Azure Cloud Engineer – Portals, Engineering & Operations

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Azure Cloud Engineer to join the Tolling Engineering and Operations team. This role involves Azure cloud engineering, portal development and administration, application support, cloud operations, and rotational help-desk support within the Tolling group.

The selected candidate will be responsible for implementing, maintaining, securing, and supporting cloud resources and portal-based applications within the Tolling Azure environment. The role requires hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure services, Azure portal administration, enterprise application integrations, identity and access management, monitoring, and troubleshooting.

The engineer will collaborate with architects, developers, DBAs, infrastructure engineers, vendors, and business stakeholders to deliver secure, scalable, highly available, and cost-effective cloud solutions. Key technologies include Azure App Services, API Management, Azure Functions, Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Log Analytics, and Microsoft 365.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Azure Cloud Operations and Engineering

• Implement, configure, maintain, and support cloud infrastructure and application resources within the Tolling Azure environment.
• Administer Azure resources through the Azure portal, including resource groups, subscriptions, virtual networks, storage accounts, App Services, Function Apps, and other PaaS and IaaS services.
• Support the deployment, configuration, and maintenance of cloud-hosted portals and web applications.
• Ensure compliance with Virginia government security policies, identity and access management (IAM) standards, network controls, and cloud cost-governance requirements.
• Maintain infrastructure documentation, resource naming conventions, tagging standards, and cloud governance artifacts.
• Assist with access reviews, Azure role assignments, RBAC configuration, and least-privilege access evaluations.
• Manage vendor-required updates, patches, platform upgrades, and application compatibility.
• Design and support fault-tolerant, scalable, and highly available Azure solutions.

2. Azure Portal and Application Support

• Configure, administer, and support Azure-hosted application portals, administrative portals, and web-based business applications.
• Support portal deployment, configuration, application settings, environment variables, custom domains, SSL/TLS certificates, and endpoint configuration.
• Manage application access, authentication, authorization, and Single Sign-On (SSO) for portal users using Microsoft Entra ID.
• Configure and troubleshoot application registrations, enterprise applications, service principals, redirect URIs, and authentication flows.
• Support API integrations between portals, backend services, databases, and external vendor systems using Azure API Management and REST APIs.
• Monitor portal availability, responsiveness, authentication failures, and application errors.
• Troubleshoot portal login issues, access restrictions, broken integrations, connectivity problems, and performance degradation.
• Coordinate portal releases, configuration changes, deployments, and production fixes with developers and application owners.
• Maintain portal configuration documentation, deployment procedures, access matrices, and operational support runbooks.
• Support role-based portal access for internal users, administrators, and authorized external stakeholders.

3. Azure Services and Integration Management

• Implement and support Azure App Services, Azure Functions, API Management, Azure Kubernetes Service, and related cloud services.
• Configure and maintain API gateways, API policies, backend integrations, authentication mechanisms, and secure communication between applications.
• Support application integration and data movement across tolling systems, roadway data platforms, financial transaction systems, and reporting applications.
• Assist with troubleshooting API failures, HTTP errors, integration timeouts, authorization issues, and service-to-service connectivity.
• Support Azure Virtual Desktop environments, including user access, application availability, session connectivity, and operational troubleshooting.
• Work with development and database teams to support application dependencies, connectivity requirements, and deployment activities.

4. Monitoring, Troubleshooting, and Diagnostics

• Monitor Azure infrastructure, portals, APIs, and application workloads to maintain service availability and operational reliability.
• Use Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Log Analytics, metrics, traces, and diagnostic logs to identify and resolve issues.
• Configure and maintain monitoring alerts, dashboards, availability checks, and operational health indicators.
• Perform root-cause analysis for production incidents, portal outages, API failures, authentication issues, and application performance problems.
• Analyze application response times, resource utilization, dependencies, and system behavior to identify performance bottlenecks.
• Document incidents, troubleshooting steps, corrective actions, and preventive measures.

