*This role is on-site, 5 days per week, in Washington, DC*
Overview: Insight Global is seeking a Cloud Engineer to support a University‑Affiliated Research Center (UARC) that serves as the central hub for a consortium of nine academic institutions conducting government‑funded research. This role is responsible for building, supporting, and maintaining a secure, high‑performance Azure cloud environment that manages Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) shared between government entities and academic partners.
This is a hands‑on, highly autonomous role that may feel like building from scratch at times. Ideal for someone comfortable being technical, owning administration end‑to‑end, and solving problems that may not have a defined playbook yet.
Responsibilities:
- Design, build, and manage Azure IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS environments supporting a nine‑school research consortium
- Architect and maintain secure Azure networking (VNets, firewalls, VPNs, ExpressRoute) for collaboration with government partners
- Manage Azure Active Directory (Entra ID) to support secure, cross‑institutional access
- Automate environment provisioning using IaC (ARM, Bicep, Terraform)
- Support research computing workloads, including HPC, AKS, and serverless services
- Manage Azure storage solutions (Blob, Files, data platforms) for secure data sharing and retention
- Monitor performance and optimize cost and scalability across multiple grants and programs
- Develop PowerShell and Bash scripts to automate administrative and data processes
- Ensure cloud environments meet FedRAMP, NIST 800‑171, and CMMC compliance requirements
Must‑Haves:
- 3+ years supporting Azure IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS
- 3+ years scripting with PowerShell, Bash, or Azure CLI
- 3+ years working with Azure networking in large‑scale or multi‑site environments
- Eligible to obtain a security clearance
- Experience working with or supporting CUI / regulated data
- Strong understanding of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)
- Comfortable operating without a large team of similar engineers
- Strong documentation skills for government‑approved compliance processes
- Strong collaboration and partnership skills
Preferred:
- Azure Solutions Architect Expert
- Azure Security Engineer Associate
- Azure Identity & Access Administrator
- ITIL 4 Foundation
- Linux experience a plus
Ideal Candidate:
- Self‑starter who is not afraid to do something they haven’t done before
- Comfortable in ambiguous, build‑as‑you‑go environments
- Strong communicator who partners well across technical and non‑technical teams
- Enjoys blending traditional IT administration with cloud engineering
- Motivated by meaningful, mission‑driven research rather than large enterprise teams
