Cloud Engineer

hackajob is collaborating with Planet Technologies to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.
Planet Technologies, the Nation's leading Microsoft services provider to the public sector, is looking for a highly motivated individual to join our growing team as Cloud Infrastructure Engineer. In this role, you will be supporting impactful projects that make a difference for our country.
The Senior Identity and Messaging Engineer is responsible for supporting, maintaining, securing, and enhancing enterprise identity and messaging services across on-premises and Microsoft cloud environments. This hands-on role administers and engineers Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Exchange Server, Exchange Online, and the hybrid services that connect them in a complex federal environment.

• Must have existing Top Secret and/or DOE Q Clearance

Responsibilities

Active Directory Administration & Engineering
• Design, implement, configure, and maintain multi-domain and multi-forest Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services infrastructure, including trusts, Flexible Single Master Operations roles, domain controller lifecycle management, schema changes, functional-level upgrades, and disaster recovery.
• Manage Domain Controllers, Group Policy Objects (GPOs), DNS, DHCP, Sites and Services, and Active Directory replication.
• Perform schema modifications, forest and domain functional level upgrades, and disaster recovery planning.
• Harden Active Directory using tiered administration, Local Administrator Password Solution, privileged access workstations, Microsoft Defender for Identity, and findings from tools such as PingCastle and Purple Knight. Design, maintain, or support administrative forest and tiered administration architectures, and advise customers on transitioning from legacy ESAE or Red Forest models to Microsoft's Enterprise Access Model where appropriate.
• Monitor and optimize AD performance, health, and security.
Exchange Administration & Engineering
• Administer and support Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, Exchange Server Subscription Edition, and Exchange Online, including Database Availability Groups, transport services, certificates, cumulative updates, security updates, and high-availability configurations.
• Manage mailbox provisioning, migrations, retention policies, archive solutions, and email routing.
• Build, maintain, and troubleshoot Exchange hybrid deployments using the Hybrid Configuration Wizard, organization relationships, free/busy services, mail flow connectors, and centralized mail transport. Plan and execute remote-move, cutover, and cross-tenant mailbox migrations with minimal disruption to users.
• Manage Exchange Online Protection and Microsoft Defender for Office 365, including SPF, DKIM, DMARC, transport rules, anti-spam, anti-phishing, and email encryption controls. Support retention, eDiscovery, litigation hold, journaling, and Microsoft Purview compliance workloads.
• Support email continuity, backup, recovery, and high-availability configurations.
Identity & Access Management
• Implement and support Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory).
• Deploy, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot Microsoft Entra Connect and Entra Cloud Sync, including scoping and filtering, attribute flow, source anchor decisions, synchronization monitoring, and error remediation.
• Configure and troubleshoot hybrid authentication using Password Hash Synchronization, Pass-through Authentication, and Active Directory Federation Services, and support migrations away from federation where appropriate. Implement Single Sign-On, Conditional Access, Multi-Factor Authentication, Privileged Identity Management, and phishing-resistant authentication using PIV/CAC and certificate-based authentication.
• Participate in identity governance and role-based access control initiatives.
• Collaborate with security teams to enforce Zero Trust architecture principles.
Network and Infrastructure
• Work within segmented, multi-enclave federal networks to maintain Active Directory replication, authentication, directory synchronization, and mail flow across firewalls, VLANs, proxies, and security zones.
• Identify and document required ports, protocols, Microsoft 365 endpoints, and GCC High or DoD-specific allow-list requirements.
• Troubleshoot connectivity with Wireshark, netsh, pktmon, port testing, packet captures, and log analysis to isolate identity, application, and network failures.
• Configure and troubleshoot split-brain and conditional DNS, forwarders, load balancers, VPN, SD-WAN, ExpressRoute, TIC 3.0 paths, DMZ services, and disconnected or cross-domain environments as applicable.
Cybersecurity & Compliance
• Ensure systems comply with DOE requirements, NIST Special Publication 800-53, FISMA, FedRAMP, DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides, and applicable CISA Secure Cloud Business Applications baselines. Support Authority to Operate activities, security control assessments, audit evidence requests, vulnerability remediation, and compliance reporting.
• Perform vulnerability remediation, security hardening, and patch management.
• Support audits, security assessments, and compliance reporting activities.
• Implement security baselines and monitor for unauthorized changes or suspicious activity.
• Assist with incident response and forensic investigations involving identity and messaging systems.
Automation & Engineering
• Develop and maintain PowerShell and Microsoft Graph automation for administration, reporting, monitoring, user lifecycle management, mailbox provisioning, group management, and repeatable operational tasks.
• Automate user lifecycle management, mailbox provisioning, and group management processes.
• Produce solution designs, operational runbooks, standard operating procedures, as-built documentation, port and protocol matrices, and technical diagrams that meet federal documentation and audit standards.
• Support enterprise modernization initiatives involving Microsoft 365 and cloud migrations.
Operations Support
• Provide Tier III escalation support for identity and messaging-related issues.
• Participate in on-call support rotations as required.
• Troubleshoot complex authentication, replication, Exchange, and directory synchronization issues.
• Coordinate maintenance activities and planned outages.

Qualification

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Engineering, or related field with 7 or more years of experience administering Active Directory in enterprise environments, including multi-domain or multi-forest architectures.
• 5 or more years of experience administering Exchange Server, including hands-on responsibility for at least one Exchange hybrid deployment, and three or more years supporting Microsoft 365, Microsoft Entra ID, and Exchange Online.
• Experience supporting enterprise environments with 5,000+ users preferred.
• Senior-level experience supporting federal government customers onsite, with a demonstrated record of working effectively with government program managers, CIO staff, security officers, and contractors in professional, multi-vendor environments.
• Demonstrated knowledge of TCP/IP, routing, subnetting, Network Address Translation, VLANs, firewalls, DNS, PKI and certificates, SMTP, Kerberos, and LDAP. Proven ability to diagnose network-related authentication, directory synchronization, and mail flow failures using packet capture, port testing, and log analysis in environments with strict change control.
• PowerShell scripting and automation
• Microsoft 365 Administration
• Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Certificate Services (PKI)
• Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
• Windows Server Administration
Infrastructure: Windows Server (), Active Directory / GPO, Hyper-V & VMware, DHCP / DNS / NPS
Security & Compliance: DISA STIGs, Trellix EPO / HIPS, Vulnerability Scanners, (ACAS / Nessus)
Systems Management: MECM / SCCM, Exchange Server (), Microsoft Active Directory, Entra ID and Azure AD Connect, Domain Services (AD DS), Red Hat / Linux+, Orchestrator / PowerShell
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience implementing Exchange Hybrid environments.
• Experience with Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Purview, and Microsoft Sentinel.
• Experience with CyberArk, Beyond Trust, or other Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions.
• Experience supporting Zero Trust initiatives.
• Familiarity with virtualization technologies such as VMware or Hyper-V.
• Experience administering Microsoft 365 in GCC, GCC High, or DoD tenants, including government-specific endpoints, security controls, service limitations, and hybrid connectivity requirements.
• Experience with PIV/CAC authentication, federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management requirements, administrative forest or ESAE/Red Forest architectures, one-way trusts, shadow principals, bastion forests, or Microsoft Identity Manager Privileged Access Management.
• Familiarity with Active Directory consolidation, domain migrations, tenant-to-tenant migrations, Azure networking, TIC 3.0, Zero Trust network architecture, and cross-domain solutions.
Certifications (Preferred)
• Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate (SC-300)
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