Senior Cloud Engineer

Job Description and Duties

Under general direction of the Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) Infrastructure Services Information Technology (IT) Manager I; the Information Technology Specialist II will serve as the Senior Cloud Engineer for the California State Lottery (Lottery). The duties for this position are focused in the System Engineering domain; however, work may be assigned in other domains as needed.

This position requires a current Information Technology Specialist II exam. If you need to take the exam or if your score has expired, click to gain list eligibility.

This position is headquartered in Sacramento and is eligible for a hybrid telework schedule. Employees must be able to report to their assigned headquarters office as assigned. Travel expense to and from the assigned headquarters are the responsibility of the employee. Eligibility for telework requires the employee to reside in California per California Government Code Section 14200 which states: “telecommuting means the partial or total substitution of computers or telecommunication technologies, or both, for the commute to work by employees residing in California.

When choosing a state organization to work for, there are a lot of options. Why choose the California State Lottery? 

People are drawn to the Lottery because we:

• Are an energetic, creative, and talented team
• Value diversity and inclusion in the workplace
• Empower team members to bring their knowledge, expertise, and innovation
• Recognize individual and team contributions
• Support the importance of work-life balance
• Invest in the professional development of our team members
• Are dedicated to preserving our environment by lowering our carbon footprint

May consider a Training & Development assignment.

All Experience and Education relating to the Minimum Qualifications listed on the Classification Specification should be included to clearly demonstrate how you meet the Minimum Qualifications for the position on your State Application (STD Form 678). The application should also clearly demonstrate the candidate’s ability to meet the Desirable Qualifications identified in this job advertisement. The Classification Specification is located on this Job Announcement Posting under "Minimum Requirements." 

It is highly recommended that you apply online using your CalCareers account. It is not necessary to return the contact letter if you applied electronically. Please ensure to monitor your email and/or CalCareers account for communication associated with your application submission.

Effective July 1, 2025, specific Bargaining Units and associated Excluded State employees are subject to a salary reduction between 2% - 4.62% in exchange for hours for Personal Leave hours each month. For more details, please click to visit the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) website.

The Lottery is less than 30 minutes from all that Downtown Sacramento has to offer. Amenities include an onsite restaurant, free gym, close to the light rail station, electric car charging stations, and free parking!! Apply today to join a dynamic organization that is not only passionate about its mission, but also its people!!

You will find additional information about the job in the .

Working Conditions

The Senior Cloud Engineer will work in a fast-paced environment, with competing priorities, and critical deliverables.

a. Schedule: This position supports the Lottery during normal business hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. unless otherwise approved by the unit manager. Weekends, long and/or irregular hours, after-hours work, and holiday work may be required.

b. Travel: Statewide overnight travel may be required.

c. Other : This position will be required to carry a Lottery issued cell phone. This position will be required to be reachable outside of normal business hours.

Special Requirements

• The California State Lottery Act provides that no person may be hired as an employee of the Commission if that person has been convicted of a felony or any gambling related offense.
• The position requires a Background Investigation be cleared prior to being hired.
• If you are basing your eligibility on education, (), provide your transcripts and/or diploma. Applicants with foreign transcripts must provide a transcript evaluation that indicates the number of units to which the foreign course work is equivalent. Transcripts and evaluations may be unofficial;  official transcripts will be requi red upon appointment.  Please redact birthdates and social security numbers.

Desirable Qualifications

In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

• Experience architecting and deploying cloud-based data solutions using Microsoft Azure. Knowledge of networking, capacity planning, elasticity, and cost optimization in hybrid environments.
• Enterprise experience with Azure Infrastructure management, cloud application development, associated technologies and tools (e.g., Azure VMWare Services, Azure Data factory, Azure App services, Azure Monitor, Redis, SQL Server, Synapse, PowerShell).
• Practical experience with business continuity planning and implementation of cloud-based resources using native tools as well as Enterprise data protection solutions across cloud and on-premises environments.
• Working knowledge of Enterprise System Development Architecture and Security.
• Experience with DevOps practices and version control using Azure DevOps or Git.
• Ability to Research, adapt to new technologies, perform problem solving, and resolve challenging technical issues.
• Ability to partner with business, program, and IT teams to translate requirements into technical designs. Experience in mentoring junior engineers and promoting best practices across cross-functional teams.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and strategic thinking skills. Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder engagement abilities. Proven capacity to manage multiple priorities and deliver under tight deadlines.
• Knowledge and preferably hands-on experience applying Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) technologies, Large Language Models (LLMs), and AI-assisted automation approaches to improve data engineering, data management, analytics, and software development processes. 
• Experience leveraging Gen AI tools to automate repetitive data engineering tasks, enhance data quality, accelerate documentation, improve metadata management, or optimize data pipeline development is highly desirable.

Benefits

Benefit information can be found on the CalHR website and the CalPERS website.

Statement of Qualifications

A Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) is a narrative discussion of how your education, training, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities meet the minimum qualifications for this position. The SOQ serves as a document of the candidate's ability to present information clearly and concisely in writing and should be typed, no more than 2 pages in length, and in 10-point font or above. Resumes and Cover Letters do not take the place of the SOQ. The SOQ should specifically address each of the questions in the order they are presented. Applicants who fail to submit the SOQ or who do not follow the instructions of the SOQ will not be considered.

1. After reviewing the duty statement, describe your experience, knowledge, and capabilities that make you the right candidate for this position. Provide examples of your relevant experience, knowledge, and capabilities, including your role as it pertains to the duties and responsibilities of a Senior Cloud Engineer.

2. Describe your approach to data backup and recovery in a cloud-based hosting environment across multiple hosting regions. This should include best practices for deploying applications that are resilient and portable as well as consideration for prioritizing availability of Tier 1 applications. What are the challenges to this approach? How do you mitigate risk effectively? How do you account for audit compliance and data security in this approach?

Required Application Package Documents

The following items are required to be submitted with your application. Applicants who do not submit the required items timely may not be considered for this job:

• Current version of the State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678 (when not applying electronically), or the Electronic State Employment Application through your Applicant Account at All Experience and Education relating to the Minimum Qualifications listed on the Classification Specification should be included to demonstrate how you meet the Minimum Qualifications for the position.
• Resume is required and must be included.
• Statement of Qualifications - Please see Statement of Qualifications instructions below.