The final salary or hourly wage, as applicable, paid to each candidate/applicant for this position is ultimately dependent on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate’s/applicant’s qualifications, skills, and level of experience as well as the geographical location of the position.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Sponsorship not available.

Our client is seeking a Cloud Engineer in Richmond, VA/Hybrid.

Role Description

• The Cloud Engineer serves as the senior technical leader responsible for designing, implementing, automating, and optimizing cloud infrastructure and platform services across the organization. This role provides hands-on engineering expertise and technical leadership to support enterprise cloud initiatives, ensuring secure, scalable, resilient, and cost-effective cloud solutions.
The Cloud Engineer partners closely with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Infrastructure, Application Development, and Data teams to advance the organization's cloud strategy and accelerate the adoption of modern cloud-native technologies. This individual will lead complex cloud engineering efforts, establish engineering standards, and drive automation across cloud platforms while serving as a technical mentor to engineering teams

Cloud Engineering & Platform Delivery
• Design, build, and maintain scalable cloud infrastructure primarily within Microsoft Azure.
• Lead implementation of cloud platforms, landing zones, networking, identity services, and shared infrastructure capabilities.
• Develop Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, or similar technologies.
• Engineer and support highly available, fault-tolerant cloud environments.
• Automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration management, monitoring, and operational processes.
• Develop reusable cloud patterns, standards, and templates for enterprise adoption.

DevOps & Automation
• Design and maintain CI/CD pipelines supporting application and infrastructure deployments.
• Implement cloud automation strategies that improve reliability, operational efficiency, and deployment velocity.
• Partner with development teams to support cloud-native application architectures and deployment practices.
• Promote DevSecOps principles throughout the software development lifecycle.

Cloud Security & Governance
• Implement cloud security controls aligned with organizational and regulatory requirements.
• Support identity and access management, network security, encryption, logging, monitoring, and vulnerability remediation.
• Ensure cloud environments adhere to governance standards, operational best practices, and compliance requirements.
• Collaborate with security teams to identify and mitigate cloud risks.

Operational Excellence
• Monitor cloud performance, availability, utilization, and cost optimization.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex infrastructure and platform issues.
• Establish reliability, observability, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions.
• Drive root cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives.

Technical Leadership
• Provide technical leadership across cloud engineering initiatives.
• Mentor and guide engineers on cloud technologies, automation, and operational best practices.
• Evaluate emerging cloud technologies, tools, and services.
• Participate in architectural reviews and technical decision-making processes.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for cloud infrastructure and platform engineering.

Skills & Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 8+ years of infrastructure, systems engineering, cloud engineering, or DevOps experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience designing and supporting Azure cloud environments.
• Strong experience with Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Bicep, ARM, or similar technologies.
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or related tools.
• Strong understanding of cloud networking, DNS, firewalls, application gateways, load balancing, and hybrid connectivity.
• Experience supporting containerized workloads using Kubernetes and Docker technologies.
• Proficiency with PowerShell, Bash, Python, or other automation and scripting languages.
• Experience with cloud monitoring, logging, observability, and operational automation.
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Microsoft Azure certifications (AZ-104, AZ-305, AZ-400, or equivalent).
• Experience supporting healthcare, government, or regulated environments.
• Experience with Zero Trust security principles.
• Experience with container orchestration platforms such as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Experience with cloud cost optimization and FinOps practices.
• Familiarity with networking technologies including ExpressRoute, VPN, and hybrid cloud connectivity.
• Experience leading large-scale cloud migration and modernization initiatives.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in cloud engineering, cloud architecture, or infrastructure platform roles
• Terraform or Bicep Experience
• Cloud Architecture Expertise
• IaC (Infrastructure as Code)
• Azure
• Azure Certifications: Solutions Architect AZ-305 (preferred), AZ-104 Administrator

Benefits/Other Compensation

This position is a contract/temporary role where Hays offers you the opportunity to enroll in full medical benefits, dental benefits, vision benefits, 401K and Life Insurance ($20,000 benefit).

Why Hays?

You will be working with a professional recruiter who has intimate knowledge of the industry and market trends. Your Hays recruiter will lead you through a thorough screening process in order to understand your skills, experience, needs, and drivers. You will also get support on resume writing, interview tips, and career planning, so when there’s a position you really want, you’re fully prepared to get it.

Nervous about an upcoming interview? Unsure how to write a new resume?

Visit the Hays Career Advice section to learn top tips to help you stand out from the crowd when job hunting.

Hays is committed to building a thriving culture of diversity that embraces people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better we serve our candidates, clients, and employees. We are an equal employment opportunity employer, and we comply with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, creed, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, marital status, genetic information, HIV-positive status, as well as any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. One of Hays’ guiding principles is ‘do the right thing’.
We also believe that actions speak louder than words.
In that regard, we train our staff on ensuring inclusivity throughout the entire recruitment process and counsel our clients on these principles. If you have any questions about Hays or any of our processes, please contact us.

In accordance with applicable federal, state, and local law protecting qualified individuals with known disabilities, Hays will attempt to reasonably accommodate those individuals unless doing so would create an undue hardship on the company. Any qualified applicant or consultant with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to perform the essential functions of the job should call or text 813.336.5570.

Drug testing may be required; please contact a recruiter for more information.

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