Azure Cloud Engineer

Azure Cloud Engineer
Hybrid (Onsite 1 week/month)

Description:
Diversified Systems is searching for a highly skilled and well-rounded Azure expert to assist in maintaining the Azure Landing Zone and Azure Gov Cloud Landing Zone environments, working with agencies on troubleshooting, and helping to mentor staff. The Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) is the central IT organization for the state of Mississippi and acts as a service provider and/or service broker for agencies. Over the last two years, ITS has implemented an Azure Landing Zone and an Azure Gov Cloud Landing Zone and is working to build cloud expertise internally to support this environment and future agency Azure projects. This position will be crucial to the long-term success of this project for ITS as we work to build our Cloud Center of Excellence.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee and maintain the existing Azure tenants and Management Groups while ensuring adherence to industry best practices.
• Design, review, and implement Azure solutions that meet performance, security, and scalability requirements for both ITS and agencies.
• Serve as a senior point of contact for complex Azure-related issues, including network connectivity, and coordinate with internal teams and agencies to determine root cause and remediation strategies.
• Work with Microsoft and other third-party vendors to integrate various products into the overall Azure ecosystem.
• Provide knowledge transfer, training, and coaching to staff members to build internal cloud expertise and help with the creation and maintenance of technical documentation, standards, and playbooks.
• Work with ITS and agency security teams to ensure industry best practices and various compliance requirements are met.

Requirements:

• Deep knowledge of key Azure services (VMs, Azure Storage, Azure SQL/Cosmos DB, VNet, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Functions, Azure Resource Manager templates, etc.) required.
• Experience leading cloud migrations or implementations in a complex multi-tenant/subscription environment required.
• Strong network troubleshooting abilities to help resolve connectivity issues both inside the Azure cloud environment and ingressing/egressing to the State's on-premises environment (e.g., ExpressRoute, VPN) required.
• Familiarity with Azure Landing Zone implementations and management using Azure Landing Zone reference architectures or ALZ deployment tools required.
• Proficiency with infrastructure as code (ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform) and CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions) required.
• Experience implementing security best practices (e.g., Azure RBAC, encryption, network segmentation, and Azure Policies) required.
• Familiarity with DevOps principles, containerization (Docker, AKS, Azure Container Apps), and serverless architectures required.
• Strong troubleshooting abilities across networking, storage, and compute layers in Azure required.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders required.
• Proven experience mentoring staff and fostering a collaborative, learning-focused environment required.
• Effective problem-solving skills and the ability to remain calm and focused under pressure required.
• Strong organizational skills, capable of managing multiple projects and priorities simultaneously required.
• Ability to lead architectural reviews and navigate ambiguity in designing solutions to complex business problems required.
• Microsoft Azure Expert-level certification (e.g., Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert) highly desired.
• Experience in a government or highly regulated environment (e.g., HIPAA, CJIS, IRS 1075 compliance) highly desired.
• Knowledge of ITIL, project management methodologies (e.g., PMP, Agile), and enterprise IT governance frameworks highly desired.
• Familiarity with other public cloud providers and hybrid-cloud environments (e.g., Azure Arc) highly desired.
• Working knowledge of common scripting/programming languages (Python, Bash, PowerShell) highly desired.

About Diversified Systems
Founded in 1990, Diversified Systems is an award-winning Technology Services corporation providing all levels of IT project consulting services nationwide. DSI is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with regional offices in the American Midwest and East Coast. We offer our consultants a number of flexible and competitive compensation benefit packages.

Diversified Systems is committed to the principles of equal employment. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities, and all other employment laws and regulations.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
DSI values authenticity and is committed to making sure our employees and partners are valued and respected. At DSI, we believe building a diverse culture is important because we know when people work together, we can achieve better results as a team. DSI realizes that everyone comes from various backgrounds. We celebrate these differences because our employees are our greatest asset as we strive to best meet the needs of those we serve. As part of our ongoing efforts, DSI is focused on advancing equality, diversity, and inclusion by setting high standards to continually evolve our culture. This includes but is not limited to recruiting, community involvement, client delivery, and career development.