Senior DevOps Engineer

William Blair; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,300 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision coverage

401(k)

Profit sharing

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

William Blair is looking for a Senior DevOps Engineer in Chicago, Illinois, to design and operate scalable cloud-native platforms within Azure. The role emphasizes the creation of CI/CD pipelines, strong automation, and cloud governance.

Ideal candidates will have experience with AKS, Azure DevOps, and a solid understanding of DevOps practices in regulated environments. Benefits include health coverage and a potential annual bonus.

Qualifications

• 4-6 years of experience in DevOps, cloud engineering, or platform engineering roles.
• Strong experience as a Site Reliability Engineer in cloud environments.
• Solid understanding of networking, security, and identity in cloud environments.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps.
• Build and operate Kubernetes platforms with AKS.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code using Bicep or Terraform.

Skills

CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps

Kubernetes experience (AKS)

Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Bicep)

Programming skills (Python)

Problem-solving skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field

Tools

Docker

Azure DevOps

GitHub Actions

Job description

Solutions for Today’s Challenges. Vision for Tomorrow’s Opportunities.

Join William Blair, the Premier Global Partnership.

We are seeking a hands‑on Senior DevOps Engineer to design, build, and operate secure, scalable cloud‑native platforms within Azure. This role focuses on enabling reliable CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, Kubernetes‑based workloads, and strong automation practices across Azure DevOps and GitHub environments. The ideal candidate has deep experience with AKS, modern DevOps tooling, and cloud governance in regulated environments.

Responsibilities include but may not be limited to:

• Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions.
• Build and operate Kubernetes platforms using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), including cluster design, scaling, and security.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Bicep or Terraform.
• Automate build, test, deployment, and release processes across development, staging, and production environments.
• Support GitHub repository management, branching strategies, PR workflows, and policy enforcement.
• Collaborate closely with development and other architectures to enable cloud‑native application delivery.
• Implement monitoring, logging, and alerting using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights.
• Enforce security best practices including identity, RBAC, secrets management with Azure Key Vault, and supply chain security.
• Troubleshoot production issues and perform root cause analysis to improve platform reliability.
• Develop DevOps standards, reusable pipelines, and platform documentation.
• Additional responsibilities as requested.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related subject matter required
• 4-6 years of experience in DevOps, cloud engineering, or platform engineering roles.
• Strong experience as a DevOps or Site Reliability Engineer in cloud environments.
• Design, implement, and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions.
• Strong Kubernetes experience, specifically with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Proficiency with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform and/or Bicep.
• Experience with containerization using Docker and OCI standards.
• Strong programming skills using Python (required), and PowerShell.
• Experience implementing monitoring, logging, and alerting solutions.
• Solid understanding of networking, security, and identity in cloud environments.
• Strong problem‑solving, communication, and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience operating platforms in financial services or regulated environments.
• Knowledge of GitHub Advanced Security, SAST/DAST, and dependency scanning tools.
• Experience with service mesh, ingress controllers, and Kubernetes security tooling.
• Familiarity with Agile and DevSecOps practices.
• C# experience is a plus.
• Backstage experience highly desired.
• Azure certifications such as Azure DevOps Engineer Expert or Azure Administrator preferred.

A reasonable estimate of the current base salary range at time of posting is below. Base salary does not include other forms of compensation or benefits. Actual base salary within the specified range is based on several factors, including but not limited to applicant’s skills, prior relevant experience, specific degrees and certifications, job responsibilities, market considerations and, if applicable, the location of the position.

This role is eligible for either a discretionary annual bonus (based on company, business unit and individual performance) and/or commission‑based incentives.

Our featured benefit offerings include medical, dental and vision coverage, employer paid short & long‑term disability and life insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, paid time off, Maven family & fertility benefit, parental leave (including adoption, surrogacy, and foster placement), as well as other voluntary benefits.

Salary Range: $140,300—$170,000 USD

About Our Firm

William Blair strives to attract qualified candidates who specialize in investment banking, investment management, private wealth management, and other strategic resource groups. We are committed to empowering our colleagues to deliver client success and engage in our communities. Our firm has delivered trusted advice for nine decades, continuing to deepen our expertise and relationships across asset classes and markets throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. We provide advisory services, strategies, and solutions to meet clients’ evolving needs amid dynamic market conditions and varying industries. What sets us apart is that we are an independent partnership, with colleagues who have unique experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We empower our people to bring their best thinking so we can deliver the tailored, thoughtful work and problem‑solving abilities that our clients expect. We invite you to learn more about us by visiting williamblair.com.

William Blair is an equal opportunity employer. It complies with all laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in employment practice because of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, marital status, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, unfavorable discharge from the military service or on the basis of a physical or mental disability that is unrelated to the employee's ability to perform the duties of the job applied for. EOE m/f/d/v

Be aware of hiring scams: William Blair has clear processes and guidelines with regards to recruiting. We do not request personal financial information in connection with an employment application nor does William Blair extend any employment offers without first conducting an interview through one of its registered offices. William Blair does not use instant messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or iMessage as part of the recruiting or interviewing process.

Note to External Recruiters / Search Firms: William Blair does not accept unsolicited resumes and will not pay for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Any unsolicited resumes received will not be considered as a valid submission.

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