Principle Azure Cloud Engineer

Job Summary: Principal Azure Cloud Engineer Client: UT Southwestern Location: Dallas, TX (Hybrid - 3 days onsite/week) Contract: 12+ months About the Role Join UT Southwestern as a Principal Azure Cloud Engineer and become a senior technical leader driving transformative Azure cloud initiatives across a leading academic medical center. In this highly visible hybrid role, you will architect, build, and deliver secure, scalable Azure solutions, lead complex projects from inception to operational handoff, and serve as a trusted advisor across engineering, security, and application teams. This is an opportunity to shape enterprise cloud strategy, mentor top talent, and make a broad impact without the constraints of direct project management oversight. Responsibilities - Design, implement, and deliver large-scale, high-availability Azure infrastructure solutions for enterprise environments - Lead end-to-end Azure migration, modernization, and delivery initiatives, ensuring on-time, secure, and compliant outcomes - Develop and maintain automated deployment modules using Terraform or ARM templates - Optimize and maintain CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions) for repeatable, secure platform services - Define and enforce governance frameworks, RBAC, and security baselines using Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Azure Policy - Act as technical lead across multiple concurrent projects, coordinating cross-functional teams and managing delivery risks - Establish and promote technical standards, best practices, and documentation to drive excellence and consistency - Mentor and coach engineers, championing knowledge sharing and skill development - Build strong partnerships with application teams to accelerate Azure adoption and innovation - Oversee monitoring, observability, and operational readiness for all Azure-managed services Required Skills and Experience - Deep expertise designing and operating highly available, scalable Azure infrastructure (compute, storage, networking, identity) - Proven experience with enterprise Azure networking architectures and workload migrations from on-premises to Azure - Hands-on experience with Terraform or ARM templates for infrastructure automation - Track record of optimizing Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions pipelines - Demonstrated leadership in cross-team delivery without formal authority - Experience implementing governance, RBAC, and security policies in Azure - Skilled at defining monitoring/observability solutions and producing high-quality documentation - Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience - 10+ years of professional IT experience, with 5+ years in a senior, architect-level, or principal cloud engineering role leading Azure initiatives Preferred Skills - Proficiency in Azure compute (VMs, AKS), networking (VNETs, NSGs), and Microsoft Entra ID - Experience in regulated environments (healthcare, higher education, financial) and compliance frameworks (HIPAA, HITRUST, SOC 2, GDPR) - Familiarity with Azure Cost Management, FinOps practices, and IT service management concepts - Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and decision-making abilities Benefits - Work in a high-impact, hybrid role at a nationally renowned academic medical center - Opportunity to lead mission-critical Azure transformations at scale - Career advancement through hands-on leadership, visibility, and technical ownership - Collaborative, innovation-driven environment with top-tier colleagues - Long-term contract with potential for extension How to Apply Ready to drive enterprise Azure innovation at UT Southwestern? Apply today with your updated resume. Candidates must be authorized to work in the US without sponsorship and able to work onsite in Dallas three days per week. Face-to-face interviews required. (JSON format)