Azure Cloud Operations Team Leader

Hybrid working model - 3 days per week in London. Salary - £100-120k + bonus.

We are seeking a skilled, hands-on CloudOps Team Leader to join our infrastructure team and manage 2-3 highly skilled engineers. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in managing and optimising private Azure environments, with experience in endpoint protection and secure networking practices. You will provide hands-on support to various teams across the company, including infrastructure platform, development, front office, and innovation teams, ensuring the seamless operation and performance of their cloud-based services.

In this role, you will drive operational excellence in cloud operations, from performance monitoring to cost optimisation, while adhering to industry best practices and regulatory compliance standards. You will be responsible for supporting and maintaining a range of Azure PaaS services, contributing to infrastructure automation using Terraform, and integrating best-in-class CI/CD practices.

Requirements:

• Experience working in private Azure environments with a strong focus on private networking (private endpoints, Virtual Network, VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute, etc.).
• In-depth Knowledge of Azure PaaS services including but not limited to storage (Azure Blob, Disk), networking (VNet, NSG), security (Azure AD, Key Vault), compute (VMs, AKS), and hosting (App Services, Functions).
• Proficient in Terraform for Infrastructure as Code, with strong experience in creating, maintaining, and scaling cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or other tools) for infrastructure automation and continuous deployment.
• Hands-on support experience, working with infrastructure teams, development teams, and end-users to troubleshoot and resolve cloud platform issues.
• Operational Excellence: Demonstrated ability to monitor, optimize, and scale cloud platforms while ensuring cost efficiency and performance.
• Regulatory Compliance Knowledge: Familiarity with regulatory mandates such as DORA, GDPR, and their requirements.

Desirable Skills:

• Familiarity with JIRA, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, ActiveBatch, Octopus Deploy, and Confluence.
• Advanced knowledge of Kubernetes.
• Virtual desktop experience in Citrix Cloud, AVD.
• VMware.
• Linux RedHat.
• Experience in maintaining environments in line with regulatory compliance requirements, such as DORA or other regional and international standards.

Your soft skills should include strong communication and collaboration skills, an ability to work autonomously and prioritise multiple projects and tasks effectively coupled with analytical mindset with problem-solving capabilities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Azure Platform Management: Design, implement, and maintain private Azure environments utilizing private endpoints, virtual networks, and secure communications between services. Manage a wide range of Azure PaaS services, such as storage, networking, security, compute, and hosting.
• Monitoring & Cost Management: Ensure high availability and performance of the cloud platform by continuously monitoring Azure services and optimizing cloud resources. Implement best practices around cloud performance, security, and cost optimization. Utilize Azure Monitor, Azure Cost Management, and PowerBI to build reports to help track and manage costs effectively.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Automation, General DevOps support: Develop, maintain, and scale infrastructure using Terraform. Create and manage CI/CD pipelines (ADO/GitHub Actions) to automate provisioning, testing, and deployment workflows. Use version control systems (e.g., Git) to manage and track code changes, ensuring consistency across environments.
• Cloud Operations & Support: Provide hands-on support and troubleshooting for infrastructure issues faced by platform, development, and innovation teams. Lead in capacity planning and disaster recovery strategies to ensure business continuity.
• Cloud Security & Compliance: Maintain and harden the cloud environment to ensure security and compliance with industry standards and regulatory mandates such as DORA, GDPR, etc. You will be responsible for ensuring proper implementation of Sentinel, MS Defender, and other tools such as Tanium.
• Operational Excellence: Develop and maintain documentation for cloud infrastructure and processes.
• Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement: Work closely with your Infrastructure colleagues as well as development teams, front office teams, and innovation teams to understand their cloud requirements and deliver scalable solutions. Act as a subject matter expert (SME) for Azure PaaS services, providing guidance on architecture, deployment, and optimization.
• Team Leadership: Manage a small team of highly skilled engineers, guiding them to achieve operational excellence and deliver scalable solutions.