Microsoft 365 & Azure Architect

Auriga Corporation•Los Angeles, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Auriga Corporation is seeking a Microsoft 365 & Azure Architect for its Los Angeles, California office. This role involves owning the architecture, configuration, and lifecycle management of the M365 tenant, including services like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, and Teams. The architect will define and enforce tenant-wide policies for identity, licensing, data loss prevention, retention, and information protection. A key responsibility is leading the remediation of legacy configurations and technical debt within the M365 environment, establishing a clear roadmap to a hardened target state. The position also requires managing hybrid identity through Entra ID (Azure AD), Entra Connect, Conditional Access, and PIM, integrating with on-premises Active Directory and downstream applications. Governing Microsoft licensing strategy across various SKUs to align with security requirements and budget constraints is crucial. The architect will design, harden, and optimize Azure subscriptions, management groups, and policy structures, adhering to Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Zero Trust principles. This includes designing, hardening, and optimizing Azure Virtual Machines and supporting services, such as VM sizing, availability sets, scale sets, disk encryption, backup, patching, and Just-in-Time access. The role involves implementing and tuning Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Defender for Servers, Microsoft Sentinel, and Azure Monitor to provide actionable telemetry to the SOC. Collaboration with the Cybersecurity organization to translate security requirements into enforceable Microsoft platform controls is expected. The architect will implement and continuously improve Conditional Access, MFA, privileged access management, and identity governance across all M365 and Azure workloads. Maintaining alignment with NIST 800-53, CIS Microsoft 365 and Azure Benchmarks, and relevant state and federal mandates for a transit agency is also a key aspect of the role. Establishing secure configuration baselines for collaboration tooling that accommodate the operational needs of a 24/7 transit workforce is required.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or a related field. Equivalent professional experience considered in lieu of a degree.
Minimum 8 years of progressive experience designing and operating enterprise Microsoft environments, with at least 5 years focused on M365 and Azure at scale.
Expert-level command of Microsoft 365 administration, including hands-on experience with tenants of 10,000 accounts or more.
Demonstrated expertise in Azure IaaS and PaaS, with deep knowledge of Azure Virtual Machines, networking, storage, identity, and governance.
Strong working knowledge of Active Directory, Group Policy, Windows Server, certificate services, and traditional on-premises Microsoft infrastructure.
Proven track record applying NIST, CIS, or equivalent frameworks to Microsoft cloud environments.
Proficiency with PowerShell, including Microsoft Graph, Exchange Online, and Azure modules.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to brief both engineers and executives.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in a government, transit, utility, or other regulated public sector environment.
Active Microsoft certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Cybersecurity Architect Expert, Identity and Access Administrator, or Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert.
Experience with Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, Purview, and Intune at enterprise scale.
CISSP, CCSP, or equivalent senior security certification.
Hands-on experience with infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, and GitHub or Azure DevOps in a controlled-change environment.

Responsibilities

Own the architecture, configuration baseline, and lifecycle of the M365 tenant supporting active directory accounts, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Teams etc.
Define and enforce tenant-wide policies for identity, licensing, data loss prevention, retention, eDiscovery, best practices and information protection.
Lead remediation of legacy configurations, technical debt, and drift accumulated in the existing M365 environment, with a clear roadmap to a hardened target state.
Manage hybrid identity through Entra ID (Azure AD), Entra Connect, Conditional Access, and PIM, including integration with on-premises Active Directory and downstream applications.
Govern Microsoft licensing strategy across E3, E5, and add-on SKUs to align entitlements with security requirements and budget constraints.
Architect and operate Azure subscriptions, management groups, and policy structures aligned to Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework and Zero Trust principles.
Design, harden, and optimize Azure Virtual Machines and supporting services, including VM sizing, availability sets, scale sets, disk encryption, backup, patching, and Just-in-Time access.
Implement and tune Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Defender for Servers, Microsoft Sentinel, and Azure Monitor to deliver actionable telemetry to the SOC.
Partner directly with the Cybersecurity organization to translate security requirements into enforceable Microsoft platform controls.
Implement and continuously improve Conditional Access, MFA, privileged access management, and identity governance across all M365 and Azure workloads.
Maintain alignment with NIST 800-53 where applicable, CIS Microsoft 365 and Azure Benchmarks, and any state and federal mandates relevant to a transit agency.
Establish secure configuration baselines for collaboration tooling that account for the operational realities of a 24/7 transit workforce.