Senior Azure Cloud Architect

Job Title: Senior Azure Cloud Architect

Job Location: Hybrid- [4 days in office]- Montpelier, VT/ Addison, Texas

**** Please note, this role is not able to offer visa transfer or sponsorship now or in the future****

We are seeking a Senior Azure Cloud Architect with deep experience across on-premises infrastructure, Azure migration, hybrid networking, security and governance, disaster recovery, FinOps, and Azure operations .

The ideal candidate will have a strong traditional infrastructure foundation combined with hands-on Azure architecture expertise. This individual will lead the assessment, planning, design, migration, and operationalization of enterprise workloads from on-premises environments to Microsoft Azure .

This role requires demonstrated experience designing Azure Landing Zones, hybrid cloud connectivity, migration roadmaps, governance frameworks, BCP/DR solutions, cost optimization strategies, and enterprise Azure operational models .

Salary and Other Compensation:

The annual salary for this position is up to $150K depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program, based on performance and subject to the terms of Cognizant’s applicable plans.

In this role, you will

• Assess existing on-premises infrastructure , including servers, storage, virtualization, networking, applications, and workload dependencies, to determine Azure migration readiness.

• Lead workload discovery, dependency mapping, sizing, capacity analysis, and migration assessments using Azure Migrate and related tools.

• Define appropriate migration strategies, including rehost, replatform, refactor, retire, and retain , based on workload requirements.

• Develop migration roadmaps, workload sequencing, migration waves, risk-mitigation plans, cost estimates, and business cases.

• Design and implement enterprise Azure Landing Zones , including subscription architecture, management groups, networking, identity, security, governance, monitoring, and operational controls.

• Architect hybrid connectivity between on-premises datacenters and Azure using ExpressRoute, Site-to-Site VPN, VNets, Hub-and-Spoke architecture, VNet Peering, Private Link, DNS, Azure Firewall, and load-balancing technologies .

• Establish Azure security and governance controls using Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC, Azure Policy, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud, PIM, and Zero Trust principles .

• Design highly available and resilient Azure environments, including Azure Site Recovery, Azure Backup, RTO/RPO requirements, DR testing, failover/failback procedures, and business continuity controls .

• Establish Azure FinOps practices covering cost visibility, budgeting, forecasting, tagging, rightsizing, Reserved Instances, Savings Plans, chargeback/showback, and ongoing cost optimization.

• Lead day-to-day Azure operational architecture covering Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, alerting, incident management, service health, capacity/performance management, patching, backup, and operational reporting .

• Automate infrastructure provisioning and operations using Terraform, Bicep/ARM Templates, Azure Automation, Runbooks, PowerShell, and Azure DevOps .

• Provide architecture leadership and technical direction to infrastructure, cloud, security, network, DevOps, and application teams.

• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to ensure Azure transformation initiatives meet business, security, compliance, availability, cost, and operational objectives.

What you’ll need to succeed (required skills)

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, with 15+ years of infrastructure/cloud experience and strong hands-on Azure architecture experience .

• Strong background in enterprise on-premises infrastructure , including Windows Server, virtualization (VMware/Hyper-V), compute, storage, patching, capacity planning, performance management, and infrastructure modernization.

• Proven experience leading on-premises-to-Azure migration assessments and implementations , including Azure Migrate, workload discovery/readiness, migration strategy (rehost/replatform/refactor), migration planning, and risk mitigation.

• Strong expertise designing Azure Landing Zones and hybrid networking , including VNets, ExpressRoute, Site-to-Site VPN, Hub-and-Spoke architecture, network segmentation, DNS, firewalls, and load balancing.

• Hands-on experience with Azure security and governance , including Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC, Azure Policy, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud, security controls, and compliance/governance frameworks.

• Demonstrated experience designing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery solutions , including Azure Site Recovery, backups, RTO/RPO, resiliency, and DR/failover testing.

• Experience with Azure FinOps and cost optimization , including cost visibility, budgeting, rightsizing, Reserved Instances/Savings Plans, and cloud cost governance.

• Strong Azure operational and automation experience using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Azure DevOps, Terraform/Bicep/ARM, PowerShell, CI/CD, monitoring, incident management, and operational automation .

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert .

• Experience leading large-scale Azure migration or cloud-transformation programs.

• Experience working in regulated enterprise environments.

• Exposure to AWS or GCP is beneficial, but Microsoft Azure should be the primary cloud expertise .

Benefits: Cognizant offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off

• 401(k) plan and contributions

• Long-term/Short-term Disability

• Paid Parental Leave

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Work model:

At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible, and we are here to support a healthy work-life balance though our various wellbeing programs. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is a hybrid role requiring 4 days a week at client site either in Montpelier, VT or Addison, Texas.

The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting. This may change based on the project you’re engaged in, as well as business and client requirements. Rest assured; we will always be clear about role expectations.

We're excited to meet people who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. Don't hesitate to apply, even if you only meet the minimum requirements listed. Think about your transferable experiences and unique skills that make you stand out as someone who can bring new and exciting things to this role.

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.

“Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. Your application and candidacy will not be considered based on race, color, sex, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Cognizant is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.