5. Identity, Security, and Compliance

• Administer Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, enterprise applications, SSO, and user access controls.
• Support conditional access and authentication configurations in accordance with organizational security policies and applicable permissions.
• Manage Azure Key Vault resources, secrets, certificates, keys, and secure credential storage.
• Ensure secure configuration of portal endpoints, APIs, application identities, and service integrations.
• Apply PCI-related and other applicable regulatory requirements when evaluating application behavior, data flows, access controls, and logging practices.
• Assist with security assessments, access reviews, vulnerability remediation, audit evidence collection, and compliance documentation.
• Ensure sensitive information is not exposed through application logs, portal error messages, or diagnostic traces.

6. Microsoft 365 and End-User Support

• Support Microsoft 365 services, including Office applications, user access, and identity-related issues.
• Assist with Power Apps configuration, administration, access management, and integration with Microsoft 365 and Azure services.
• Provide rotational help-desk support for Tolling applications, Azure-hosted portals, AVD, and related business systems.
• Triage incidents and service requests, coordinate escalations, and communicate resolution progress to users and stakeholders.
• Support user onboarding, permissions, access troubleshooting, and application availability issues.

7. Operational Support and Change Management

• Participate in daily and weekly operational activities, including monitoring reviews, incident assessments, maintenance readiness checks, and service health reviews.
• Triage production incidents and coordinate timely resolution with infrastructure, application, network, database, and vendor teams.
• Support scheduled maintenance, off-hours deployments, emergency changes, and production releases as required.
• Prepare change requests, detailed implementation plans, validation steps, backout plans, and rollback procedures.
• Validate portal and application functionality following deployments, configuration changes, and platform updates.
• Maintain operational runbooks, knowledge articles, troubleshooting guides, and root-cause analysis reports.

8. Technical Development, Automation, and Documentation

• Develop and maintain PowerShell and/or Python scripts to automate Azure administration, portal support, monitoring, reporting, and routine operational tasks.
• Assist with infrastructure deployment and configuration automation using Azure-native tools and approved deployment practices.
• Maintain network diagrams, system topology documentation, application dependency maps, portal integration diagrams, and end-to-end data-flow documentation.
• Collaborate with architects, developers, DBAs, engineers, and project managers to implement cloud best practices across SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS environments.
• Support multiple concurrent projects involving cloud infrastructure, portal enhancements, application integrations, and operational improvements.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years of hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure services and cloud administration.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience administering Azure resources through the Azure portal.
• Experience supporting Azure-hosted web applications, enterprise portals, or application administration portals.
• Hands-on experience with Azure App Services, API Management, Azure Functions, and related cloud services.
• Experience with Microsoft Entra ID, SSO, application registrations, enterprise applications, and identity and access management.
• Experience with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) administration and troubleshooting.
• Experience with Microsoft 365 services and Power Apps.
• Solid scripting experience using PowerShell and/or Python.
• Experience with Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Log Analytics, and application troubleshooting.
• Working knowledge of Windows environments, networking, DNS, TLS/SSL certificates, firewalls, and connectivity troubleshooting.
• Understanding of REST APIs, API authentication, application integrations, and backend service dependencies.
• Ability to create and maintain network diagrams, system topology documentation, and operational procedures.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, documentation, and communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple technical tasks and collaborate with cross-functional teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft Azure certifications, such as Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate.
• Experience with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines, and automated deployments.
• Experience with Azure Key Vault, managed identities, service principals, and secure application configuration.
• Experience with enterprise portal integrations, API gateways, and application authentication troubleshooting.
• Familiarity with ITIL-based incident, problem, and change-management processes.
• Experience supporting PCI-regulated or other security-sensitive enterprise environments.
• Experience working in government, transportation, tolling, financial transaction, or other high-availability environments.

Special Instructions

• The selected candidate must complete a fingerprint-based background check.
• Continued professional education and training are expected at the contractor's own expense to remain current with VDOT technologies, Azure services, and applicable security requirements.
• The role may require off-hours support, scheduled maintenance, and participation in a rotational help-desk support schedule.