Senior Azure Cloud Architect Job Washington area,District of Columbia USA,IT/Tech

Zachary Piper Solutions is seeking a Senior Azure Cloud Architect to support a high-visibility federal mission focused on designing, securing, and modernizing enterprise cloud infrastructure within a highly regulated environment. The Senior Azure Cloud Architect will serve as a senior technical leader supporting Azure architecture, cloud migrations, networking, identity, infrastructure automation, and cybersecurity initiatives.
This position requires an Active Secret Clearance and Security+ certification and is hybrid in Washington, D.C.!

Responsibilities of the Senior Azure Cloud Architect:

Design, architect, and implement secure, scalable Microsoft Azure environments supporting federal mission requirements
Develop enterprise cloud architecture solutions across compute, storage, networking, identity, security, monitoring, and governance
Design and troubleshoot complex Azure networking environments, including VNets, subnets, NSGs, routing, Azure Firewall, VPN, Express Route, and load balancing
Architect and implement Microsoft Entra , including RBAC, Conditional Access, identity governance, authentication, and enterprise identity integrations
Lead and support on-premises to Azure cloud migrations, including migration planning, dependency mapping, replication, failover testing, cutovers, and post-migration validation
Utilize Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to support disaster recovery, workload replication, and migration initiatives
Develop and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using Terraform, Bicep, and/or ARM templates
Automate cloud infrastructure deployment, configuration, and operational processes using Power Shell, Ansible, Azure Dev Ops, and/or Git Hub Actions
Develop and maintain cloud architecture diagrams, network diagrams, and technical documentation using Microsoft Visio
Ensure Azure environments comply with applicable federal security requirements and DISA STIGs
Collaborate with government stakeholders, engineers, system administrators, cybersecurity teams, and other technical personnel to develop and implement cloud solutions
Lead technical discussions, architecture reviews, design sessions, and customer-facing presentations
Provide technical direction and mentorship to engineering teams while serving as a senior subject matter expert for Azure cloud architecture
Troubleshoot complex infrastructure, networking, identity, security, and cloud connectivity issues
Support the continuous modernization, optimization, and hardening of enterprise cloud environments

Qualifications for the Senior Azure Cloud Architect:

10+ years of professional IT, infrastructure, cloud, or engineering experience
5+ years of hands-on Azure experience within DoD IL5/IL6 or comparable high-security government environments
Extensive experience designing and implementing Azure cloud architectures in enterprise or federal environments
Strong hands-on experience with Azure networking, including VNets, subnets, NSGs, routing, Azure Firewall, VPN, Express Route, and load balancing
Strong experience with Microsoft Entra , including RBAC, Conditional Access, identity governance, and enterprise identity architecture
Experience with Azure Site Recovery and enterprise cloud migration initiatives
Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform, Bicep, and/or ARM
Experience with Azure Dev Ops and/or Git Hub Actions for infrastructure automation and CI/CD
Strong scripting and automation experience using Power Shell and/or Ansible
Experience securing and hardening cloud environments in accordance with DISA STIGs and federal security requirements
Active Secret Clearance
CompTIA Security+ certification
Experience creating and maintaining technical architecture and network diagrams using Microsoft Visio
Ability to work onsite in Washington, D.C. at least 3 days per week
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interact directly with government customers and technical stakeholders
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to troubleshoot complex cloud, networking, identity, and infrastructure challenges

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience architecting Azure Government environments
Azure Solutions Architect Expert or other relevant Microsoft Azure certifications
Experience supporting federal or high-security government cloud programs
Experience with Azure landing zones, governance, policy, and enterprise-scale cloud implementations
Experience with Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, or other…