Senior Desktop Infrastructure Engineer (AVD)

Job DescriptionJob Description Job Title: Senior Desktop Infrastructure Engineer Duration: 6 Months contract Location: Chicago, IL - The ideal candidate will be onsite 2 days per month for this role. Job Description: Core Ownership Areas Azure Virtual Desktop Nerdio Windows 11 Gold Images FSLogix Intune and Autopilot Integration End User Compute Architecture Azure Networking for AVD Desktop Infrastructure Automation Endpoint Security and Compliance Primary Responsibilities Azure Virtual Desktop Architecture & Operations Architect, implement, and maintain Azure Virtual Desktop environments. Design and manage host pools, session hosts, image lifecycles, and deployment pipelines. Develop scalability, resiliency, and disaster recovery strategies. Optimize user experience, performance, and Azure consumption costs. Establish operational standards and platform governance. AVD Networking & Infrastructure Engineering Design and troubleshoot AVD network connectivity across Azure and on-premises environments. Serve as the primary escalation point for network-related virtual desktop issues. Diagnose and resolve DNS, routing, firewall, latency, authentication, and connectivity problems. Partner with Network Engineering on ExpressRoute, VPN, segmentation, and hybrid connectivity solutions. Optimize network paths and client connectivity performance for virtual desktop workloads. Troubleshoot FSLogix profile performance, storage connectivity, and authentication issues. Analyze packet captures, connection diagnostics, and performance metrics to identify root causes. Support private endpoint, storage account, Azure Files, and Entra ID integration requirements. Nerdio Engineering & Automation Administer and optimize Nerdio Manager. Develop automated provisioning and image management workflows. Configure autoscaling and cost optimization strategies. Build operational automation using PowerShell and Azure services. Windows 11 Platform Engineering, Lead design and engineering of the Bank's Windows 11 desktop platform. Own gold image architecture and standards. Establish image testing, validation, and release processes. Define desktop lifecycle management strategy. Technical Leadership Provide technical leadership for desktop engineering initiatives. Mentor engineers and contractors. Establish engineering standards and operational practices. Evaluate vendors and technical solutions. Lead major incident response and root cause investigations. Required Skills Expert-Level Experience Azure Virtual Desktop Azure Networking Nerdio Microsoft Entra ID Active Directory Windows Desktop Engineering Windows 11 Image Engineering PowerShell Automation Root Cause Analysis and Troubleshooting Strong Experience FSLogix Azure Files DNS TCP/IP Networking Firewalls and Network Security Intune Autopilot Group Policy Preferred Experience EXPRESSROUTE Azure Virtual WAN Infrastructure as Code Ansible Liquidware ProfileUnity VMware Horizon or Citrix Terraform