Cloud Administrator

How will this role impact First Command?

The Cloud Administrator position is responsible for managing and optimizing our cloud infrastructure, ensuring high availability, security, and performance of cloud-based services. You will collaborate with cross-functional agile teams to support our cloud strategy and enhance our overall IT capabilities.

What will the employee do in this role?

• Build, manage, maintain, and optimize both cloud & on-prem resources, including IaaS and PaaS storage, compute, security, and network services.
• Maintain the performance and availability of Azure resources, ensuring they meet the required service levels.
• Implement and manage backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions within our cloud environments.
• Implement and manage security best practices in the hybrid environment, including identity and access management, encryption, and threat protection.
• Ensure compliance with relevant industry standards and regulations in the hybrid environment.
• Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability assessments, addressing any identified risks.
• Configure and manage Active Directory and EntraID users, systems, and applications, applying principles of zero trust to enhance security and efficiency.
• Implement B2B, SSO, and SCIM solutions to streamline user experience while ensuring robust security across identity domains.
• Automate routine tasks using tools such as Azure Automation, PowerShell, and Infrastructure as Code to increase efficiency and reduce errors.
• Build, automate, and maintain cloud infrastructure deployments using IaC and automation toolsets.
• Optimize Azure resources for cost and performance, using tools like Azure Cost Management and Azure Monitor.
• Implement auto-scaling and load-balancing solutions to handle varying workloads efficiently.
• Monitor Azure maintenance and outages, assess impact, and develop strategies to minimize impact.
• Collaborate, consult, coordinate task level work with developers and scrum teams on security, network, and compute resource needs.
• Produce and maintain documentation for use in the installation, configuration, operation and maintenance of cloud and on-premise related infrastructure.
• Coordinate with service providers, vendors, and various First Command teams to ensure timely resolution of infrastructure related issues.
• Participate in incident response and problem management activities, ensuring that customer issues are resolved quickly and effectively.
• Participate in on-call rotation and be available for special duties outside normal working hours.

Skills & Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, or similar field required.
• Work Experience:
• 5+ years progressive working in computing or network infrastructure.
• 2+ years’ experience in a cloud environment, preferably Azure as a Cloud Administrator, Engineer, and/or DevOps role.
• Demonstrated experience building and operating cloud services.
• Experience in automation (Infrastructure-as-Code, Configuration-as-Code) and management of both on-premises infrastructure and applications, cloud hosted Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service capabilities (Azure).
• Experience with CI/CD platforms and tools such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Puppet, Chef or similar.
• Experience with infrastructure monitoring tools, cost management solutions, and DevOps processes.
• Experience with identity and access management and federated services.
• Prefer: Experience With The Following Technologies:
• Latest versions of Microsoft Windows Server
• Cloud Infrastructure (Azure and AWS)
• Palo Alto or related cloud-based firewall technologies, application load balancers and API management platforms
• Certifications:
• Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) required.
• Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) a plus.
• Azure Solutions Architect (AZ-305) a plus.
• Current MCSE certifications a plus.
• Current AWS certifications a plus.
• Cisco (CCNA, CCNP) a plus.
• Required Knowledge, Skills And Abilities:
• Recognize, troubleshoot, and resolve system issues without supervision.
• Perform critical thinking and trouble shooting.
• Perform performance tuning.
• Document and distribute system reports as required.
• Required to work within a team environment:
• Excellent written and oral communication skills including explaining complex technical concepts to all parties.
• Excellent customer service skills.
• Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g. Powershell or Python) for automation tasks.
• Strong understanding of networking concepts and security best practices for cloud environments.