Cloud Solution Architect - Azure AKS

Do you have a passion for Azure AKS and using best-in-class tools created by Microsoft? Are you looking for a role where you can interact directly with large enterprise customers to improve the stability and performance of the solutions they are deploying in Azure? Do you want to join one of Microsoft's fastest growing businesses? If so, we are looking for you!

Support for Mission Critical is a team within Microsoft that provides solution-specific expertise designed to drive peak health and optimum performance of a customer’s most important solutions. As a key technical resource for the customer, you will be primarily focused on delivering proactive services such as education workshops, delivering assessments, and providing tailored guidance. Troubleshooting skills are essential as this role will include working with Microsoft Support to expedite incident resolution.

Responsibilities

• Plan and deliver proactive and reactive support including onsite presence as needed (post Covid restrictions)
  

• Work within a larger virtual account team to strengthen customer relationships and work on mobile-first, cloud-first strategies for immediate and long-term service delivery plans
  

• Identify and manage goals and opportunities across Azure IaaS to improve customer solution health, performance, and availability
  

• Drive and participate in proactive delivery management, spot performance issues, analyze problems, and provide solutions to meet customer needs
  

• Work with support teams, account teams, product engineering teams and other stakeholders to ensure a streamlined customer experience
  

• Apply lessons learned for continuous process and delivery improvement for the customer
  

• Engage in meetings with customers and account teams to articulate service offerings
  

• Share and gain knowledge through communities
  

• Contribute to on-call rotations to ensure a high quality of service for the critical incidents created by Support for Mission Critical customers

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or related field AND 4+ years experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, information technology (IT) consulting/support, systems administration, network operations, software development/support, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting OR equivalent experience.
• At least 5 years of experience working with Enterprise customers in any of the following: providing customer technical readiness, delivery support services, on premise and remote technical support, solution development, account management; technical requirements gathering; broad evangelism through events (presentation skills) or related.

At least 2 years of experience in Kubernetes and Container technologies, including any of the following:

• AKS, Key Vault, Managed Service Identity, Azure AD App Authentication/OAuth
• Linux OSS - shell environments (BASH, sh, tcsh, ksh, etc.); Linux script-based development environments and tools (PERL, Python, Ruby, PhP, Jenkins, etc.); administering Linux (boot process, file systems, network device and protocol configuration); core OS services such as: SSH, telnet, FTP, NFS, DNS, DHCP, Samba, LDAP
• Operating System/Virtualization - Security, OS Internals concepts, Virtualization concepts and virtual system administration
• Networking - container specific networking such as CNI; Familiarity with DHCP, VIPs, NAT, DNS; networking troubleshooting (ping, tracert, tracemon, tcpdump, etc.); load balancing and familiarity with relevant components such NGINX, Application Gateways, and NVA’s Kubernetes Services/Containers

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or related field AND 8+ years experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, information technology (IT) consulting/support, systems administration, network operations, software development/support, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or related field AND 6+ years experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years experience working in a customer-facing role (e.g., internal and/or external).
• 4+ years experience working on technical projects.
• Technical Certification in Cloud (e.g., Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google, security certifications).
• Experience in systems management, network operations, software support, IT consulting, or related roles.
• Solid understanding of client/server, networking, and Internet technologies fundamentals.
• The ability to handle customer critical issues and work in difficult situations.
• Demonstrate a strong ability to develop strategic ongoing customer relationships to gain the trust and respect of customers.
• Excellent customer service skills, good oral and written communication skills, proven ability to handle difficult and sensitive situations involving the most critical and politically charged customer situations, lead projects and motivate others.
• Certification in Microsoft and other Cloud Technologies.
• Ability to take on internal initiatives to create services opportunities, and work in a fast-paced environment while balancing multiple demands, addressing shifting priorities, and maintaining focus.
• Demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, while working with diverse audiences including highly technical IT professionals, developers, architects, and executive account management

The salary for this role in the state of Colorado is between $119,200 - $178,800 USD

At Microsoft, certain roles are eligible for additional rewards, including annual bonus and stock. These awards are allocated based on individual performance. In addition, certain roles also have the opportunity to earn sales incentives based on revenue or utilization, depending on the terms of the plan and the employee’s role.

Benefits/perks listed here may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.US-based employees gain access to healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan and company match, short-term and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, and fitness benefits, among others.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.