Senior Azure Solutions & Security Architect (Azure AI Focus)

Position Summary

We are seeking a senior-level Azure technical leader with deep expertise in Azure administration, cloud security, monitoring, and Azure AI services. This role is responsible for designing, securing, and operating enterprise-scale Azure and AI-enabled solutions while providing technical leadership and architectural direction across teams.

The ideal candidate brings extensive IT and cybersecurity experience, strong solution architecture capabilities, and the ability to lead in complex, regulated environments.

Key Responsibilities

Azure Administration & Operations

• Provide advanced administration of Microsoft Azure environments, including compute, networking, storage, identity, and platform services
• Ensure reliability, performance, availability, and cost efficiency of Azure workloads
• Establish and enforce Azure governance, standards, and best practices

Monitoring & Observability

• Design and operate enterprise monitoring and logging using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights, and Sentinel
• Define operational metrics, alerting, and dashboards to proactively detect issues

Cloud & Azure Security

• Lead secure-by-design Azure implementations aligned with enterprise security standards
• Implement and manage Azure security controls including Defender for Cloud, Azure Policy, Key Vault, and identity protections
• Partner with cybersecurity teams on threat modeling, incident response, and risk reduction

Azure AI Administration (Critical Focus)

• Administer and govern Azure AI services including Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Studio, Azure Machine Learning, and Cognitive Services
• Define secure operating models for AI workloads, including access control, data protection, monitoring, and lifecycle management
• Ensure responsible and compliant use of AI technologies

Solution Architecture

• Lead the design of secure, scalable, and resilient Azure solutions
• Translate business requirements into technical architectures and design standards
• Produce architecture diagrams, reference designs, and design reviews

Leadership & Collaboration

• Provide hands-on technical leadership and mentorship to cloud and security engineers
• Act as a trusted advisor to technical teams and senior stakeholders
• Drive alignment across infrastructure, security, data, and AI teams

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of IT experience, including enterprise infrastructure or platform engineering
• 5+ years of cybersecurity experience, preferably cloud-focused
• Deep hands-on expertise with Microsoft Azure administration and architecture
• Strong experience with Azure security and monitoring tools
• Practical experience administering and securing Azure AI services
• Proven ability to lead technical teams and influence cross-functional stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• Azure certifications (Solutions Architect Expert, Security Engineer, AI Engineer)
• Experience in regulated or large-scale global enterprise environments
• Background in cloud governance, automation, and infrastructure-as-code

Location: Morrisville, NC or Chicago IL strongly preferred