Lead Azure Cloud Engineer
About The Position
We have an exciting opportunity for a Lead Azure Cloud Engineer at UL Research Institutes and UL Standards & Engagement, based in our Evanston, Illinois, office. The Lead Azure Cloud Engineer serves as a senior technical expert and individual contributor responsible for defining, designing, and advancing enterprise cloud infrastructure strategy and solutions. This role provides technical leadership across complex cloud initiatives, drives cloud architecture standards and best practices, and partners with cross-functional teams to ensure secure, scalable, resilient, and cost-effective cloud environments. The Lead Azure Cloud Engineer influences technical direction, mentors team members, and leads the implementation of cloud modernization efforts while remaining hands-on in solution design and delivery. The Lead Azure Cloud Engineer also directs the day-to-day technical work of a managed service provider (MSP) engineering team, setting priorities, defining standards of quality, and holding delivery partners accountable to agreed service levels and outcomes.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Minimum 8 years of experience in cloud engineering, cloud architecture, infrastructure engineering, or related areas, including responsibility for designing and managing enterprise-scale cloud environments.
- Minimum 3 years of experience leading complex cloud transformation, migration, modernization, or architecture initiatives.
- Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead, subject matter expert, or principal contributor to cloud infrastructure initiatives.
- Advanced expertise in cloud platforms, with deep hands-on experience in at least one major provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and working familiarity with a second.
- Strong knowledge of cloud architecture patterns, including high availability, disaster recovery, scalability, and multi-region deployments.
- Expert proficiency with Terraform for infrastructure as code, including module design, state management, remote backends, and workspace/environment strategy.
- Advanced understanding of cloud networking, including virtual networks, NSGs, VPN gateways, ExpressRoute, load balancing, DNS, and hybrid-cloud connectivity.
- Strong experience implementing DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and platform engineering principles.
- Deep understanding of cloud security, identity and access management, Zero Trust principles, encryption, compliance frameworks, and governance controls.
- Ability to analyze complex technical challenges, identify root causes, and implement scalable, long-term solutions.
- Demonstrated ability to lead, coordinate, and hold accountable for a managed service provider or outsourced engineering team across multiple time zones, including work intake, prioritization, quality review, and performance feedback to vendor leadership.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence technical decisions across multiple teams and levels of the organization.
- Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives, establish standards, and guide teams.
- Strong business acumen with the ability to align technology solutions to organizational priorities and objectives.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of enterprise cloud infrastructure solutions across major cloud platforms (AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform).
- Lead and direct an MSP-based technical team — assigning work, reviewing deliverables, coaching engineers, and driving consistent execution against runbooks, SLAs, and engineering standards.
- Serve as the primary technical point of escalation for MSP-delivered services, partnering with vendor leadership on staffing, onboarding, quality, and continuous improvement.
- Establish cloud architecture standards, governance frameworks, and best practices that support organizational scalability, security, and operational excellence.
- Serve as the technical lead for complex infrastructure projects, providing architectural guidance and influencing technology decisions across multiple teams.
- Design and implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) strategies using Terraform as the primary provisioning standard, with CloudFormation where platform-native tooling is required.
- Build and maintain configuration management and server automation using Ansible, including role design, inventory management, and drift remediation.
- Design, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines in GitHub Actions for infrastructure provisioning, configuration deployment, automated testing, policy enforcement, and release automation.
- Develop and maintain technical documentation, architecture diagrams, implementation standards, and operational procedures usable by both internal staff and MSP partners.
- Provide mentorship, technical coaching, and knowledge sharing to engineering team members while promoting engineering best practices.
- Contribute to and/or lead other department specific and cross-functional initiatives.
Benefits
- bonus compensation based on the level of the position
- comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans
- 401k matching structure of up to 5% of eligible pay
- an additional 4% into your retirement saving fund after your first year of continuous employment
- flexible working arrangements
- paid time off, including vacation, holiday, sick, and volunteer days
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
