Cloud Specialist

Overview

The work you'll do is more than just a job. At the State of Minnesota, employees play a critical role in developing policies, providing essential services, and working to improve the well-being and quality of life for all Minnesotans. The State of Minnesota is committed to equity and inclusion, and invests in employees by providing benefits, support resources, and training and development opportunities.

Join the 2,800+ professionals of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) who connect Minnesotans to services that will improve their lives. This position serves our partners at both the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the Minnesota Board of Animal Health (BAH). The MNIT MDA and BAH teams support technology critical to ensuring food supply integrity and safety, livestock health, and supporting a vibrant agricultural economy for Minnesota.

The Cloud Specialist provides critical support to application development teams and systems architects by helping scale, administer, and optimize the organization’s Azure cloud environment. This role is responsible for monitoring system performance, maintaining infrastructure health, and supporting developers and architects with cloud configuration needs. The position also contributes to cloud financial operations (Fin Ops), ensuring responsible and efficient use of cloud resources.

Onsite requirement: This position requires an employee to be onsite at 625 Robert St. N., St. Paul, Minnesota at least 50% of the time, with some opportunity to perform work from a telework location. Telework for Minnesota IT Services is available on a limited basis. Employees will be required to meet current telework eligibility requirements.

To qualify, candidates must clearly show all of the following qualifications in their resume. Resume tips available here:

Position requires a minimum of three (3) years of IT-related experience in supporting and administering cloud-based infrastructure and application environments in Microsoft Azure. Experience must include:

• Knowledge of Microsoft Azure services, including virtual machines, storage, and networking.
• Experience using cloud monitoring and performance tools (e.g., Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights).
• Experience with automation and scripting (e.g., Power Shell, Azure CLI, or Infrastructure as Code such as ARM or Bicep).
• Knowledge of cloud networking concepts (e.g., virtual networks, VPNs, firewalls, network security groups).
• Knowledge of cloud cost management or Fin Ops practices such as usage tracking, tagging, and cost-optimization concepts.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and effectively in a manner that facilitates mutual understanding.
• Customer-focused approach grounded in active listening, empathy, and solution-oriented problem-solving to deliver positive user experience.

Education in Information Technology (IT) or an IT related field may substitute for experience as follows: a master’s degree for eighteen (18) months of experience; a bachelor’s degree for one (1) year; and an associate’s degree for six (6) months.

• Experience designing or implementing scalable Azure cloud architectures, including high availability, redundancy, security controls, and disaster recovery strategies.
• Experience developing or administering Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using ARM, Bicep, Terraform to support repeatable and standardized deployments.
• Experience with Dev Ops methodologies and CI/CD automation, including Azure Dev Ops, Git Hub Actions, or similar pipeline tools.
• Experience with cloud application performance tuning, including root-cause analysis of performance degradation in Azure services.
• Knowledge of cloud security best practices and compliance standards, including identity and access management, networking security controls, and secure cloud configurations.
• Experience with containerization technologies such as Docker or Kubernetes in cloud-based application environments.

It is the policy of Minnesota IT Services that a successful candidate must pass all legally required checks prior to employment which may consist of the following:

• SEMA4 Records Check (applies to current and past state employees only)
• Criminal History Check
• Reference Check
• Social Security and Address Verification
• Education Verification
• Other legally required checks

Minnesota IT Services does not participate in the federal E-Verify program. Minnesota IT Services is unable to sponsor applicants for work visas, including F-1 STEM OPT extensions, and cannot complete Form I-983 or any other documentation requiring employer participation in E-Verify. All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of application.

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