Azure Cloud Architect

We are seeking an Azure Cloud Architect to support our NYC client by developing scalable, secure, resilient, and cost-efficient Azure cloud architecture, governance frameworks, technical standards, and implementation roadmaps. This role partners with business users and cross-functional technology teams to assess requirements, design hybrid and multi-cloud solutions, guide engineering teams, and support the migration and integration of on-premises systems with cloud services.

About the role

This is an exempt, 12-month position (with potential for extension) based in New York, NY, offering a hybrid schedule (3 days onsite/2 days remote). The role starts on August 12, 2026, with an hourly rate of W2 $60–$70/hour.

Responsibilities

• Develop scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-efficient Azure cloud architectures aligned with organizational objectives and cybersecurity policies.
• Engage with business users and technology teams to assess requirements and translate them into actionable hybrid and multi-cloud architecture designs.
• Evaluate application cloud readiness and create migration strategies, roadmaps, technical standards, governance models, and implementation playbooks.
• Design Azure solutions across compute, storage, data analytics, databases, serverless services, containers, networking, security, monitoring, and disaster recovery.
• Guide and augment cloud engineering teams during implementation, troubleshooting, migration, integration, and operational support activities.
• Design and govern multi-subscription Azure tenant structures, access controls, policies, resource organization, and platform standards.
• Produce clear architectural documentation and Microsoft Visio diagrams for technical and business stakeholders.
• Develop and promote Infrastructure-as-Code and automation practices using Terraform, Azure ARM, Pulumi, Azure Cloud Shell, PowerShell, or Azure CLI.
• Design and support CI/CD pipelines and configuration management automation using tools such as GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, Ansible, Chef, or Puppet.
• Implement cloud security controls and compliance practices, including IAM, RBAC, network security, managed identities, Key Vault, encryption, Defender for Cloud, and zero-trust principles.
• Develop backup and disaster recovery strategies that meet regulatory requirements and defined recovery time and recovery point objectives.
• Optimize Azure environments for performance, availability, scalability, and cost efficiency using Azure Monitor, Azure Resource Health, Azure Advisor, Cost Management and Billing, and FinOps practices.
• Design and optimize Azure networking and hybrid connectivity, including vNets, hub-and-spoke architecture, peering, Application Gateway, load balancers, Traffic Manager, VPN, and ExpressRoute.
• Troubleshoot cloud infrastructure, networking, monitoring, logging, and service-related issues using Azure-native and enterprise monitoring tools.
• Collaborate with Network, Server, DevOps, Cybersecurity, Finance, Procurement, and engineering teams and communicate complex technical concepts in business-friendly language.
• Participate in cloud strategy discussions, architectural reviews, planning sessions, and technology decision-making activities.

Requirements

• 6+ years of hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure, including designing Azure architectures, standards, governance models, and policies.
• 4+ years of experience with hybrid on-premises/cloud environments, multi-cloud interoperability, and on-premises-to-cloud integrations.
• 4+ years of cloud networking experience, including vNet design, hub-and-spoke architecture, peering, Application Gateway, Load Balancers, Traffic Manager, VPN, ExpressRoute, and hybrid connectivity.
• 4+ years of Cloud DevOps experience, including Infrastructure-as-Code, CI/CD pipelines, and automated configuration management.
• 2+ years of cloud security and compliance experience, including IAM, RBAC, WAF, NSG, ASG, service principals, managed identities, Defender for Cloud, Key Vault, encryption, and monitoring.
• 1+ years of Cloud FinOps and cost optimization experience using Azure Advisor, Cost Management and Billing, and related practices.
• 2+ years of experience producing cloud architecture diagrams and technical documentation using Microsoft Visio.
• Deep understanding of cloud platforms, services, frameworks, governance, and cloud adoption principles.
• Experience managing multi-subscription Azure tenants and using Azure Cloud Shell, PowerShell, or Azure CLI.
• Strong knowledge of Azure compute services, including Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Scale Sets, and Azure Batch.
• Strong knowledge of Azure storage services, including Storage Accounts, Blob Storage, Azure Files, Tables, Queues, and Data Lake Storage.
• Strong knowledge of Azure data and analytics services, including Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, and Event Hubs.
• Strong knowledge of Azure database services, including Azure SQL Database, Managed Instance, Hyperscale, and Cosmos DB.
• Strong knowledge of Azure serverless and application services, including Azure Functions, Web Apps, App Services, App Service Environment, and Logic Apps.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies, including Kubernetes, Docker, and Azure Kubernetes Service.
• Hands-on experience with Terraform, Azure ARM templates, or Pulumi for infrastructure provisioning.
• Experience developing CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, or comparable deployment tooling.
• Experience with Ansible, Chef, or Puppet for configuration management automation.
• Knowledge of zero-trust architecture and cloud security frameworks, including CIS, NIST, and ISO 27001.
• Experience developing disaster recovery and backup strategies aligned with regulatory requirements and defined RTO/RPO objectives.
• Experience monitoring cloud performance and availability using Azure Monitor, Azure Resource Health, Network Watcher, or SolarWinds.
• Experience implementing auto-scaling, caching, load balancing, and content delivery strategies for cloud workloads.

Preferred Qualifications

• Current Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification.
• 1+ years of experience with Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience with Amazon Web Services or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
• Experience with OpenShift container platforms.
• Experience with SIEM tools such as Splunk or Chronicle Security.
• Experience with CDN platforms such as Azure Front Door, Cloudflare, or Akamai.