Senior Cloud Engineer

Syms Strategic Group, LLC (SSG)•Overland Park, KS

1d•$109,623 - $126,790•Remote

About The Position

Syms Strategic Group (SSG) is hiring a full-time Senior Cloud Engineer to support the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is a 100% U.S.-based remote position, although applicants from California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington will not be considered. The position is a W-2 role and requires U.S. citizenship. Candidates must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI); selected applicants will undergo a government security investigation and must meet applicable eligibility requirements. The engineer will design, deploy, operate, secure, and support cloud infrastructure and applications in VA Enterprise Cloud Azure GovCloud environments. The role includes architecture and data-flow documentation, CI/CD and automation, cloud permissions and monitoring, customer support, security and compliance documentation, and addressing cloud-readiness gaps. The role requires extensive Azure expertise, technical leadership, and collaboration across teams. On-call support and operational response may be required. The posting states a minimum of 20+ years of professional experience and requires a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline. Desired experience includes hands-on Edifecs expertise and X.12 EDI transaction workflows, as well as advanced Azure certifications. Candidates must support their qualifications with resume information. All interviews are conducted on Microsoft Teams with camera on, and applicants will be asked to provide a LinkedIn profile link.

Requirements

20+ years of professional experience.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Cloud Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
U.S. citizenship is required.
Must possess or qualify for a Public Trust (MBI).
Proven experience designing, deploying, and managing Azure infrastructure and services.
Experience with large-scale, highly available, scalable cloud architecture.
Expertise in Azure services including Virtual Machines, Blob Storage, Azure SQL Database, Virtual Network, Functions, Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Resource Manager, Azure Monitor, and Azure DNS.
Experience with Azure security practices and services, including Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, DDoS Protection, and Web Application Firewall.
Proficiency with Azure networking components, including VNet Peering, ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway, Private Endpoints, and Azure Load Balancer.
Ability to design, deploy, and manage scalable, secure, and highly available Azure infrastructures.
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, and resource optimization using Azure Cost Management.
Proficiency in scripting languages such as Python, PowerShell, Bash, or JavaScript/NodeJS for automation and cloud operations.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Azure Resource Manager templates and Ansible, and with GitOps methodologies.
Proficiency with monitoring, logging, and observability tools including Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights, Azure Activity Log, Prometheus, Grafana, or New Relic.
Experience optimizing performance, availability, and resiliency of Azure resources and services.
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 database services, including 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, 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 meet project deadlines.
Strong attention to detail to ensure system stability, security, operational excellence, and data integrity.
Ability to mentor engineers, provide technical leadership, and contribute to cloud architecture governance.
Strong documentation skills.
Ability to manage and contribute to multiple projects simultaneously while delivering high-quality work.
Willingness to provide on-call support and participate in operational response activities when required.

Nice To Haves

Deep hands-on Edifecs experience with Electronic Data Interchange X.12 transaction standards and workflows, including medical claims transactions such as 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 cloud-provider permissions for hosted applications, storage, and services.
Design, implement, and manage 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 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 use CI/CD practices and tooling.
Provide Cloud Security Provider documentation.
Design VAEC and cloud-hosted solutions and address cloud-readiness gaps.
Lead or contribute to cloud modernization, migration, and transformation initiatives and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership and guidance.
Support operational response and on-call needs when required.
Document architecture, operational procedures, security controls, system configurations, processes, and procedures.
Manage and contribute to multiple projects while meeting deadlines and quality expectations.
Maintain current knowledge of Azure technologies, cloud-native architectures, tools, and industry practices.