Azure Cloud Infrastructure Manager

Title: Azure Cloud Infrastructure Manager
Location: Remote (U.S. Based) - Rare hybrid travel required only for major team or management events.
Core Hours: East Coast availability preferred for core meetings; after-hours flexibility required for high-impact changes.

Position Overview
Our client is rebuilding its IT Operations Management (ITOM) leadership structure from the ground up. We are seeking a senior, proactive Cloud & Infrastructure Manager who operates as a true "player-coach." This is not a passive ticket-routing role or a pure engineering position-you will completely own the company enterprise Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft 365 platform governance, and overall infrastructure operations.

Initially operating as a high-performing team of one (absorbing work from a short-term consultant), you will establish scalable standards, governance runbooks, and automation discipline. As the environment stabilizes and matures, you will have the opportunity to build and hire an engineering team underneath you.

The ideal candidate thinks like a business owner, proactively identifies infrastructure risks, communicates seamlessly with executive leadership, and takes absolute accountability for the environment.

Key Initiatives & Immediate Impact

• Azure Cost Optimization & FinOps: Lead an aggressive cloud cleanup initiative (vault optimization, rightsizing, savings plans, reserved instances, and tagging structures) to capture an identified $300K-$600K in annual cloud spend savings.
• Security & Compliance Hardening: Harden the overall security and compliance posture across all Azure and M365 environments using Azure Policy, CIS Benchmarks, and NIST/HIPAA frameworks.
• Data Governance & Purview Implementation: Drive the end-to-end implementation and governance of Microsoft Purview, alongside a comprehensive cleanup of SharePoint and OneDrive architectures.
• Modernization & Containerization: Migrate legacy workloads into modernized, proper Azure containerized structures.
• Strategic Product Support: Provide robust infrastructure architecture and deployment support for high-priority business initiatives, including our digital front door and patient intake applications.
• Process Maturation: Introduce automated deployment disciplines and mature ITIL v4-aligned change management practices where they do not currently exist.

Core Responsibilities

• Architect, deploy, maintain, and govern Azure tenant-level services, subscription models, resource groups, VMs, App Services, VNETs/VLANs, networking components, and key vaults.
• Act as the ultimate technical authority and hands-on executor for all cloud infrastructure tasks.
• Translate highly technical infrastructure risks and metrics into clear, actionable, and business-focused presentations for senior and executive leadership.
• Build out standard operating procedures (SOPs), architecture diagrams, and infrastructure playbooks to ensure scalable future growth.
• Serve as the gatekeeper for change management, ensuring all deployments follow rigorous infrastructure disciplines to eliminate business-impacting downtime.

Position Requirements

• Must-Have Technical & Leadership Skills:
• Proven Azure Ownership: Extensive hands-on experience designing, governing, and maintaining enterprise-scale Microsoft Azure environments.
• Critical M365 & Purview Governance: Deep administration experience across M365 (specifically SharePoint and OneDrive) paired with critical, hands-on experience implementing Microsoft Purview.

• Demonstrated FinOps Acumen: Documented success driving large-scale Azure cost optimization, rightsizing, and savings plans.
• Framework & Change Discipline: Strong operational background working within ITIL v4 frameworks and strict corporate change management environments.
• The "Player-Coach" Mindset: A history of executing technical work independently without needing to be micromanaged, combined with the leadership maturity required to interface with executives and mentor future engineers.

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