Senior Defense Support & Azure Operations Lead

Applied Res; Beavercreek, Northern (OH, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Job summary

Applied Research Solutions (ARS) is seeking a Support Operations Lead to direct a Tier 1–4 support organization delivering mission-critical solutions hosted in the Azure cloud. You will drive service quality, support strategy, and daily operations, partnering with engineering and government stakeholders to ensure compliant, reliable service.

Responsibilities include leading a high-performance team, developing long-term support strategies, and establishing KPIs to measure and improve efficiency,

Qualifications

• US citizenship is required.
• Experience leading multi-tier (Tier 1–4) support operations.
• Proven experience in Defense/DoW environments; USAF preferred.
• 3+ years of experience troubleshooting solutions hosted on Azure cloud.
• Strong incident, problem, escalation management aligned with ITIL practices.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and organizational skills.
• Ability to operate in fast-paced, mission-centric environments.
• Experience interfacing with government stakeholders and contract requirements.
• Willingness to obtain ITIL AZ-900 within 12 months of hire.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and manage a multi-tier support team (Tier 1–4).
• Develop long-term support strategies, processes, and frameworks.
• Own performance and operational maturity of the support organization.
• Establish KPIs and reporting for efficiency, responsiveness and quality.
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and program teams for root-cause analysis.
• Oversee escalation procedures and Azure-hosted service issues.
• Ensure compliance with DoW and USAF standards and security requirements.
• Contribute to workforce planning and training.
• Improve support tooling, knowledge bases, and workflows.

Skills

Organizational skills

Communication

Multi-tasking

Leadership of teams

Azure cloud experience

Incident and problem management

Ability to work in DoW/USAF contexts

Education

ITIL Foundation certification

Azure AZ-900 certification

Tools

Azure cloud tools

Security/compliance frameworks (DISA/ RMF)

Job description

Applied Research Solutions (ARS) is seeking a Support Operations Lead to direct a Tier 1–4 support organization delivering mission-critical solutions hosted in the Azure cloud. You will drive service quality, support strategy, and daily operations, partnering with engineering and government stakeholders to ensure compliant, reliable service.

Responsibilities include leading a high-performance team, developing long-term support strategies, and establishing KPIs to measure and improve efficiency,