Manager, Platform Engineering

POSITION SUMMARY

LifeWave is seeking a Manager, Azure Platform Engineering, responsible for the leadership, design, implementation, administration, security, and optimization of the organization's Microsoft cloud and infrastructure platforms. This role combines hands-on technical leadership with people management responsibilities, overseeing a team of cloud infrastructure engineers while serving as a senior technical expert for Microsoft Azure and related technologies.

The ideal candidate possesses deep expertise across Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Windows Server, cloud security, automation, infrastructure as code, and hybrid infrastructure environments. This individual will be responsible for ensuring the reliability, scalability, security, and operational excellence of the organization's cloud platform while leading strategic initiatives including cloud modernization, automation, governance, and security.

The Manager, Azure Platform Engineering partners closely with Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Application Development, Service Desk, Compliance, and business teams to ensure cloud platforms are secure, compliant, resilient, and aligned with organizational standards and regulatory requirements.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

This role leads Platform Engineers, both internal and vendor/contractors.

Requirements

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor, develop, and manage a team of Azure infrastructure, and platform engineers.
• Establish team objectives, performance goals, and development plans.
• Conduct performance reviews, coaching sessions, and career development activities.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
• Manage team workload, priorities, resource allocation, and project assignments.
• Participate in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding technical staff.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance during major incidents, projects, and platform initiatives.

Azure Platform Engineering

• Design, implement, manage, and optimize enterprise-scale Microsoft Azure environments.
• Develop and maintain Azure landing zones, governance frameworks, and platform standards.
• Manage Azure subscriptions, management groups, resource groups, policies, and role-based access controls (RBAC).
• Ensure cloud platforms are highly available, resilient, scalable, and secure.
• Support cloud-native and hybrid infrastructure environments.
• Develop standards, architecture patterns, and operational procedures for Azure services.

Infrastructure & Cloud Architecture

• Support cloud transformation, migration, and modernization initiatives.
• Design and support hybrid cloud architectures integrating on-premises and Azure environments.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and make recommendations aligned with business objectives.
• Collaborate with enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, application development, and networking teams.
• Ensure cloud infrastructure supports organizational growth, performance, and business continuity requirements.

Identity, Security & Compliance

• Manage Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), hybrid identity, and access management platforms.
• Implement and maintain Conditional Access, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Privileged Identity Management (PIM), and Identity Governance solutions.
• Oversee Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Sentinel, ensuring appropriate logging, monitoring, alerting, and threat detection capabilities are implemented and maintained across Azure environments.
• Partner with Security Operations teams to investigate and respond to security incidents affecting cloud and infrastructure platforms.
• Collaborate with the Information Security team to ensure Azure and Microsoft platform services adhere to organizational security policies, standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Collaborate with Security Operations, Governance, Risk, and Compliance teams to identify, assess, and remediate security risks.
• Support vulnerability management, penetration testing, and security audits; lead remediation efforts and coordinate resolution across infrastructure, platform, and application teams.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory frameworks including PCI-DSS, GDPR, CCPA, and other organizational standards.
• Participate in security architecture reviews, audits, and compliance assessments; assist in the development and implementation of cloud security standards, policies, procedures, and technical controls.
• Collaborate with Cybersecurity leadership to establish and maintain cloud security roadmaps and remediation plans.
• Drive Zero Trust security principles and security-by-design methodologies across all cloud engineering, deployment, and operational processes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen the organization's overall security posture.
• Support disaster recovery, business continuity, and cybersecurity resilience initiatives, ensuring DR and BCP plans meet applicable security and compliance requirements.

Automation & DevOps

• Lead Infrastructure as Code (IaC) initiatives utilizing Terraform, Bicep, ARM Templates, Azure DevOps, and GitHub.
• Automate provisioning, configuration management, monitoring, patching, and remediation activities.
• Promote DevOps and Platform Engineering best practices.
• Develop reusable deployment templates and operational automation frameworks.

Cloud Operations & Service Management

• Oversee monitoring, alerting, incident management, problem management, and operational support activities.
• Ensure service levels, platform availability, and operational performance objectives are achieved.
• Lead root cause analysis efforts and implement corrective actions.
• Develop operational dashboards and reporting metrics.
• Participate in escalation management and major incident response activities.

Governance & Cost Optimization

• Establish and maintain Azure governance standards and operational controls.
• Implement Azure Policy, resource tagging standards, lifecycle management, and cloud governance practices.
• Monitor and optimize Azure spend through FinOps methodologies, rightsizing, reserved instances, and cost management initiatives.
• Develop reporting related to cloud performance, security posture, utilization, and costs.

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

• Manage day-to-day relationships with Microsoft, cloud service providers, technology vendors, and consulting partners.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to understand requirements and align technology solutions.
• Assist with budgeting, forecasting, procurement, and planning activities.
• Support contract negotiations and vendor performance reviews.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• 7–10 years of progressive, hands-on experience working within the Microsoft technology ecosystem, including Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID (Azure AD), Windows Server, and enterprise infrastructure platforms.
• Minimum 5 years of hands-on Microsoft Azure engineering, administration, and architecture experience.
• Minimum 3 years of experience leading, supervising, or managing infrastructure, cloud, or platform engineering teams.
• Experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise-scale Azure cloud environments.
• Experience managing hybrid infrastructure environments integrating on-premises and cloud technologies.
• Experience leading cloud migration, modernization, and transformation initiatives.
• Experience supporting highly available, secure, and compliant production environments.
• Experience partnering with Cybersecurity, Risk, Compliance, and Audit teams to implement secure cloud solutions.
• Experience supporting security frameworks and regulatory requirements such as NIST, CIS Controls, ISO 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, SOX, or similar standards.
• Experience leading remediation efforts resulting from vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, audits, and security reviews.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent projects, operational priorities, and stakeholder expectations.

Preferred

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Administrator Associate, Azure Security Engineer Associate, or DevOps Engineer Expert
• ITIL Foundation Certification
• Experience with Microsoft 365 administration and security
• Experience with Kubernetes and containerized workloads
• Experience implementing FinOps and cloud cost optimization strategies
• Experience supporting healthcare, medical technology, manufacturing, or other regulated industries

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to remain in an office at a computer workstation and access information from a computer. The employee is required to be mobile to, from, and within the office. The employee may occasionally move up to 25 pounds.

LifeWave is committed to creating an inclusive workplace that values diversity and promotes equal opportunities for all. We embrace the principles of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and strive to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities.

In our pursuit of building a diverse and talented team, we encourage candidates of all abilities to apply for positions at LifeWave. If you require accommodation during the application or interview process, please inform our HR department, and we will work with you to ensure your needs are met.