Cloud Computing Engineer Principal - II

Syms Strategic Group, LLC (SSG)•Des Moines, IA

4d•$109,623 - $126,790•Remote

About The Position

Syms Strategic Group is hiring a Cloud Computing Engineer Principal to support Veterans Affairs healthcare systems in remote VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) Azure GovCloud environments. The position designs, deploys, operates, secures, monitors, and supports cloud infrastructure, applications, and systems, while ensuring compliance with VA and federal policies and Veterans Independence Program development, release, and documentation requirements. The engineer provides customer-focused support for VA product lines and services, including environment setup, configuration, and provisioning, and contributes to cloud architecture, automation, modernization, migration, and transformation initiatives. This is a 100% U.S.-based remote, W-2, full-time position. Candidates residing in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, or Washington will not be considered. U.S. citizenship is required, and the candidate must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI). The role requires 20 or more years of professional experience and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Applicants may be subject to a government security investigation and additional background checks.

Requirements

At least 20 years of professional experience.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
U.S. citizenship.
Must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI).
Proven experience designing, deploying, and managing Azure infrastructure and services, including large-scale, highly available, scalable architectures.
Expertise in Azure services including Virtual Machines, Blob Storage, SQL Database, Virtual Network, Functions, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Resource Manager, Azure Monitor, and Azure DNS.
Experience with Azure security practices and services, including Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, DDoS Protection, and Web Application Firewall.
Proficiency with Azure networking, 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, and resource optimization using Azure Cost Management.
Proficiency in scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, Bash, or JavaScript/Node.js.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools and methods, including ARM Templates, Ansible, and GitOps.
Proficiency with monitoring, logging, and observability tools, including Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights, Azure Activity Log, and 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 and secrets management, and identity solutions using Azure Key Vault, customer-managed keys, and Microsoft Entra ID.
Knowledge of 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 containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker, Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Container Apps, and Kubernetes.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including troubleshooting complex cloud issues and explaining 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 system stability, security, operational excellence, and data integrity.
Ability to mentor engineers and provide technical guidance to junior engineers and team members.
Ability to lead technical projects and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
Willingness to provide on-call support and participate in operational response activities when required.
Strong documentation skills for architecture, operational procedures, security controls, system configurations, processes, and procedures.
Ability to manage and contribute to multiple projects while ensuring timely, high-quality deliverables.
Commitment to staying current with emerging Azure technologies, cloud-native architectures, tools, and industry best practices.

Nice To Haves

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

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 for performance and compliance with VA and federal policies.
Provide customer-focused support to 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 environments, complying with Veterans Independence Program development, release, and documentation requirements.
Apply DevOps practices and tooling, including CI/CD.
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, provide technical leadership, and contribute to cloud architecture governance.
Provide on-call or emergency operational support when required.
Document architecture, operational procedures, security controls, system configurations, processes, and procedures.
Manage multiple projects and deliver high-quality work on schedule.