Azure Cloud Architect

Role: Azure Cloud Architect Location: McKinney, TX Duration: 6+ Months Role Overview Experienced Azure Cloud / Platform Architect responsible for designing and leading enterprise-scale Azure solutions, with a focus on scalable, secure, and governed cloud platforms. This role owns the technical vision for the Azure foundation - infrastructure, networking, and automation - and provides hands-on leadership to engineering and DevOps teams delivering against that vision. Required Skills & Experience 15+ years in IT infrastructure/cloud, with several years in an Azure architecture or senior platform-engineering role. Should have strong experience on Prometheus, Grafana, AKS, Azure monitor, Terraform and Azure landing zone. Deep, hands-on Azure infrastructure experience across compute, storage, databases, and containers (AKS). Strong Azure networking expertise - hub-and-spoke/vWAN, ExpressRoute, Firewall, Private Link, DNS, and routing. Proven experience with Terraform (and/or Bicep) and building reusable IaC at scale. Solid CI/CD and DevOps background (Azure DevOps and/or GitHub Actions) with an automation-first mindset. Experience designing and deploying Azure Landing Zones (Enterprise-Scale / CAF). Working knowledge of Entra ID, RBAC, PIM, Azure Policy, and cloud security/governance. Strong grasp of the Azure Well-Architected Framework and Cloud Adoption Framework. Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills; able to translate architecture into business outcomes. Experience with large-scale migrations, M&A integration, or regulated-industry compliance (ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS). Scripting proficiency (PowerShell, Python, Bash). Key Responsibilities Platform & Governance Design and architect Azure cloud platforms, Landing Zones, management groups, subscriptions, identity, governance, and core platform services. Design reusable cloud patterns and platform capabilities that support multiple business units, environments, or acquisitions. Define and implement best practices for Azure security, RBAC, PIM, Azure Policy, compliance, monitoring, backup, DR, and FinOps. Lead architecture for cloud migration, modernization, platform engineering, and workload onboarding initiatives. Azure Infrastructure (core strength) Architect resilient, scalable compute across VMs, VM Scale Sets, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), App Service, and serverless (Functions, Container Apps). Design storage and data platform architecture - Azure Storage tiers, managed disks, Azure Files/NetApp Files, and database services (Azure SQL, PostgreSQL/MySQL Flexible Server, Cosmos DB) - with the right performance, redundancy, and cost profile. Define multi-region and high-availability designs using availability zones, paired regions, load balancing, and geo-replication to meet defined RTO/RPO targets. Own capacity, performance, resiliency, and cost-optimization strategy across the estate (right-sizing, reservations/savings plans, autoscaling). Design observability across the platform - Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights, alerting, dashboards, and diagnostics. Architect backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity using Azure Backup, Azure Site Recovery, and cross-region failover patterns. Azure Networking (core strength) Define scalable Azure networking architectures, including hub-and-spoke and Virtual WAN topologies, VNet/subnet design, routing (UDRs, BGP), and multi-region connectivity. Architect hybrid and cross-premises connectivity via ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, and private peering. Design DNS strategy across Azure Private DNS, private resolver, and hybrid name resolution. Implement private and secure connectivity using Private Link, Private Endpoints, service endpoints, and NAT Gateway. Architect network security and edge protection with Azure Firewall, NSGs/ASGs, Web Application Firewall, DDoS Protection, and Application Gateway / Front Door. Define micro-segmentation, traffic inspection, and zero-trust network patterns for enterprise workloads. DevOps, IaC & Automation (core strength) Provide technical direction for Terraform/IaC (and/or Bicep), reusable modules, subscription provisioning ("subscription vending"), and standardized platform components. Design CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps and/or GitHub Actions for infrastructure and application delivery, including release strategies, approvals, and environment promotion. Establish GitOps and configuration-management practices, secrets management (Key Vault), and policy-as-code / compliance-as-code. Champion automation-first delivery - drift detection, automated testing of infrastructure, and self-service platform capabilities for application teams. Embed DevSecOps practices into pipelines (scanning, gating, supply-chain security). Leadership & Collaboration Work with engineering teams to review designs, resolve technical challenges, and ensure alignment with the Azure Well-Architected Framework and industry best practices. Collaborate with customers, Microsoft, and security, networking, DevOps, and application teams to drive architecture decisions and successful delivery. Provide technical leadership across Azure compute, networking, storage, databases, integration, and containers as required. Mentor engineers and uplift team capability in cloud, networking, and automation. Certifications Preferred: Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400) Nice to have: Azure Network Engineer Associate (AZ-700) Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) HashiCorp Terraform Associate Anveta