to demonstrate how you meet the Minimum Qualifications for the position.
• Resume is required and must be included.
• Statement of Qualifications - Please see Statement of Qualifications instructions below.

Desirable Qualifications

In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

• Experience architecting and deploying cloud‑based data solutions using Microsoft Azure. Knowledge of networking, capacity planning, elasticity, and cost optimization in hybrid environments.
• Enterprise experience with Azure Infrastructure management, cloud application development, associated technologies and tools (e.g., Azure VMWare Services, Azure Data factory, Azure App services, Azure Monitor, Redis, SQL Server, Synapse, PowerShell).
• Practical experience with business continuity planning and implementation of cloud‑based resources using native tools as well as Enterprise data protection solutions across cloud and on‑premises environments.
• Working knowledge of Enterprise System Development Architecture and Security.
• Experience with DevOps practices and version control using Azure DevOps or Git.
• Ability to Research, adapt to new technologies, perform problem solving, and resolve challenging technical issues.
• Ability to partner with business, program, and IT teams to translate requirements into technical designs. Experience in mentoring junior engineers and promoting best practices across cross‑functional teams.
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and strategic thinking skills. Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder engagement abilities. Proven capacity to manage multiple priorities and deliver under tight deadlines.
• Knowledge and preferably hands‑on experience applying Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) technologies, Large Language Models (LLMs), and AI‑assisted automation approaches to improve data engineering, data management, analytics, and software development processes.
• Experience leveraging Gen AI tools to automate repetitive data engineering tasks, enhance data quality, accelerate documentation, improve metadata management, or optimize data pipeline development is highly desirable.