Azure Infrastructure & Virtual Desktop Engineer - Enterprise Technology Infrastructure

Overview

When you join Hines, you will embark on a career journey fueled by vision and guided by leaders who set the standards of our industry. Our legacy is rooted in innovation and excellence, earning us a spot on Fast Company’s esteemed annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies, as well as recognition as one of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For in 2024. Discover endless opportunities to grow and make your mark at Hines.

Responsibilities

We are seeking a highly skilled Azure Infrastructure & Virtual Desktop Engineer to design, implement, and optimize our cloud infrastructure and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) environments within Microsoft Azure. This role focuses on Azure compute, storage, networking, virtual desktop services, resiliency, automation, and security, ensuring scalable, secure, and high-performing cloud environments that support enterprise applications and end-user computing services. The ideal candidate brings a strong AI-first mindset, proactively leveraging AI tools and automation to improve operational efficiency, strengthen security posture, and accelerate infrastructure delivery. This role is not just about maintaining cloud environments—it is about continuously improving how infrastructure and virtual desktop services are designed, deployed, managed, and optimized through intelligent tooling and automation.

This role is based in Houston, TX and follows a hybrid schedule (3 days in-office, 2 days remote).

Key Responsibilities

• Azure Infrastructure Engineering
• Design, implement, and manage Azure infrastructure solutions across compute, storage, networking, and platform services.
• Build and maintain scalable, highly available, and resilient cloud environments.
• Design and implement disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) strategies, including failover, replication, and recovery testing.
• Ensure infrastructure designs meet defined RTO/RPO objectives and align with enterprise resiliency standards.
• Support infrastructure-as-code (IaC) deployments and environment standardization.
• Monitor system performance, availability, and capacity, and proactively optimize environments.

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) Engineering

• Design, deploy, and manage Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) environments supporting enterprise end-user computing requirements.
• Architect and maintain AVD host pools, session hosts, application groups, workspaces, and user profile solutions utilizing FSLogix.
• Optimize AVD performance, scalability, and user experience through capacity planning, image management, and performance tuning.
• Develop and maintain golden images and image lifecycle processes using Azure Image Builder or equivalent solutions.
• Implement and maintain secure AVD configurations aligned with Zero Trust and enterprise security standards.
• Manage and troubleshoot AVD connectivity, authentication, profile, and application delivery issues.
• Support business continuity and disaster recovery strategies for virtual desktop environments.
• Partner with End User Computing (EUC), Security, IAM, and Infrastructure teams to deliver secure and reliable virtual desktop services.
• Automate AVD provisioning, configuration, scaling, and operational tasks using PowerShell, Azure Automation, and Infrastructure-as-Code.
• Manage AVD cost optimization initiatives including autoscaling, image management, and resource utilization monitoring.

Azure Networking (Core Focus)

• Design and manage Azure networking architectures, including:
• Virtual Networks (VNets) and subnet design
• Network Security Groups (NSGs) and Application Security Groups (ASGs)
• Azure Firewall, Load Balancers, and Application Gateways
• VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute connectivity
• Private Endpoints and Service Endpoints
• Ensure secure, segmented, and well-architected network designs aligned with enterprise standards.
• Support resilient network designs that enable high availability and DR failover scenarios.
• Troubleshoot complex networking issues across hybrid and cloud environments.
• Partner with on-premises and security teams to ensure seamless hybrid connectivity and network integration.
• Security & Compliance
• Implement and maintain secure cloud configurations aligned with Zero Trust principles.
• Apply identity and access controls in partnership with IAM teams, including Microsoft Entra ID integration.
• Monitor for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and security risks within Azure environments.
• Support compliance requirements and audit readiness.
• AI-First Operations & Automation
• Apply an AI-first approach to infrastructure engineering, leveraging tools such as Microsoft Copilot and AI-assisted scripting.
• Design and implement automation solutions using PowerShell, Azure CLI, and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Bicep, ARM, and Terraform.
• Use AI to enhance troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and performance optimization.
• Identify and lead opportunities to embed AI into cloud operations, monitoring, and deployment workflows.
• Stay current on emerging AI capabilities within Azure and incorporate them into engineering practices.
• Documentation, Diagramming & Standards
• Create and maintain clear, structured technical documentation for Azure environments and configurations.
• Develop architecture and network diagrams using tools such as Microsoft Visio or equivalent platforms.
• Ensure documentation reflects both current-state and future-state cloud designs, including DR/BC architectures.
• Contribute to standards, templates, and best practices for Azure infrastructure and virtual desktop services.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Work cross-functionally with infrastructure, security, IAM, EUC, and application teams.
• Provide Azure infrastructure and AVD guidance to application teams, including architecture reviews, connectivity design, and performance optimization.
• Assist teams in designing cloud-native and hybrid solutions that align with infrastructure and security standards.
• Proactively identify opportunities for optimization, cost efficiency, and performance improvement.
• Support incident response and participate in on-call rotation as needed.
• Continuously improve cloud architecture, automation, virtual desktop operations, and operational processes.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements include:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution preferred.

• Seven or more years of experience in cloud and/or infrastructure engineering roles.

• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure.

• Hands-on experience deploying, administering, and troubleshooting Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD).

• Deep understanding of Azure networking concepts and architecture.

• Experience with FSLogix profile management and user experience optimization.

• Experience managing Windows 10/11 Enterprise multi-session environments in Azure.

• Experience designing and supporting hybrid cloud environments.

• Experience designing or supporting disaster recovery and business continuity solutions in Azure.

• Proficiency with infrastructure-as-code tools such as Bicep, ARM, Terraform, or similar.

• Experience with PowerShell, Azure CLI, or other automation tools.

• Strong understanding of cloud security best practices and principles.

• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex infrastructure, virtual desktop, and networking issues.

Closing

At Hines, we strive for excellence as a leading global real estate investment manager, driven by our by our belief that real estate is fundamentally about people. Our diverse portfolio spans $93.2 billion¹ of assets across such property types as living, office, retail, mixed-use, logistics and life science projects – all designed to enhance value, connection and inspiration. Our strategic approach integrates local expertise with global knowledge, taking calculated risks aligned with our convictions to exceed expectations and tailor solutions to our clients' needs.

While our projects are renowned for enhancing cities and pioneering sustainable practices, we recognize that the true driving force behind Hines' success is our 5,000 dedicated employees in 30 countries who draw on our 65-year history to build the world forward. This is why we prioritize investing in our people, offering comprehensive training, competitive compensation, robust benefits and generous vacation packages. By centering our focus on the growth and wellbeing of our team, we cultivate an inclusive environment where everyone, including our clients, can thrive.

Hines is proud to be named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2024. ¹Includes both the global Hines organization and RIA AUM as of December 31, 2023.

We are an equal opportunity employer and support workforce diversity.

No calls or emails from third parties at this time please.