Senior Systems Engineer, Azure and AI

6 Months- Contract to hire- must convert to FTE at 6 months

This is a Hybrid position, and candidates must work onsite 60% of the time in one of the following locations:
Jacksonville, FL
Lewisville, TX
St. Louis, MO
Rogers, AR

Overview

The Senior Systems Engineer, Azure and AI is responsible for advanced administration, security, automation, and monitoring of a hybrid enterprise infrastructure environment. This role plays a key part in ensuring system reliability, scalability, and performance through proactive analysis and AI-enhanced monitoring.

This individual will provide Level 3 support, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate cross-functionally to support business-critical applications and infrastructure. The role also contributes to AI initiatives by enabling infrastructure readiness for AI workloads and integrating intelligent automation solutions.

This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who operates daily in Azure and has practical experience deploying and supporting AI-enabled infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

AI and Cloud Infrastructure

• Implement and support Azure-based AI infrastructure for machine learning and AI workloads
• Collaborate with data and AI teams to optimize model training and deployment environments
• Deploy and manage Azure AI services and related cloud-native tools
• Support role-based access controls and secure deployment of AI resources
• Develop scalable systems for data ingestion, preprocessing, and model inference
• Automate AI model deployment pipelines using CI/CD and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Monitor AI workloads and optimize performance and resource utilization
• Evaluate emerging AI and cloud technologies for scalability and efficiency
• Ensure security, compliance, and data privacy standards are maintained

Cloud & Automation

• Operate in Azure daily across compute, networking, storage, and identity services
• Build automation solutions using Python and PowerShell
• Implement infrastructure automation using tools such as Terraform or Ansible
• Leverage AI-enhanced monitoring tools for proactive incident detection
• Support hybrid cloud environments

Enterprise Systems Administration

• Administer Windows Server environments
• Support Microsoft 365, Azure AD, and Active Directory
• Ensure backup and disaster recovery readiness
• Provide advanced troubleshooting for server and infrastructure issues
• Maintain change control and operational standards
• Assist developers with infrastructure-related application troubleshooting

Additional Responsibilities

• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical best practices
• Document system architecture and operational processes
• Participate in after-hours support for incidents, upgrades, or maintenance windows as needed

Qualifications

• 7 years of IT experience in advanced infrastructure or Level 3 support roles
• Strong hands-on experience in Microsoft Azure
• Experience deploying or supporting Azure AI services
• Proficiency in Python and PowerShell for automation
• Deep knowledge of Microsoft server platforms and networking (AD, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy)
• Experience with Microsoft 365 and Azure AD
• Familiarity with AI-enabled monitoring platforms such as Splunk, Dynatrace, or Sentinel
• Exposure to AI infrastructure platforms such as Azure ML, NVIDIA AI Enterprise, or VMware Private AI is a plus