Cloud Computing Engineer Principal

Syms Strategic Group, LLC (SSG)•Shepherdstown, WV

23h•$109,623 - $126,790•Remote

About The Position

Syms Strategic Group is hiring a Principal Cloud Computing Engineer to support Veterans Affairs healthcare systems. This is a full-time, 100% U.S.-based remote position supporting VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) Azure GovCloud environments. The role designs, deploys, manages, and operates cloud infrastructure and services, with a focus on secure, scalable, highly available systems that comply with VA and federal policies and requirements. The engineer develops cloud architecture diagrams and solutions, provides customer-focused support for VA product lines and services, configures and provisions VAEC environments, manages cloud permissions, and designs monitoring capabilities. The role also supports CI/CD and DevOps practices, cloud security documentation, cloud-readiness assessments, and cloud modernization, migration, and transformation initiatives. Technical leadership, mentoring, documentation, cross-functional collaboration, and operational response—including on-call support when required—are important parts of the position. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI). The posting specifies a salary range of $109,623–$126,790 and a W-2 employment arrangement. Candidates residing in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, or Washington will not be considered. A bachelor's degree in a relevant technical discipline and 20 years of experience, or a master's degree in a relevant discipline and 10 years of experience, is required.

Requirements

A proven track record designing, deploying, and managing Azure infrastructure and services.
20 or more years of professional experience; the education requirement is a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline plus 20 years of experience, or a master's degree in the same fields plus 10 years of experience.
Experience with large-scale, highly available, 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 RBAC, Azure DDoS Protection, and Azure Web Application Firewall.
Proficiency with Azure networking components, including 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 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 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 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 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 support system stability, security, operational excellence, and data integrity.
Ability to mentor engineers and provide technical leadership and guidance to junior engineers and team members.
Ability to lead technical projects and collaborate across cross-functional teams.
Willingness to provide on-call support and emergency maintenance when required.
Strong verbal and written communication and documentation skills.
Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously while ensuring timely, high-quality deliverables.
Commitment to staying current with Azure technologies, cloud-native architectures, tools, and industry best practices.
U.S. citizenship is required.
Must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI).

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.
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 permissions for cloud applications, storage, and services.
Implement, manage, and design monitoring capabilities for 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 (VAEC) environments.
Provide cloud support for systems and applications in VAEC Azure GovCloud environments, ensuring compliance with Veterans Independence Program development, release, and documentation requirements.
Apply DevOps practices and CI/CD 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, provide technical leadership, and contribute to cloud architecture governance.
Provide on-call support and participate in operational response activities when required.
Create and maintain architecture, operational, security-control, system-configuration, process, and procedure documentation.
Manage and contribute to multiple projects while meeting deadlines and delivering high-quality work.
Troubleshoot complex cloud-related issues and optimize performance, availability, resiliency, and data integrity.