Senior Azure Architect

AgWest Farm Credit•Rocklin, CA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

AgWest Farm Credit is a member-owned financial cooperative that provides financing and related services to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, commercial fishermen, timber producers, rural homeowners and crop insurance customers in a seven-state territory in the Western United States. AgWest is part of the 100+ year-old Farm Credit System – the leading provider of credit to American agriculture. AgWest champions the growth and advancement of agriculture, the value of rural communities, and the vital contribution our customers make to the economy and society. We serve customers in 59 locations throughout the West. We are in search of a Senior Azure Architect to join our Infrastructure and Operations department in Spokane, Washington or Rocklin, California. This full-time position reports to the Director, Infrastructure Services and is responsible for designing, securing, and optimizing Azure cloud solutions while providing technical leadership to engineering teams and guiding major initiatives such as automation, migration, and optimization. It also establishes governance standards, ensure compliance and partners with cross-functional teams to deliver reliable, well-architected cloud environments. After an initial in-office training period, this position is eligible for workplace flexibility and a one-time home office stipend. Employees are expected to continue working from their office location a minimum of 50% or 60% of the time depending on location.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in information systems computer science, or related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
Seven or more years of hands-on experience designing, deploying and managing cloud solutions, with substantial expertise in Microsoft Azure
Deep knowledge of Azure Compute, storage, networking, security, and database services
Experience working in hybrid cloud environments, including on-premises integration and hybrid architecture design
Demonstrated ability to optimize cloud environments for performance, reliability and cost efficiency
Strong technical expertise paired with business acumen and awareness of organizational impacts
Excellent interpersonal and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across technical and non-technical teams

Nice To Haves

Strong proficiency with Azure automation and infrastructure-as-code practices, including Azure DevOps, Terraform, and Bicep, as well as cloud policy and access control management
Professional Azure certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305), Azure Administrator (AZ-104), or Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)
Strong proficiency with Azure automation and infrastructure-as-code practices, as well as cloud policy, access control, and environment standardization
Experience working with managed service providers and third-party partners
Experience working in regulated or complex environments; familiarity with financial institution operations in a strong plus

Responsibilities

Design and drive implementation of Azure-based solutions that align with business objectives and industry best practices, providing architectural direction and oversight to the cloud infrastructure engineering team.
Oversee and enhance the use of Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates to automate cloud deployments.
Ensure Azure solutions adhere to security and compliance best practices, including identity management (Entra ID) and compliance with CIS Microsoft Azure Foundations Benchmark and other relevant frameworks.
Lead cloud migration activities and participate in application modernization efforts.
Drive efforts to monitor, analyze, and optimize Azure environments for both performance, reliability and cost efficiency.
Architect and collaborate on implementation of secure and scalable Azure networking, including virtual WAN (vWAN), virtual networks (VNets), VPNs, Private endpoints, Private DNS, Azure Front Door, Azure Application Gateway, and Azure Firewall.
Utilize Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights to proactively identify, track and resolve issues.
Work closely with development, infrastructure, security and other stakeholders to ensure robust and resilient Azure solutions. Maintain a strong working knowledge of AgWest business practices, products and key systems.
Establish governance frameworks, including naming conventions, configuration standards, Azure Policy, role-based access control (RBAC), and tagging strategies. Create, refine and present essential documentation.
Supervise a small team of infrastructure engineers, providing technical guidance and performance oversight.