Senior Microsoft Platform Engineer

Systems Engineering Solutions Corporation•Alexandria, VA

About The Position

The Senior Microsoft Platform Engineer is a Tier 3 technical role responsible for administering, operating, and continuously improving the agency’s Microsoft Azure platform, Microsoft 365 services, and on-premises and cloud-hosted Windows and Linux servers. The engineer owns incidents escalated from Tier 1 and Tier 2 through resolution, engaging Microsoft or other vendors when needed. Working with minimal direction, the engineer leads technical work in assigned areas, guides other administrators, and supports project and application teams adopting Azure capabilities while maintaining security and compliance. The role collaborates with architecture, cybersecurity, networking, and engineering teams to align services with enterprise standards. The engineer concurrently manages Tier 3 incidents, recurring operations and maintenance, and small-scale projects. Priorities may change daily, requiring response to urgent incidents, communication about schedule impacts, and continued ownership of existing commitments. Responsibilities include administering Azure environments, identity, networking, Microsoft 365, and Windows and Linux servers; building automation and infrastructure as code; monitoring platform health; maintaining backup, disaster recovery, and high availability; and performing security hardening and vulnerability remediation. The role also includes structured Tier 3 incident troubleshooting, on-call participation, recurring operations and change-management activities, project leadership and cloud migration support, stakeholder communication, documentation, and guidance for other administrators.

Requirements

10+ years of Microsoft infrastructure administration experience, including 5+ years of hands-on Azure administration and engineering.
Strong experience with Microsoft Azure, including networking, virtual machines, storage, Backup, and Site Recovery.
Strong experience with Microsoft Entra ID and hybrid Active Directory.
Strong experience with Windows Server and Linux server administration.
Strong experience with Microsoft 365 administration.
Strong experience with PowerShell automation.
Strong experience with Microsoft Configuration Manager (MCM).
Experience administering controls that support Zero Trust, such as Conditional Access and PIM.
Demonstrated experience resolving Tier 3 incidents in a ticketed ITSM environment while carrying operations and maintenance and project assignments, using a repeatable troubleshooting process.
Demonstrated experience following formal change management, including change requests, change board review, and implementation and rollback plans.
Demonstrated experience planning and delivering small-scale IT projects through closeout.
Experience as a senior or lead technical resource, including guiding other administrators and owning technical decisions within an assigned area.
Experience working directly with end users and government or customer stakeholders, verbally and in writing.
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

Microsoft certifications: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104), Identity and Access Administrator Associate (SC-300), or Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert (MS-102) or its successor.
ITIL 4 Foundation or equivalent IT service management training.
Experience with ServiceNow, Azure DevOps (ADO), NinjaOne, and Datadog.
Prior experience supporting a federal agency.

Responsibilities

Manage and maintain Azure environments, including subscriptions, resource groups, landing zones, governance and tagging, virtual networks, virtual machines, storage accounts, and platform services.
Administer Microsoft Entra ID, hybrid identity, Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management (PIM), and role-based access control (RBAC).
Implement and maintain Azure networking, including Network Security Groups, Azure Firewall, Application Gateways, VPN connectivity, private endpoints, and hybrid network integration.
Administer Microsoft 365 services.
Administer and patch on-premises and Azure-hosted Windows and Linux servers, including builds, configuration, and lifecycle maintenance using Microsoft Configuration Manager (MCM) and other approved tools.
Build automation and infrastructure as code using PowerShell, Azure Automation, Logic Apps, ARM templates, Bicep, or Terraform.
Monitor platform health using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights, and Microsoft Defender.
Maintain backup, disaster recovery, and high availability using Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery.
Perform security hardening and vulnerability remediation in line with agency security requirements, NIST controls, and federal cloud security standards.
Participate in architecture reviews and recommend performance, cost, and security improvements.
Own Tier 3 incidents from assignment to closure: assess impact and urgency, restore service, and confirm resolution with the end user or requesting team.
Troubleshoot complex Azure, identity, network, and server issues using a structured method, gathering evidence, isolating the failing layer, testing changes, and verifying fixes.
Escalate cases to Microsoft or other vendors with complete case records and identify recurring incidents for permanent fixes through problem management.
Participate in the on-call rotation.
Complete recurring operations and maintenance tasks on schedule and record completion in ServiceNow.
Follow the NCUA change-management process, including submitting change requests with scope, risk, test, implementation, and rollback plans; obtaining approval before implementation; and documenting results at closeout.
Lead small-scale projects from planning through closeout, including scope, requirements, milestones, dependencies, stakeholder agreement, phased implementation, rollback planning, user communications, and status reporting in Azure DevOps.
Support cloud migration projects for servers, applications, databases, and hybrid workloads.
Communicate directly with end users, government stakeholders, and contract counterparts; explain issues and impact, set timeline expectations, and confirm outcomes.
Write ticket notes and work logs in ServiceNow as work progresses so another engineer can continue the issue without re-contacting the user.
Maintain and update technical documentation, runbooks, SOPs, knowledge articles, and architecture diagrams after incidents, changes, and projects.
Guide other administrators and review their runbooks, change requests, and ticket documentation when asked.