Azure Infrastructure Engineer

Bennett Thrasher is seeking an Azure Infrastructure Engineer to provide hands-on technical leadership for our Azure server environment and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) platform. This role will design, administer, secure, monitor, troubleshoot, and continuously improve cloud infrastructure while establishing operational standards and mentoring other IT team members. The position requires deep Azure engineering experience, sound judgment in a production environment, and the ability to lead complex infrastructure work from design through implementation and ongoing support. 

What You’ll Do 

• Design, implement, administer, and optimize secure, scalable, and highly available Azure infrastructure aligned with business, security, and compliance requirements. 

• Administer Azure-hosted Windows Server environments, including deployment, configuration, patching, performance tuning, capacity planning, backup, recovery, and lifecycle management. 

• Engineer and support Azure services, including virtual machines, virtual networks, network security groups, private endpoints, storage, Azure Files, Recovery Services vaults, Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, firewalls, load balancing, and related platform services. 

• Lead administration and optimization of Azure Virtual Desktop and Nerdio, including host pools, session hosts, workspaces, application groups, golden images, autoscaling, user assignments, FSLogix profiles, and application delivery. 

• Monitor availability, capacity, security, cost, and user experience using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, alerts, dashboards, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and platform-native diagnostic tools. 

• Implement and maintain identity and access controls using Microsoft Entra ID, role-based access control, managed identities, privileged access practices, Conditional Access, and multifactor authentication. 

• Develop PowerShell, Azure CLI, or infrastructure-as-code automations to standardize deployments, reduce manual effort, improve consistency, and support repeatable recovery procedures. 

• Lead root-cause analysis for complex incidents, coordinate remediation across internal teams and vendors, and participate in planned maintenance and escalated after-hours support when required. 

• Perform architecture reviews, technical risk assessments, cost optimization, resource governance, and capacity forecasting; recommend improvements and lead approved implementation work. 

• Create and maintain architecture diagrams, configuration standards, operating procedures, runbooks, disaster recovery documentation, and knowledge articles. 

• Provide technical guidance, knowledge transfer, and role-appropriate training to service desk and infrastructure team members while partnering with security, compliance, and business stakeholders. 

What You Bring 

• 6+ years of progressive infrastructure engineering or systems administration experience, including at least 5 years of hands-on Microsoft Azure engineering in production environments. 

• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, migrating, and supporting enterprise Azure environments rather than administering only preconfigured services. 

• Advanced knowledge of Azure compute, storage, networking, identity, security, monitoring, governance, backup, disaster recovery, and cost optimization. 

• Deep experience with Windows Server, Active Directory, DNS, Group Policy, patching, certificates, permissions, performance analysis, and backup and recovery operations. 

• Hands-on administration of Azure Virtual Desktop and Nerdio Manager for Enterprise, including image management, autoscaling, host pool configuration, FSLogix, application delivery, monitoring, and troubleshooting. 

• Proficiency with PowerShell and working knowledge of Azure CLI, ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform, or another infrastructure-as-code approach. 

• Experience applying Azure Well-Architected Framework principles, operational controls, security baselines, naming and tagging standards, and policy-based governance. 

• Current Microsoft Azure certification (AZ-104, AZ-140, AZ-305), or equivalent documented training and senior-level hands-on experience; willingness to complete role-specific Azure and Nerdio training as assigned. 

• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills across cloud infrastructure, servers, networking, identity, endpoint access, security, and end-user experience. 

• Strong ownership, change management, documentation, and communication skills, with the ability to lead technical work and communicate risks, options, and recommendations to technical and leadership audiences. 

Nice to Have 

• Microsoft certifications or completed training in Azure Solutions Architecture, Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure Security, or Azure Networking. 

• Nerdio certification or formal Nerdio Manager for Enterprise administrator training. 

• Experience with Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Sentinel, Azure Policy, Azure Update Manager, Microsoft Intune, and hybrid identity or connectivity. 

• Experience building and testing business continuity and disaster recovery solutions using Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery. 

• Experience supporting professional services, accounting, or another security- and compliance-conscious business environment.