Cloud Architect & Engineer (Azure)

About Us:

Building Services 32BJ Benefit Funds (“the Funds”) is the umbrella organization responsible for administering Health, Pension, Retirement Savings, Training, and Legal Services benefits to over 100,000 SEIU 32BJ members. Our mission is to make significant contributions to the lives of our members by providing high quality benefits and services. Through our commitment, we embody five core values: Flexibility, Initiative, Respect, Sustainability, and Teamwork (FIRST). By following our core values, employees are open to different and new ways of doing things, take active steps to improve the organization, create an environment of trust and respect, approach their work with the intent of a positive outcome, and work collaboratively with colleagues.

For 2023 and beyond, 32BJ Benefit Funds will continue to drive innovation, equity, and technology insights to further help the lives of our hard-working members and their families. We use cutting edge technology such as: M365, Dynamics 365 CRM, Dynamics 365 F&O, Azure, AWS, SQL, Snowflake, QlikView, and more. Through this technology investment, we have gathered and analyzed thousands of data insights to influence health insurance legislation and propose new health policy. Our efforts have galvanized many leaders and the consensus is there is plenty more work to be done.

Please take a moment to watch our video to learn more about our culture and contributions to our members: youtu.be/hYNdMGLn19A

Summary: Under the supervision of the Director of Infrastructure, the Cloud Architect & Engineer will assess, design, implement and provide hands on support scalable, high-performance assets in Azure that meets the needs of our business using both private and public cloud technologies. Will plan and deliver legacy infrastructure transformation and migration in Azure/cloud technologies where beneficial to drive next-generation business outcomes in a cost-effective manner.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Cloud Strategy Development: Design and develop a cloud roadmap and approved cloud solutions aligned with the organization's business objectives and technology roadmap.
• Architecture Design and Review: Define and oversee the architecture of cloud solutions, ensuring they meet scalability, performance, security, and compliance requirements.
• Solution Optimization: Continuously evaluate and optimize cloud services, configurations, and costs to maximize efficiency and ROI.
• Security and Compliance: Implement and oversee security best practices, access controls, and compliance measures within the cloud environment.
• Cloud Resource Management: Manage cloud resources using infrastructure as code (e.g., ARM templates, Terraform, CloudFormation) and automation tools.
• Virtual Machine Deployment: Deploy and manage cloud resources using infrastructure as code and automation tools.
• Expertise in Azure services including Azure Virtual Machines, Azure App Services, Azure SQL, Azure Functions, Insight/Monitor, etc...
• Containerization and Kubernetes: Manage containerized applications using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) or similar platforms.
• Networking and Security: Configure cloud Virtual Networks, Subnets, Security Groups, and Network Security Groups to ensure secure and efficient communication.
• Monitoring and Alerting: Set up and manage Azure Monitor/Insight, Log Analytics
• Disaster Recovery and High Availability: Develop and implement disaster recovery and high availability strategies to ensure business continuity.
• Change management: Perform analysis of large-scale, complex, cross-system, cross-platform changes or issues. Provides recommendations for implementation and resolution.
• Documentation and Best Practices: Create and maintain detailed documentation of Azure architectures, configurations, and best practices. Drives cloud standards to for adopting cloud services to ensure consistency.
• Mentorship and Training: Provide guidance and mentorship to Azure engineers and other team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning.
• Perform tasks as required by management/supervisory staff.
• Provide support after hours, and/or on weekends as required.
• Collaboration and Communication: Work closely with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to gather requirements, provide technical guidance, and communicate architectural decisions.

Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• At least eight years of work experience supporting a medium (over 500 servers) to large Microsoft Azure enterprise within an Infrastructure department.
• Proven ability and initiative to learn and research new concepts, ideas and technologies quickly.
• Proficiency in Azure networking concepts (e.g., Virtual Networks, ExpressRoute, VPN Gateway).
• Strong knowledge of identity and access management in Azure (e.g., Azure AD, RBAC).
• Experience with Azure DevOps and CI/CD pipelines for deploying and managing applications.
• Understanding of Azure security features, encryption methods, and compliance standards.
• Azure certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Security Engineer, or similar, are a plus.
• Amazon product knowledge, management and support a plus. Knowledge of AWS services including AWS LightSail, AWS App Runner, PostgreSQL, AWS Lambda, AWS CloudWatch, etc. preferred.
• Profound communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Exceptional analytical, conceptual, and problem-solving skills.
• Migrating legacy solutions to cloud is a plus.
• Knowledge of all components of holistic enterprise architecture.
• Knowledge of vendor software integration and interaction patterns.
• Familiarity with basic graphical modeling approaches, tools and model repositories.
• Expert knowledge of computing architectures.
• Knowledge of Enterprise Architecture discipline and frameworks.
• Strong understanding of Cloud service offerings and capabilities
• Ability to work in a team-oriented, collaborative, multi-stakeholder, multi-location environment.
• Experience conducting proof-of-concept, developing prototyping and building reference models.
• Excellent MS office (M365) skills including Excel, Visio, PowerPoint and MS Project or similar project management software tools.
• Experience in strategic planning, risk management and/or change management.
• Vendor management experience is preferred.

Interpersonal Skills:

• Detail oriented with excellent organization, motivation, influencing, analytical thinking, communication, negotiation, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
• Ability to plan and take initiatives to accomplish objectives in timely fashion.
• Ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with vendors, project team members, supervisors, and employees from other departments.
• Excellent decision-making, leadership and team building capabilities; and
• Conflict resolution.

Education and/or Experience: B.A. in Business Management, Information Technology, Financial Management or similar relevant field; Masters preferred.

Language Skills: Speak, read, write and understand English.

Reasoning Ability: High

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations: Project management certification desirable.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals to perform the essential functions.

• Under 1/3 of the time: Standing, Walking, Climbing or Balancing, Stooping, Kneeling, Crouching, or Crawling
• 1/2 to 2/3 of the time: Sitting, Reaching with Hands & Arms
• Over 2/3 of the time: Talking or Hearing
• 100% of the time: Using Hands

Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• 1/3 to 2/3 of the time: Work near moving or mechanical parts, exposure to radiation, moderate noise.