Azure Cloud Engineer

LIGHTFEATHER IO LLC•Washington, DC

13h•Hybrid

About The Position

LightFeather is seeking an Azure Cloud Engineer to design, implement, and manage secure cloud solutions for federal IT environments. You will play a key role in supporting Azure infrastructure, automation, and security, applying DevOps best practices to drive performance, strengthen compliance, and improve operational efficiency. This is a full-time, hybrid position requiring U.S. Citizenship and an active Secret or higher clearance, with 4 days/week on-site in Washington, D.C. 20036 and 1 day Telework.

Requirements

Active Secret or higher clearance
3+ years of experience with Azure Cloud Engineering
3+ years of experience with CI/CD pipelines
3+ years of experience using Terraform for IaC
3+ years of experience using GitLab
Minimum of 4 years experience with PowerShell scripting
5+ years of experience in Cloud Engineering, DevOps, or Systems Engineering (mid-level target).
Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure core services and architecture.
Proficiency with Terraform (high priority), PowerShell, and GitLab CI/CD.
Experience supporting Azure networking (VNets, routing, NSGs, VPN/ExpressRoute).
Hands-on experience with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) in production environments.
Understanding of federal cloud security frameworks (FedRAMP, NIST, RMF).
Ability to work on-site in Washington, DC four days per week.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting DoD or federal agency cloud environments.
Experience with Docker/Kubernetes (AKS).
Azure serverless tools (Functions, Logic Apps, Event Grid).
Cost optimization using Azure Cost Management / FinOps practices.

Responsibilities

Design, deploy, and maintain Azure cloud infrastructure including VMs, VNets, Storage, Azure AD, and PaaS services.
Manage and optimize Azure networking components (VNets, NSGs, Load Balancers, VPN/ExpressRoute connectivity).
Develop and maintain Terraform templates as the primary IaC tool (critical requirement emphasized by hiring managers).
Support automation via PowerShell, Bash, YAML/JSON, and GitLab pipelines.
Deploy, configure, and manage AVD environments including host pools, session hosts, FSLogix profile containers, and Azure AD/M365 integrations.
Provide troubleshooting and performance optimization for AVD users (explicit customer requirement).
Build, maintain, and troubleshoot CI/CD pipelines in GitLab.
Automate cloud operations, system configuration, and monitoring tasks.
Implement secure cloud practices aligned with federal requirements (RBAC, Key Vault, IAM, encryption standards).
Ensure compliance with NIST, RMF, FedRAMP, and agency-specific controls.
Use Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and related tools to analyze system health, diagnose issues, and enforce SLAs.
Work with engineering, security, and program staff to support ongoing cloud modernization efforts.
Support onsite collaboration with customer stakeholders (note: role cannot be performed remotely long-term).