Azure L3 Cloud Support Engineer

Azure L3 Cloud Support Engineer / Azure Cloud SME

Job Summary

The Azure L3 Cloud Support Engineer is a subject-matter expert responsible for resolving the most complex cloud infrastructure and platform issues. This role serves as the final escalation point for Azure related incidents, drives root cause analysis, improves platform reliability, and provides architectural guidance. The engineer works closely with cloud architects, security, and Microsoft Support to ensure stability, scalability, and security of enterprise Azure environments.

Key Responsibilities

Act as Level 3 / final escalation point for Azure incidents and service outages

Diagnose and resolve high-severity, complex, and recurring Azure issues

Perform deep-dive troubleshooting across:

• Azure Compute (VMs, VMSS, AKS)
• Networking (VNet peering, Azure Firewall, Load Balancer, Application Gateway, ExpressRoute)
• Storage (Blob, File, Disk, performance & latency issues)
• PaaS services (App Services, Functions, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB)

Lead root cause analysis (RCA) and implement long-term corrective actions

• Design and review high availability, disaster recovery, and resiliency architectures

• Optimize cloud environments for performance, cost, and security

• Define and enforce Azure best practices, standards, and governance • Support and mentor L1/L2 engineers; create advanced knowledge articles

• Collaborate with Microsoft Premier / Unified Support on critical cases • Review and approve production changes and complex deployments

• Contribute to automation using PowerShell, Azure CLI, ARM/Bicep, Terraform

• Participate in major incident management and post-incident reviews

• Provide architectural input for new cloud initiatives and migrations

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 6-10+ years of IT infrastructure experience with strong Azure specialization

• Expert-level knowledge of Azure IaaS, PaaS, and networking

Deep understanding of:

• Cloud security (RBAC, Entra ID, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud)

• Hybrid connectivity and identity

• Monitoring and observability (Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, App Insights)

• Strong scripting and automation skills (PowerShell preferred)

• Experience handling enterprise-scale production environments

• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and decision-making skills

• Ability to lead during outages and communicate with stakeholders