Azure Platform Engineer  Role Summary  We are seeking an Azure Platform Engineer to lead the design and ongoing ownership of the Azure foundation supporting a multi-year municipal modernization program.  This role helps to oversee Azure environment structure, CI/CD standards, and infrastructure-as-code strategy. All cloud resources must be provisioned and managed via IaC to ensure repeatability, auditability, and compliance across the program.  This is a hands-on engineering role with platform ownership responsibilities. Application engineers will rebuild business logic; this role ensures the cloud foundation they deploy into is secure, standardized, auditable, and production-ready.  Key Responsibilities  * Platform Architecture & Environment Ownership  * Establish and manage dev, test, and production environments with strict separation  * Define secure networking, identity, and role-based access boundaries  * Configure VNETs, NSGs, private endpoints, and hybrid connectivity (VPN / ExpressRoute)  * Establish standardized patterns for App Services, Azure SQL, storage, and shared services  * Define platform standards to be used consistently across consolidated applications  CI/CD & Deployment Standards  * Design and maintain standardized CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps  * Develop reusable pipeline templates and release patterns  * Implement approval gates, rollback strategies, and deployment controls aligned to audit requirements  * Ensure consistent deployment practices across application teams  * Ensure all infrastructure deployments are executed through CI/CD pipelines using IaC templates (no manual provisioning)  Infrastructure as Code  * All infrastructure must be provisioned and maintained via Terraform or Bicep  * Establish IaC as the only approved deployment mechanism for cloud resources  * Enforce code review, version control, and change traceability for all infrastructure changes  * Prevent manual configuration drift across environments  Security, Compliance & Observability  * Embed FedRAMP Moderate–aligned controls into platform design  * Implement centralized logging, monitoring, and retention policies  * Configure Azure Policy and Defender for Cloud guardrails  * Implement secrets and certificate management using Azure Key Vault  * Establish audit traceability for infrastructure and deployment changes  * Support disaster recovery and business continuity planning and testing  Operational Excellence  * Support production deployments and release windows  * Troubleshoot infrastructure and pipeline issues  * Define and maintain platform standards and operational runbooks  * Implement cost governance and resource optimization strategies  Required Qualifications  * A Bachelors’ degree in a related field, along with at least 5 years' experience in DevOps, platform engineering, or cloud infrastructure  * Strong hands-on Azure experience in regulated or audit-sensitive environments  * Experience with Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline design  * Demonstrated ownership of enterprise-scale Infrastructure-as-Code programs (Terraform), including governance and enforcement of IaC-only deployment standards  * Experience embedding compliance and security controls into cloud platforms  * Working knowledge of FedRAMP Moderate or comparable compliance frameworks  Preferred  * Experience supporting municipal or public sector programs  * Experience leading on-premises to Azure migrations  * Azure certifications (Administrator, DevOps Engineer, Architect)  Other Info  * This position may require infrequent though unlikely travel (to client sites). * Team members must be able to accommodate a working schedule of 8:30am - 5:30p EST Monday through Friday.  * No agencies, please: unsolicited agency communications will be blocked, unsolicited candidate profiles will be considered direct applicants.  * Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Alpha will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa) * Contractor may be hired as W2 through a Partner agency. * Contract is expected to be approx. 6 months. Pay Information There are a wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to - skill sets, experience and training, and licensure and certifications. A reasonable estimate of the pay rate is $75 - $90/hr (subject to change).