Cloud Administrator

How will this role impact First Command?

The Cloud Administrator position is responsible for managing and optimizing our cloud infrastructure, ensuring high availability, security, and performance of cloud-based services. You will collaborate with cross-functional agile teams to support our cloud strategy and enhance our overall IT capabilities. The role involves identity and access management, support management of solutions and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) modules, optimizing resources for cost and performance, documenting processes, participating in architectural planning, and engaging in incident response and on-call duties.

What will the employee do in this role?

• Build, manage, maintain, and optimize both cloud & on-prem resources, including IaaS and PaaS storage, compute, security, and network services.
• Monitor the performance and availability of Azure resources, ensuring that they meet the required service levels.
• Implement and manage backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions within our cloud environments.
• Implement and manage security best practices in the hybrid environment, including identity and access management, encryption, and threat protection.
• Ensure that the hybrid environment complies with relevant industry standards and regulations.
• Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments, addressing any identified risks
• Configure and manage Active Directory and EntraID users, systems, and applications, applying principles of zero trust to enhance security and efficiency.
• Implement Business-to-Business (B2B), Single Sign-On (SSO), and System for Cross-domain Identity Management (SCIM) solutions to streamline user experience while ensuring robust security across identity domains.
• Automate routine tasks using tools such as Azure Automation, PowerShell, and Infrastructure as Code to increase efficiency and reduce errors.
• Build, automate, and maintain cloud infrastructure deployments using IaC and automation toolsets
• Optimize Azure resources for cost and performance, using tools like Azure Cost Management and Azure Monitor.
• Implement auto-scaling and load-balancing solutions to handle varying workloads efficiently.
• Monitor Azure maintenance and outages, assess impact, and develop strategies to minimize impact
• Collaborate, consult, coordinate task level work with developers and scrum teams on security, network, and compute resource needs.
• Produce and maintain documentation for use in the installation, configuration, operation and maintenance of cloud and on-premise related infrastructure
• Participate in design and implementation of architectural roadmaps regarding hybrid cloud infrastructure
• Coordinate with service providers, vendors and various First Command teams to ensure timely resolution of infrastructure related issues
• Participate in incident response and problem management activities, ensuring that customer issues are resolved quickly and effectively.
• Participate in on-call rotation and be available for special duties outside normal working hours

Skills & Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or similar field required

Work Experience

Required

• 5+ years progressive working in computing or network infrastructure
• 2+ years’ experience in a cloud environment, preferably Azure as a Cloud Administrator, Engineer, and/or DevOps role
• Demonstrated experience building and operating cloud services
• Experience in automation (Infrastructure-as-Code, Configuration-as-Code) and management of both on-premises infrastructure and applications, cloud hosted Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service capabilities (Azure)
• Experience with CI/CD platforms and tools such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Puppet, Chef or similar
• Experience with infrastructure monitoring tools, cost management solutions, and DevOps processes
• Experience with identity and access management and federated services.

Prefer experience with the following technologies:

• Latest versions of Microsoft Windows Server
• Cloud Infrastructure (Azure and AWS)
• Palo Alto or related cloud-based firewall technologies, application load balancers and API management platforms

Certifications

• Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) required
• Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) a plus
• Azure Solutions Architect (AZ-305) a plus
• Current MCSE certifications a plus
• Current AWS certifications a plus
• Cisco (CCNA, CCNP) a plus

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Recognize, troubleshoot, and resolve and system issues without supervision
• Critical Thinking
• Trouble shooting and performance tuning
• Document and distribute system reports as required
• Required to work within a team environment
• Excellent written and oral communication skills including explaining complex technical concepts to all parties
• Excellent customer service skills
• Proficiency in scripting languages (e. g. Powershell or Python) for automation tasks.
• Solid understanding of networking concepts and security best practices for cloud environments.

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