Infrastructure Architect (Azure)

Role Overview

Azure Governance and Networking

• Manage Azure subscriptions, management groups, and resource groups within an enterprise landing-zone model.
• Enforce naming, tagging, Azure Policy, and RBAC standards and govern identity through Entra ID.
• Design VNets, subnets, peering, hub-and-spoke architectures, ExpressRoute or VPN, DNS, and Private Link.
• Design and operate Azure Firewall, WAF policies, network segmentation, DDoS protection, and secure administrative access.
• Produce comprehensive HLDs, LLDs, and SOPs.

AKS and Security

• Define AKS reference architectures covering private clusters, node pools, networking, ingress, network policies, and workload identity.
• Harden AKS with image scanning, admission policies, Defender for Containers, and Key Vault integration.
• Support and guide migrations from existing container platforms to AKS.

Logging and SIEM

• Architect Azure Monitor and Log Analytics workspace architecture, retention, and cost management.
• Define SLO/SLI-based monitoring and alerting for critical services.
• Design and operate Microsoft Sentinel or an equivalent SIEM platform.
• Centrally collect and retain firewall, WAF, AKS, identity, and database logs for security and audit needs.

Infrastructure as Code and Resilience

• Build and maintain Terraform and/or Bicep modules with remote state, environment promotion, and drift detection.
• Deliver infrastructure through automated CI/CD pipelines and establish IaC and policy-as-code standards.
• Automate operational processes using PowerShell, Bash, or Python.
• Architect HA and DR, lead DR exercises and incident escalations, review architectures, and mentor engineers.

Essential Skills and Experience

• 12+ years across infrastructure and/or cloud architecture, including 5+ years designing and operating enterprise Azure.
• Hands-on Azure architecture and engineering experience, including subscriptions, RBAC, Azure Policy, and Entra ID.
• Deep Azure networking, Azure Firewall, WAF, Kubernetes or AKS, centralized logging, and SIEM experience.
• Strong Terraform and/or Bicep capabilities alongside PowerShell, Bash, or Python.
• Experience producing HLD and LLD documentation and designing and testing HA/DR solutions.
• Strong stakeholder communication and technical team leadership experience.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience in government, financial services, critical infrastructure, or another highly regulated environment.
• Familiarity with recognized information-security standards and regulatory frameworks.
• Experience with hybrid or multi-cloud estates such as OCI, AWS, VMware, or OpenShift.
• Experience with Defender for Cloud, Key Vault, certificate lifecycle management, zero-trust networking, API Management, or Redis.
• Exposure to Azure GPU and AI workloads.
• Relevant certifications such as AZ-305, AZ-700, AZ-500, CKA, Terraform Associate, CISSP, or CCSP.

Other Requirements

• Ability to obtain and maintain security clearance required for sensitive workloads.
• Based in or willing to relocate to Abu Dhabi, UAE.
• Willingness to participate in on-call rotations and occasional out-of-hours changes and disaster-recovery exercises.

Workplace

• The role is based on-site in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.