Senior Azure DevOps Engineer (Platform Engineering)

Applaudo Studios

19h•Remote

About The Position

This role is for a Senior Azure DevOps & Platform Engineer with deep hands-on experience in building secure Azure platforms and delivering infrastructure and applications through Terraform and CI/CD. The ideal candidate combines Azure Platform Engineering (landing zones, networking, identity, security, governance) with strong DevOps engineering. This position operates under a contractor model and requires availability to work in the U.S. Central Time Zone (CT). The role emphasizes ownership, scalability, and continuous improvement, requiring adaptability, attention to detail, and the ability to provide technical leadership and operational guidance for cloud transformation and enterprise DevOps practices.

Requirements

9+ years of hands-on experience in DevOps and cloud environments.
Strong experience designing and implementing Azure tenant platforms aligned with Microsoft CAF (Cloud Adoption Framework).
Expertise building and maintaining Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using Terraform.
Experience implementing Azure landing zones for application and workload migrations.
Experience with Azure networking: hub-spoke topology, Azure Firewall, VPN Gateway/ExpressRoute, private endpoints with Private DNS Zones, NSGs, and route tables.
Hands-on experience with Terraform state management, imports, drift detection and reconciliation, refactoring live infrastructure (e.g., moved blocks), and secret management with Azure Key Vault, including rotation.
Strong automation and scripting skills using PowerShell, Python, or Bash.
Knowledge of Azure identity and security: Managed Identities, workload identity federation (OIDC), least-privilege RBAC, and PIM.
Hands-on experience with Azure compute services such as AKS, Container Apps, App Service, and Function Apps, including Key Vault integration and Azure Container Registry.
Experience implementing Azure Policy (custom definitions, deny/modify effects, tag inheritance).
Experience enforcing governance and policy compliance through management group inheritance.
Ability to monitor cloud environments for performance, security, and cost optimization.
Strong collaboration, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
Ability to provide technical guidance and support across cross-functional teams.
Strong spoken English (B2+) to discuss technical scenarios live with US-based stakeholders.
Strong experience with Azure Cloud Platform and Microsoft CAF.
Hands-on experience with Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
Experience with Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and automation scripting.
Strong understanding of Azure networking, identity, and security architecture, combined with Terraform expertise (state, imports, secret management).

Nice To Haves

Experience in financial services or regulated environments is a plus.
Azure Data Factory/Databricks
Azure messaging (Service Bus, Event Grid, Event Hubs)
Azure API Management
Bicep
AI-assisted engineering tools

Responsibilities

Design and implement Azure tenant platforms aligned with Microsoft CAF standards.
Build, deploy, and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using Terraform.
Implement Azure landing zones to support application and workload migrations.
Manage and optimize CI/CD pipelines, source control, and project workflows using Azure DevOps to support both infrastructure and application delivery into Azure, including environment approvals, security gates, and container image promotion across environments.
Review peers’ pull requests and handle infrastructure requests from application teams in a Kanban workflow.
Automate resource provisioning, scaling, and infrastructure management processes.
Develop and maintain automation scripts using PowerShell, Python, or Bash.
Implement and manage Azure security controls, including IAM configurations.
Enforce governance and policy compliance across Azure environments.
Monitor infrastructure environments to ensure performance, security, and cost efficiency.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver infrastructure solutions aligned with business requirements.
Provide technical guidance, troubleshooting, and operational support to stakeholders.
Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives related to cloud governance, automation, and operational excellence.