Cloud & Enterprise Applications Architect

Cloud & Enterprise Applications Architect

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and consortium of universities that manages and/or operates world-leading astronomical observatories—including the Hubble Space Telescope;
James Webb Space Telescope;
Vera

C. Rubin Observatory; the Gemini Observatory; the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Observatory and many more—on behalf of the scientific community through our Centers: the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI); the NSF National Optical/Infrared Laboratory (NOIRLab), and the NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO). Our mission is to enable transformational research in astrophysics and to share the wonders of the universe with the public.

AURA partners with federal agencies, universities, scientific institutions, and industry collaborators around the world to advance exploration, discovery, and education.

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is seeking a Cloud & Enterprise Applications Architect to design, integrate, and support AURA’s cloud-based enterprise technology ecosystem, with a primary focus on Microsoft Azure, identity and access management, enterprise application integrations, data movement, and API-based services. This position serves as a senior technical resource within the Enterprise IT Team and works across infrastructure, cybersecurity, business systems, and functional departments to ensure AURA’s cloud services and enterprise applications are secure, scalable, interoperable, and supportable.

The role will focus on Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Entra  while supporting integrations involving systems such as Deltek Costpoint, UKG, Microsoft 365, and other enterprise platforms. The architect will help establish reusable integration patterns, strengthen identity governance, improve data exchanges between systems, and reduce reliance on manual processes and one-off technical solutions.

This position is expected to function as a hands‑on architect rather than solely as a strategic design role. The individual should be comfortable moving between architecture, engineering, troubleshooting, scripting, integration development, vendor coordination, and technical documentation. This role reports to the Director of Enterprise IT, has no direct reports but may lead cross‑functional teams. Position is eligible for hybrid work and will require 3 days of on‑site presence in our Washington, DC office.

• Design, maintain, and improve AURA's Microsoft Azure architecture, including subscriptions, resource groups, networking, identity, application registrations, and managed identities.
• Design solutions using core Azure services (Functions, Logic Apps, API Management, Key Vault, Storage, monitoring) and support cloud modernization and migration initiatives.
• Produce architectural documentation, technical diagrams, and reusable cloud patterns; support governance, resiliency, and disaster‑recovery planning.

• Serve as technical lead for identity architecture using Microsoft Entra , SSO, MFA, Conditional Access, and application registrations.
• Design role‑based access control models following least‑privilege and separation‑of‑duties principles.
• Build identity lifecycle automation (onboarding, transfers, offboarding) and integrations between HR systems, identity platforms, and downstream applications.
• Apply modern identity/federation standards (SCIM, SAML, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, Microsoft Graph); partner with cybersecurity on governance, privileged access, and Zero Trust initiatives.

• Ensure cloud and integration designs follow AURA cybersecurity standards and applicable regulatory/contractual requirements.
• Incorporate logging,…