Cloud Computing Engineer Principal

Syms Strategic Group, LLC (SSG)•Ashburn, VA

1d•$109,623 - $126,790•Remote

About The Position

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is hiring a Cloud Computing Engineer Principal to support Veterans Affairs healthcare systems. This is a 100% U.S.-based remote, full-time W-2 position supporting VA Enterprise Cloud environments in Azure GovCloud. Applicants residing in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, or Washington will not be considered. U.S. citizenship is required, and candidates must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI). The position requires a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline with 20 years of experience, or a master’s degree in one of those fields with 10 years of experience. The posting specifies a salary range of $109,623–$126,790 and calls for 20+ years of professional experience. The role designs, deploys, manages, and supports secure, scalable, highly available Azure infrastructure and cloud-hosted systems and applications. It provides customer-focused setup, configuration, provisioning, and support for VA Enterprise Cloud environments; supports VAEC Azure GovCloud systems in accordance with Veterans Independence Program development, release, and documentation requirements; and addresses cloud-readiness gaps. The engineer develops and operates CI/CD automation, manages cloud permissions, implements monitoring and observability, and provides cloud security provider documentation. The role also contributes technical leadership, mentoring, architecture governance, cloud modernization and migration initiatives, operational response, and documentation. On-call support may be required. Desired experience includes hands-on Edifecs and healthcare EDI X.12 transaction workflows, including medical claims transactions (837, 834, 835, 277, etc.), 270/271, 278, and 999. Advanced Azure certifications are also desired, including Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert, Azure Administrator Associate, and Azure Security Engineer Associate.

Requirements

20+ years of professional experience.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline and 20 years of experience, or a master’s degree in the same fields and 10 years of experience.
U.S. citizenship.
Must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI).
Proven track record designing, deploying, and managing Azure infrastructure and services.
Experience with large-scale, high-availability, scalable cloud architecture.
Expertise in Azure services including Virtual Machines, Blob Storage, Azure SQL Database, Virtual Network, Functions, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Resource Manager, Azure Monitor, and Azure DNS.
Experience with Azure security services and practices, including Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, DDoS Protection, and Web Application Firewall.
Proficiency with Azure networking components, including VNet Peering, ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, Private Endpoints, and Azure Load Balancer.
Ability to design, deploy, and manage scalable, secure, highly available Azure infrastructure.
Experience establishing and governing multi-subscription Azure environments using Management Groups, Azure Policy, and Azure Landing Zones.
Knowledge of cloud cost management, FinOps, budgeting, tagging strategies, and resource optimization using Azure Cost Management.
Proficiency in Python, PowerShell, Bash, or JavaScript/NodeJS for automation and cloud operations.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools such as ARM Templates, Ansible, and GitOps methodologies.
Proficiency with monitoring, logging, and observability tools including Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights, Azure Activity Log, and third-party tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and New Relic.
Experience optimizing performance, availability, and resiliency of Azure resources and services.
Understanding of Azure security best practices and compliance frameworks including HIPAA, FedRAMP, NIST, GDPR, and PCI DSS.
Experience implementing encryption, key management, secrets management, and identity solutions using Azure Key Vault, customer-managed keys, and Microsoft Entra ID.
Knowledge of Azure database services including Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and Azure Database for MySQL.
Experience with database performance tuning, backup and recovery, high availability, and disaster recovery strategies.
Familiarity with CI/CD tools and practices including Azure DevOps Pipelines, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and GitLab CI.
Experience with Docker, Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Container Apps, and Kubernetes.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to prioritize tasks, manage competing priorities and time effectively, and meet deadlines.
Strong attention to detail to ensure stability, security, operational excellence, and data integrity.
Ability to mentor engineers and provide technical leadership and guidance.
Experience leading complex cloud initiatives and collaborating across cross-functional teams.
Willingness to provide on-call support and participate in operational response activities when required.
Strong documentation skills.
Ability to manage and contribute to multiple projects simultaneously while ensuring high-quality deliverables.
Commitment to staying current with emerging Azure technologies, cloud-native architectures, tools, and industry best practices.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Deep hands-on Edifecs experience with Electronic Data Interchange X.12 transaction standards and key workflows.
Experience with X.12 medical claims transactions, including 837, 834, 835, and 277.
Experience with 270/271 and 278 transactions.
Experience with 999 transactions.
Experience with Edifecs.
Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert certification.
Azure Administrator Associate certification.
Azure Security Engineer Associate certification.

Responsibilities

Create data flow, cloud, transition, and high-level architecture diagrams for cloud infrastructure, applications, and systems.
Design, develop, deploy, and operate automation technologies for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).
Manage and control cloud service provider permissions for hosted applications, storage, and services.
Design, implement, manage, and monitor cloud architecture and hosted systems and applications to support performance and compliance with VA and federal policies.
Provide customer-focused support for product lines and services, including setup, configuration, and provisioning of VA Enterprise Cloud environments.
Provide cloud support for systems and applications in VAEC Azure GovCloud, following Veterans Independence Program development, release, and documentation requirements.
Apply DevOps practices and tooling.
Provide Cloud Security Provider documentation.
Design VAEC and cloud-hosted solutions and address cloud-readiness gaps.
Lead and contribute to cloud modernization, migration, and transformation initiatives in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership and guidance.
Contribute to cloud architecture governance.
Provide on-call and operational response support when required.
Document architecture, operational procedures, security controls, system configurations, processes, and procedures.
Manage and contribute to multiple projects while meeting deadlines and quality expectations.