Cloud Engineer I

February 9, 2026

Contract
Washington, DC
Posted 3 weeks ago

The Talent Acquisition department hires qualified candidates to fill positions which contribute to the
overall strategic success of Howard University. Hiring staff “for fit” makes significant contributions to Howard University’s overall
mission.

At Howard University, we prioritize well-being and professional growth.

Here is what we offer:

Health &
Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus mental health
support
Work-Life Balance: PTO, paid holidays, flexible work
arrangements
Financial Wellness: Competitive salary, 403(b) with
company match
Professional Development: Ongoing training, tuition
reimbursement, and career advancement paths
Additional Perks: Wellness
programs, commuter benefits, and a vibrant company culture

Join Howard University
and thrive with us!

https://hr.howard.edu/benefits-wellness

We are seeking a Cloud Engineer I to support a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) acting as the central hub
for a consortium of nine academic institutions. This role is critical in providing the secure, scalable, and high-performance Azure cloud
infrastructure required to facilitate government-contracted research and development (R&D) across the consortium.

The Azure Cloud
Engineer will design and maintain a multi-tenant environment that enables diverse research teams to collaborate seamlessly while adhering to
stringent federal security requirements. The ideal candidate is a self-starter capable of managing complex infrastructure that bridges the
gap between traditional IT and advanced scientific research applications.

Duties and
Responsibilities:

Consortium Infrastructure Management: Design, configure, and manage Azure IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS
solutions tailored to the unique R&D needs of the nine-school consortium.
Secure Networking: Create and manage
complex Azure networking services (firewalls, VNETs, subnets, VPNs, ExpressRoute) to ensure secure data transmission between consortium
members and government sponsors.
Identity & Access Governance: Manage Azure Active Directory (Entra ID) to handle
cross-institutional authentication, ensuring researchers from all nine schools have appropriate, secure access to shared
resources.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Automate the rapid provisioning of research environments using ARM templates, Bicep,
or Terraform to support fluctuating project demands.
Research Computing Support: Configure and manage high-performance
computing (HPC) clusters, containers (AKS), and serverless environments to handle large-scale data analysis and simulations.
Data
Stewardship: Manage and support diverse data storage solutions including Azure Files, Blob Storage, and Data Warehousing to facilitate
long-term research data retention and sharing.
Performance & Cost Optimization: Proactively monitor Azure resources to
ensure peak performance for computationally intensive tasks while optimizing costs across multiple research grants and task
orders.
Automation & Scripting: Develop PowerShell and BASH scripts to automate data manipulation, transformation, and
routine administrative tasks.
UARC Compliance: Ensure all cloud deployments comply with FedRAMP, NIST 800-171, and CMMC
requirements essential for government-contracted research.

Competencies/Qualifications:

Azure
Expertise: Direct experience in the Azure Cloud platform with a focus on architecting solutions for multi-tenant or collaborative
environments.
Automation Skills: Strong scripting experience using PowerShell and BASH for environment orchestration and
configuration management.
Full-Stack Cloud Knowledge: Advanced experience in IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS implementations, including
monitoring and automated recovery.
DevOps Integration: Experience in Azure DevOps services, CI/CD pipelines, and Agile
processes within a research or academic context.
Specialized Knowledge: Familiarity with High-Performance Computing (HPC) in
Azure and meeting FedRAMP/government security benchmarks.
Collaboration: Proven ability to work across institutional
boundaries and communicate technical concepts to non-technical research faculty and stakeholders.

Minimum
Qualifications:

3 years of hands-on experience implementing and supporting Azure IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
3 years of
experience with PowerShell, BASH, or Azure CLI.
3 years of experience in Azure networking services within a large-scale or
multi-site organization.
Demonstrated experience with Azure design and management within a complex, fast-paced
environment.
Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently.