Cloud Computing Engineer Principal

Syms Strategic Group, LLC (SSG)•Orlando, FL

1d•$120,000 - $160,000•Remote

About The Position

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is seeking a Cloud Computing Engineer Principal to support VA healthcare systems in the Veterans Affairs Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) Azure GovCloud environment. This is a 100% U.S.-based remote, full-time W-2 position supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs. Candidates must be U.S. citizens and must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI). Candidates residing in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, or Washington will not be considered. The role designs, deploys, and operates secure, scalable, highly available Azure infrastructure and services. It supports cloud-hosted VA systems and applications, provides customer-focused setup and provisioning support for VAEC environments, and ensures compliance with VA and federal policies and Veterans Independence Program development, release, and documentation requirements. The engineer applies DevOps and CI/CD practices, contributes technical leadership and architecture governance, mentors other engineers, and supports modernization, migration, and transformation initiatives. On-call and emergency operational response may be required. The position 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. Desired experience includes hands-on EDIFECS work involving healthcare EDI X.12 workflows and advanced Azure certifications. Applicants selected will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Background screening may include criminal history, employment and education verification, drug testing, and creditworthiness.

Requirements

20 or more years of professional experience.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
A proven track record designing, deploying, and managing Azure infrastructure and services.
Experience with large-scale, high-availability, scalable cloud architecture.
Expertise in Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Blob Storage, Azure SQL Database, Azure Virtual Network (VNet), Azure Functions, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Azure Monitor, and Azure DNS.
Experience with Azure security practices and services, including Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Azure DDoS Protection, and Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF).
Proficiency with Azure networking components such as VNet Peering, Azure ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, Private Endpoints, and Azure Load Balancer.
Ability to design, deploy, and manage scalable, secure, and highly available Azure cloud infrastructures.
Experience 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 Python, PowerShell, Bash, or JavaScript/Node.js for automation and cloud operations.
Experience with IaC tools such as ARM Templates and Ansible, and with 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 Azure resource and service performance, availability, and resiliency.
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 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 (AKS), Azure Container Apps, and Kubernetes.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to troubleshoot complex cloud-related issues and explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to prioritize tasks, manage time and competing priorities, and meet project deadlines.
Strong attention to detail in support of system stability, security, operational excellence, and data integrity.
Ability to mentor engineers and provide technical leadership and guidance.
Experience leading technical projects and complex cloud initiatives while collaborating across cross-functional teams.
Willingness to provide on-call support and participate in emergency response and maintenance when required.
Strong verbal and written communication and documentation skills.
Ability to manage and contribute to multiple projects simultaneously while ensuring high-quality, timely deliverables.
Commitment to staying current with Azure technologies, cloud-native architectures, tools, and industry trends.
U.S. citizenship is required for this opportunity.
Must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI); selected applicants are subject to government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.
Applicants must provide information in mandatory screening responses that is supported by their resume.
Candidates must be based in the United States and cannot reside in CA, CO, IL, MN, NJ, NY, OR, or WA.

Nice To Haves

Deep hands-on EDIFECS experience with Electronic Data Interchange X.12 (EDI) transaction standards and workflows, including medical claims transactions 837, 834, 835, and 277; 270/271 and 278 transactions; and 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, and manage monitoring capabilities for cloud architecture and hosted systems and applications to support 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 (VAEC) environments.
Provide cloud support for systems and applications in VAEC Azure GovCloud environments and ensure compliance with Veterans Independence Program development, release, and documentation requirements.
Apply a DevOps mindset and use CI/CD practices and tooling.
Provide cloud security provider documentation.
Design VAEC and cloud-hosted solutions and address cloud-readiness gaps.
Design, deploy, and manage scalable, secure, and highly available Azure infrastructure and services.
Establish and govern multi-subscription Azure environments using Management Groups, Azure Policy, and Azure Landing Zones.
Manage cloud costs and apply FinOps practices, budgeting, tagging strategies, and resource optimization.
Use scripting and infrastructure-as-code tools to automate cloud operations.
Monitor, log, and observe cloud systems, and optimize performance, availability, and resiliency.
Apply Azure security practices, compliance controls, encryption, key and secrets management, and identity solutions.
Manage Azure database services, including performance tuning, backup and recovery, high availability, and disaster recovery.
Use containerization and orchestration technologies where applicable.
Troubleshoot complex cloud issues and explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
Prioritize work, manage competing priorities and multiple projects, and meet deadlines while delivering high-quality work.
Mentor engineers, provide technical leadership, and contribute to cloud architecture governance.
Lead complex cloud modernization, migration, and transformation initiatives in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
Provide on-call support and participate in operational response activities when required.
Create and maintain architecture, operational, security, configuration, process, and procedure documentation.
Stay current with emerging Azure technologies, cloud-native architectures, tools, and industry best practices.