Cloud Engineer Jobs in Washington DC, DC

We are seeking a skilled and motivated Azure Cloud Engineer to join our cloud infrastructure and platform team. The ideal candidate brings hands-on experience deploying and managing cloud resources, writing Infrastructure-as-Code, and supporting CI/CD pipelines in an enterprise environment. This role requires both technical depth and the ability to collaborate across teams in an Agile setting.

U.S. Citizenship is required to be considered for this position.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) modules using Terraform to provision and manage cloud resources in Microsoft Azure
• Build, maintain, and troubleshoot CI/CD pipelines to automate application and infrastructure deployments across multiple environments
• Integrate Terraform and Ansible workflows into CI/CD pipelines to enable fully automated, end-to-end infrastructure provisioning and configuration management
• Enforce cloud security best practices, including NIST 800 security controls, least-privilege access, deny-by-default/allow-by-exception rules, and removal of unauthorized public access
• Ensure compliance with corporate naming conventions, logging standards (e.g., Splunk), and industry security standards
• Manage and support shared cloud resources including Azure services, Terraform modules, and code repositories used by workload teams across the organization
• Reduce environmental drift and increase deployment repeatability by leveraging version-controlled source repositories and pre-tested DevOps task libraries
• Support container-based application deployments using Azure Container Registry (ACR) and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Integrate and support continuous code and security analysis tools such as SonarQube, Fortify, and Parasoft within CI/CD pipelines
• Troubleshoot complex cloud and infrastructure issues, including state file migrations, authentication failures, and deployment errors; escalate to vendor support when appropriate
• Embed with workload teams to provide training and mentorship on Terraform, shared modules, and cloud best practices
• Participate actively in Agile/Scrum ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, and retrospectives
• Review Pull Requests and provide constructive technical feedback to team members

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelors and five (5) years or more experience; Masters and three (3) years or more experience; PhD and 0 years related experience. Additional years of experience may be considered in lieu of a degree
• 3–5 years of experience in cloud engineering, DevOps, or a related IT discipline
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure cloud services and administration
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Microsoft Azure DevOps / Microsoft DevOps Services)
• Proficiency in Terraform for infrastructure provisioning and management, including: 
  • Writing and managing reusable Terraform modules
  • Managing Terraform state files, workspaces, and backends
  • Integrating Terraform with CI/CD pipelines
  • Experience with Terraform Enterprise or Terraform Cloud
• Proficiency in Ansible, including:
  • Writing and maintaining Ansible playbooks and roles
  • Managing dynamic and static inventories
  • Using Ansible for configuration management, application deployment, and environment orchestration
  • Integrating Ansible with CI/CD pipelines and cloud platforms
• Working knowledge of Git and source control workflows (branching strategies, repository management)
• Familiarity with NIST 800 security controls and cloud security best practices
• Experience with YAML-based pipeline configuration
• Understanding of containerization concepts, including Docker, ACR, and AKS
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills across cloud infrastructure and deployment workflows
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance
• U.S. CITIZENSHIP REQUIRED

Preferred:

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) or equivalent certification
• Experience with Terraform Enterprise and integration with existing enterprise workflows
• Familiarity with artifact management tools such as jFrog Artifactory
• Experience with application performance and monitoring tools such as Dynatrace or HP LoadRunner
• Experience with automated database deployment tools such as Flyway
• Background in software development (Java or similar languages) is a plus
• Prior experience working in a federal government or regulated enterprise environment