Lead Azure Cloud Engineer

Lucas James Talent Partners is recruiting on behalf of UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement. We have an exciting opportunity for a Lead Azure Cloud Engineer atUL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement, based in our Evanston, Illinois, office.

The Lead Cloud Engineer serves as a senior technical expert and individual contributor responsible for defining, designing, and advancing enterprise cloud infrastructure strategy and solutions. This role provides technical leadership across complex cloud initiatives, drives cloud architecture standards and best practices, and partners with cross-functional teams to ensure secure, scalable, resilient, and cost-effective cloud environments. The Lead Cloud Engineer influences technical direction, mentors team members, and leads the implementation of cloud modernization efforts while remaining hands‑on in solution design and delivery. The Lead Cloud Engineer also directs the day‑to‑day technical work of a managed service provider (MSP) engineering team, setting priorities, defining standards of quality, and holding delivery partners accountable to agreed service levels and outcomes.

UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement

At UL Research Institutes (ULRI) and UL Standards & Engagement (ULSE), we expand the boundaries of safety science to create a more secure and sustainable world. For more than a century, we have studied the unintended consequences of innovation, designed solutions to mitigate risk, created new safety standards and shared our findings with academia, scientists, manufacturers, and policymakers across industries. We identify critical safety and sustainability issues, asking the tough questions because we believe a safer world begins with knowledge.

What you’ll learn and achieve:

As the Lead Cloud Engineer , you will play a key role in the rapid growth of UL as you:

• Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of enterprise cloud infrastructure solutions across major cloud platforms (AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform).
• Lead and direct an MSP-based technical team — assigning work, reviewing deliverables, coaching engineers, and driving consistent execution against runbooks, SLAs, and engineering standards.
• Serve as the primary technical point of escalation for MSP-delivered services, partnering with vendor leadership on staffing, onboarding, quality, and continuous improvement.
• Establish cloud architecture standards, governance frameworks, and best practices that support organizational scalability, security, and operational excellence.
• Serve as the technical lead for complex infrastructure projects, providing architectural guidance and influencing technology decisions across multiple teams.
• Design and implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) strategies using Terraform as the primary provisioning standard, with CloudFormation where platform-native tooling is required.
• Build and maintain configuration management and server automation using Ansible, including role design, inventory management, and drift remediation.
• Design, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines in GitHub Actions for infrastructure provisioning, configuration deployment, automated testing, policy enforcement, and release automation.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation, architecture diagrams, implementation standards, and operational procedures usable by both internal staff and MSP partners.
• Provide mentorship, technical coaching, and knowledge sharing to engineering team members while promoting engineering best practices.
• Contribute to and/or lead other department specific and cross-functional initiatives.

What you’ll experience working at UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement:

We have pursued our mission of working for a safer, more secure, and sustainable world for nearly 130 years, embedding conscientious stewardship into everything we do.

• People : Our people make us special. You’ll work with a diverse team of experts respected for their independence and transparency and build a network, because our approach is collaborative. We collaborate across disciplines, organizations, and geographies to build the global scientific response that today’s global challenges require.
• Interesting work : Every day is different for us here. We see what’s on the horizon and use our expertise to build the foundations of a safer future. You’ll have the opportunity to push the boundaries of human understanding as part of a team working to advance the public good.
• Grow and achieve : We learn, work, and grow together through targeted development, reward, and recognition programs.
• Values . Four core values guide our work: collaboration, respect, integrity, and beneficence. By living our values, we inspire the trust essential to fulfilling our mission and foster the partnerships that enable us to pursue a beneficent future in which we all can thrive.
• Total Rewards : All employees at UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement are eligible for bonus compensation based on the level of the position. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans and a generous 401k matching structure of up to 5% of eligible pay. Moreover, we invest an additional 4% into your retirement saving fund after your first year of continuous employment. Depending on your role, you may be able to discuss flexible working arrangements with your manager. We also provide employees with paid time off, including vacation, holiday, sick, and volunteer days.

What makes you a great fit:

While no one candidate will embody every quality, the successful candidate will bring many of the following professional competencies and personal attributes:

• Advanced expertise in cloud platforms, with deep hands‑on experience in at least one major provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and working familiarity with a second.
• Strong knowledge of cloud architecture patterns, including high availability, disaster recovery, scalability, and multi‑region deployments.
• Expert proficiency with Terraform for infrastructure as code, including module design, state management, remote backends, and workspace/environment strategy.
• Advanced understanding of cloud networking, including virtual networks, NSGs, VPN gateways, ExpressRoute, load balancing, DNS, and hybrid‑cloud connectivity.
• Strong experience implementing DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and platform engineering principles.
• Deep understanding of cloud security, identity and access management, Zero Trust principles, encryption, compliance frameworks, and governance controls.
• Ability to analyze complex technical challenges, identify root causes, and implement scalable, long‑term solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coordinate, and hold accountable for a managed service provider or outsourced engineering team across multiple time zones, including work intake, prioritization, quality review, and performance feedback to vendor leadership.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence technical decisions across multiple teams and levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives, establish standards, and guide teams.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to align technology solutions to organizational priorities and objectives.

Professional education and experience requirements for the role include:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in cloud engineering, cloud architecture, infrastructure engineering, or related areas, including responsibility for designing and managing enterprise‑scale cloud environments.
• Minimum 3 years of experience leading complex cloud transformation, migration, modernization, or architecture initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead, subject matter expert, or principal contributor to cloud infrastructure initiatives.

About UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement

UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement are nonprofit organizations dedicated to advancing safety science research through the discovery and application of scientific knowledge. We conduct rigorous independent research and analyze safety data, convene experts worldwide to