Senior Azure Engineer

Delta Dental is seeking a senior, hands-on Senior Azure Engineer. This is a build-and-run role-expect to wear multiple hats while delivering secure, reliable hybrid services across Azure, Azure Local (Stack HCI), identity, storage, Backup/DR, and monitoring in partnership, Network, Identity, Security, and application teams.

• Own delivery of Azure and hybrid infrastructure: build, deploy, support, and maintain cloud servers, tools, and environments.
• Develop engineering strategy, standards, and best practices (guardrails, naming/tagging, baseline monitoring/backup, operational documentation).
• Engineer and operate Azure Local (Stack HCI) with Azure Arc onboarding, VM lifecycle management, and hybrid connectivity validation.
• Provide identity and access foundations in partnership with Identity engineering (AD DS/DCs, DNS, Group Policy, Entra Connect, B2B/RBAC/PIM enablement).
• Operate storage and data services, including Azure storage and Windows file services; implement secure share models and permissions (NTFS/SMB ACLs).
• Implement backup, recovery, and DR readiness using Azure Backup (or approved alternatives), including routine restore testing and runbooks.
• Build monitoring and logging using Azure Monitor/Log Analytics; create actionable dashboards/alerts and leverage automation to orchestrate repeatable health checks and response.
• Support security and platform hygiene (Azure Policy compliance, NSG/ASG baselines, certificate lifecycle Management).
• Partner with Enterprise/Solution Architects, application owners, and Third-party vendors to design, integrate, troubleshoot, and support production workloads (e.g., MiPACS, Concord Fax, MOVEit).
• Conduct business needs assessments, translate requirements into technical deliverables, and research emerging technologies to improve cost, resiliency, and flexibility.
• Keep systems current with patching/updates to enable new functionality and address vulnerabilities.
• Performs as a key contributor to an engineering team that builds and supports exceptional products that provide innovative solutions to challenging business use cases, existing system and operational problems.
• Participates in architectural design, system analysis, and programming activities on application software; this may often require independent research and study.
• Develops high-quality and production-ready software by using best-practice data structures, algorithms, design patterns, and frameworks that are maintainable, scalable, responsive, and secure.
• Writes highest quality code with utmost attention to scalability, security and performance and with an end-to-end mindset from conception to delivery and production support, owning specifications, quality, release deployments and monitoring of production health.
• Produces complete, simple, and readable technical documentation for everything developed and maintains a team culture of documenting everything.
• Tests and ensures quality of all code that developed in line with principles of test-driven development and continuous delivery, utilizing test automation frameworks wherever possible.

• 4+ years of experience as an Azure Cloud Engineer supporting production environments.
• BS in computer science or equivalent technical field.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills; able to partner effectively across Engineering, Security, Network, and application teams.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills with strong analytical/critical thinking.
• Hands-on Azure experience across Azure Monitor/Log Analytics, Azure Policy & RBAC, Azure Storage (Files), Azure Key Vault, and Backup/recovery (including restore testing).
• Hybrid platform experience with Azure Local / Stack HCI and Azure Arc, plus Windows Server fundamentals (AD DS, DNS, GPO, file services/ACLs).
• Working knowledge of SDLC, cloud delivery models, and service integration patterns (web services, APIs/API Gateway, and network load balancers).
• Ability to understand business plans and apply that information into the development of an IT business case.
• Anticipates problems, resistance or likely objections and takes action to resolve them.
• Ability to guide, train and mentor associate engineers.
• Highly skilled in developing quantitative cost/benefit analysis to measure improvements.
• Proficient in organizational processes as well as capable of assessing and initiating change of such processes.
• Demonstrates an in-depth knowledge and application of competency and can consult as well as lead others in its application.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and…