What's the Opportunity? Reporting to the Senior Manager, Cloud Operations, the Lead Cloud Operations Engineer is a senior-level technical role responsible for leading a team of cloud engineers and hands-on technical execution in Azure/Kubernetes environments. You will be building scalable, reliable, and efficient infrastructure while mentoring junior engineers, maintaining best practices, and ensuring optimal performance, security, and cost-effectiveness in a customer-facing role.
This is a technical leadership position for someone who wants to stay close to infrastructure while growing a team. You will roll up your sleeves daily, pair with engineers on complex problems, and drive automation initiatives that reduce toil and improve platform reliability.
What You Will Do- Lead technical strategy and best practices for Azure cloud operations and AKS deployments
- Design, implement, and maintain infrastructure-as-code using Terraform and Azure DevOps
- Manage Kubernetes deployments with ArgoCD, Helm, and GitOps patterns for auditability and compliance
- Architect and manage Azure Application Gateway, load balancing, WAF, and ingress strategies
- Oversee secrets and certificate management using Azure Key Vault and implement security best practices
- Build and maintain Azure Container Registry (ACR) pipelines and image scanning workflows
- Mentor and guide junior engineers on technical tasks, code reviews, and cloud architecture decisions
- Build automation solutions to reduce manual toil and improve operational efficiency
- Manage and troubleshoot AKS clusters, networking, storage, and identity/access control
- Own incident response, RCA documentation, and presentation to stakeholders
- Monitor infrastructure health, performance, and security posture; identify and resolve bottlenecks
- Work with peers to establish and enforce infrastructure standards and compliance controls across client environments
- Communicate proactively with customers and internal teams on infrastructure health and roadmap
- Maintain security, backup, disaster recovery, and high-availability strategies
- Drive cost optimization and FinOps practices across cloud infrastructure
- Support offshore hours and multiple time zones as needed
What You Need to SucceedMust Haves- 8-12 years of cloud/infrastructure engineering experience
- 5+ years of hands-on Azure cloud platform experience (VMs, networking, identity, monitoring)
- 5+ years with Kubernetes, specifically Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) production experience
- Expert-level Terraform and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices
- Strong Azure DevOps or equivalent CI/CD platform experience
- Hands-on experience with ArgoCD or GitOps deployment patterns for Kubernetes
- Proficiency with Helm for Kubernetes package management and templating
- Azure Application Gateway configuration and management (load balancing, WAF, SSL termination)
- Azure Key Vault and secrets management implementation and best practices
- Azure Container Registry (ACR) operations, image scanning, and registry maintenance
- Proficiency in Linux administration and troubleshooting
- Automation scripting (Python, Bash/Shell) to reduce manual operational tasks
- Strong networking knowledge: TCP/IP, DNS, load balancing, VPCs, firewall rules, network troubleshooting
- Demonstrated ability to mentor and guide junior engineers
- Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent hands-on experience
Nice to Have- Azure certifications (AZ-104, AZ-305, AZ-700 Networking, or equivalent)
- Kubernetes certifications (CKA, CKAD)
- Cloud security scanning tools experience (Wiz, Microsoft Defender)
- Azure API Management for API governance and rate limiting
- Backup and disaster recovery solutions (Azure Backup, Site Recovery)
- FinOps and cost optimization expertise across cloud resources
- Compliance and governance frameworks (SOC2, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, regulatory reporting)
- Domain knowledge of banking, financial services, enterprise data platforms, or regulated industries
- Experience with GitOps and advanced Kubernetes patterns
- Observability and monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana, Azure Log Analytics, Application Insights)
Additional Job Details- Expected Salary Range: $110,000 - $135,000
- Vacancy Status: Open Position to be filled
- Mode of Work: Hybrid
- Use of AI: Zafin may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or other forms of automated technology to screen and/or assess applicants for this position. Zafin will not utilize AI for conducting interviews and/or making hiring decisions.
What's in it for youJoining our team means being part of a culture that values diversity, teamwork, and high-quality work. We offer competitive salaries, annual bonus potential, generous paid time off, paid volunteering days, wellness benefits, and robust opportunities for professional growth and career advancement. Want to learn more about what you can look forward to during your career with us? Visit our careers site and our openings: zafin.com/careers
