Lead Cloud Engineer

At FordDirect, our emphasis on diversity is much more than words. We encourage you to be yourself. We open our minds and doors to all walks of life, respecting and celebrating the uniqueness within each of us. We value the voice and contributions of all team members.

THE DIVERSITY OF OUR TEAM DRIVES US, INSPIRES US, AND MAKES US PROUD TO CALL FORDDIRECT HOME.

FordDirect is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, disability status or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please email [email protected].

FordDirect is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position. Only candidates permanently authorized to work in the United States will be considered.

This position is a hybrid role which requires the employee to work in the office every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Job Summary

The Lead Cloud Engineer is primarily responsible for critically reviewing and implementing policies and configurations for the use of cloud services, managing requests for new cloud deployments or updates, establishing, and maintaining a secure cloud environment, ensuring appropriate availability of services, and supporting app/services operations including, determining the appropriate escalation path. This role will require occasional weekend support of planned maintenance activities.

This role works on the IT Operations team and leads the overall resolution of technical issues working with team members, vendors, and partners. The ideal candidate will have a broad technical background in various infrastructure solutions, cloud and on-premise, and experience leading a small team of engineers to troubleshoot and resolve issues in a timely manner.

Essential Functions

1. Lead overall identification of technical issues and work with team members to final resolution.
2. Research, diagnose, troubleshoot, and identify solutions to resolve developer and/or customer issues.
3. Follow standard procedures for proper escalation of unresolved issues to appropriate internal teams.
4. Provide prompt and accurate feedback to developers and/or customers.
5. Ensure proper recording and closure of all issues.
6. Prepare accurate and timely reports as needed.
7. Document information in the form of knowledge based technical notes and articles, including support documentation.
8. Install, configure, and monitor cloud infrastructure components including networking, services, containers, and virtual machines.
9. Manage QA and production releases.
10. Monitor and troubleshoot scheduled jobs.
11. Be part of a weekly on-call rotation schedule to monitor and troubleshoot system and infrastructure issues and handle escalations with hosting and cloud partners as assigned.
12. Lead daily standups.
13. Support vulnerability management process and apply patches at the direction of supervisor or security team.
14. Evaluate existing processes, identify opportunities, and implement improvements to increase efficiency.
15. Stay current on technological landscape and emerging methodologies sharing best practices amongst teams.
16. Complete the necessary security, technical and process improvement training curriculum as assigned.

% Travel Required (Approximate): Minimal

Qualifications At FordDirect, we believe in diversity as a strength. You're encouraged to apply even if your experience or background doesn't precisely match the job description. Candidates who do not meet all listed qualifications may be considered based on the combination of relevant work experience and depth of expertise in job-related skills.

Experience

• Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure solutions, (10 years) or equivalent combination of work experience and education.
• Windows Server and Ubuntu administration, 3+ years.
• Big Data experience, 8 years.
• Experience installing, configuring, troubleshooting, and monitoring Azure services.
• Proven experience provisioning cloud Infrastructure using Infrastructure as code template-based solutions.
• Working in enterprise technical support.
• Experience leading technical team, contractors and/or employees.

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

• Proven knowledge of systems, utilities, and scripting.
• Proven knowledge of Azure Delta Lake/Databricks, ADF, Synapse, Entra ID, and Azure DevOps.
• AKS, virtual machines, vNET, NSG, Load Balancer, Application Gateway, VPN, Traffic Manager, storage, backup, DNS, CDN.
• SQL knowledge.
• Thorough knowledge of Bicep, Terraform and Power shell scripting to provision and support Infrastructure as Code based solutions.
• Atlassian toolset (Jira, Confluence, etc.), a plus.
• Proactively problem-solve and multitask while maintaining composure and attention to detail.
• Follow-through mindset to uphold a 'close the loop' culture.
• A positive approach to serving customers and providing exceptional customer service.
• Ability to demonstrate good judgment, high ethics, and project a professional image.
• Ability to work independently and as a collaborative team member with a positive 'can do' attitude.
• The drive to identify and seize opportunities for continuous improvement as business needs change.
• Excellent organization, flexibility and time management skills and the ability to work in a dynamic, deadline-driven environment.
• Exceptional interpersonal and business communication skills (written, verbal, listening).
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent combination of education and experience

MS Azure Certification required

MS Azure Administrator Associate certification or equivalent preferred

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