Azure Cloud Engineer

US PERSONS ONLY. NO VISA SPONSORSHIP. Azure Cloud Engineer 6 months contract. Hybrid 3 IN /2 OUT Pay Range: $92 - $105 per hour POSITION SUMMARY The Cloud Engineer is responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining secure, scalable, and reliable cloud-based solutions. This role supports business objectives by optimizing cloud infrastructure, automating deployments, and ensuring compliance with security and performance standards. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Cloud Architecture & Infrastructure – Design and deploy cloud architectures on Microsoft Azure that meet performance, security, availability, and cost-efficiency requirements for a diverse portfolio of enterprise and research applications. – Architect and implement cloud networking, compute, storage, and identity constructs with security built in from the outset — applying least-privilege principles, network segmentation, encryption, and defense-in-depth across every layer. – Evaluate and recommend cloud services, architectural patterns, and infrastructure approaches; build evidence-based adoption cases that account for engineering capability, operational cost, and long-term platform sustainability. Automation & Deployment – Implement and maintain infrastructure-as-code (IaC) frameworks using Terraform, Ansible, Bicep, ARM templates, or equivalent — making infrastructure provisioning repeatable, auditable, and developer-friendly. – Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines for cloud infrastructure and application deployments; ensure changes are tested, validated, and deployed safely with automated rollback capability. – Drive automation of operational tasks — patching, scaling, monitoring, alerting, and cost optimization — reducing manual intervention and improving platform reliability and response time. Security & Compliance – Ensure cloud environments comply with Lilly's security standards, regulatory requirements, and data governance policies; implement and maintain controls for identity management, secrets management, audit logging, and encryption at rest and in transit. – Monitor cloud security posture continuously; identify and remediate misconfigurations, drift, and policy violations — integrating CSPM tooling into operational workflows for proactive compliance management. – Partner with Cybersecurity teams to align cloud platform security with enterprise threat models and applicable regulatory frameworks including GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA, and SOX where relevant. Optimization & Operational Excellence – Monitor cloud environments for performance, availability, and cost efficiency; proactively identify waste, right-size resources, and drive FinOps practices that deliver cloud value without unnecessary spend. – Contribute to platform engineering standards, reference architectures, and guardrails that simplify how development teams consume cloud infrastructure correctly and consistently. – Troubleshoot and resolve cloud infrastructure issues with urgency and precision; contribute to post-incident analysis and implement preventive improvements that reduce recurrence. BASIC QUALIFICATIONS – Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field — or equivalent professional experience. – 3+ years of hands-on cloud engineering experience in a production enterprise environment (Microsoft Azure required). – Demonstrated proficiency with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, Ansible, Bicep, ARM templates, or equivalent) and version control (Git). – Proficiency in scripting languages (Python, Bash, or equivalent) for automation and tooling development. – Strong understanding of cloud networking, virtualization, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and cloud security principles. – Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices in a cloud-native context. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS – Microsoft Azure certification strongly preferred — Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Administrator Associate, or Azure DevOps Engineer Expert. – Experience with FinOps practices and cloud cost optimization at enterprise scale. – Familiarity with monitoring and observability platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Azure Monitor, Application Insights, or equivalent). – Experience in pharmaceutical, healthcare, life sciences, or other regulated industries — particularly with GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, or HIPAA cloud compliance requirements. – Experience with Kubernetes in production (Azure Kubernetes Service / AKS or self-managed) including cluster operations and workload management. – Background in cloud security architecture: IAM design, secrets management, network security groups, and cloud-native security tooling. WHAT YOU SHOULD BRING – Deep, hands-on cloud expertise — you build and operate production cloud infrastructure, and you hold yourself accountable for its reliability, security, and cost. – Infrastructure-as-code as a default practice: you write Terraform or equivalent as naturally as you use the cloud console, and you understand why that matters for consistency, auditability, and scale. – A security-conscious engineering mindset — you design with least privilege, defense in depth, and compliance requirements built in from the start, not retrofitted under pressure. – A cost-conscious approach: you care about what cloud resources cost, you design systems that deliver value without unnecessary spend, and you proactively surface optimization opportunities. – The communication skills to work effectively with developers who need platform guidance and business stakeholders who need to understand cloud investment decisions — and to adjust your language for each. Show more Show less