Azure Cloud SME (Cloud Operations, AD/PKI Owner, Okta Integration)

Azure Cloud SME (Cloud Operations, AD/PKI Owner, Okta Integration)

Cognizant Technology Solutions is looking for a Azure Cloud SME (Cloud Operations, AD/PKI Owner, Okta Integration) to join our dynamic team, collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive innovation and deliver impactful solutions that align with our company’s goals.

About Cognizant’s CIS Practice: Cognizant’s Cloud, Infrastructure, and Security Services Practice (CIS), is all about accepting digital transformation by driving core modernization holistically across layers. We help customers transform infrastructure and workplace to meet the constantly evolving needs of the digital era. Our broad approach delivers key results for our customers by achieving cloud driven modernization and workplace and operational transformation to own the business in a secure environment.

About this Team and Role

Role: Azure Cloud SME (Cloud Operations, AD/PKI Owner, Okta Integration)

Location: Candidates have to be based in United States and can work remotely from any location.  

• Applications will be accepted until Feb 28, 2026

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

   

Job Summary: Seeking an experienced Azure Subject Matter Expert (SME) to lead Cloud Operations and own the enterprise Active Directory (AD) and PKI infrastructure. This role will provide hands-on technical leadership across Azure (primary) and AWS (secondary), drive identity and access architecture and operations (AD, AAD/Microsoft Entra ID, Okta), and ensure secure, reliable, and cost-optimized cloud services. The ideal candidate is an operator-architect hybrid who can design, implement, automate, and run mission-critical platforms in a regulated and security-first environment.

Cloud Operations (Azure & AWS)

•  Own day-to-day Azure operations (subscriptions, management groups, tagging, RBAC, policies, budgets, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Update Management).

• Operate and optimize core services: Azure VMs/Scale Sets, VNets, Private Link, Load Balancers, App Gateway/WAF, Azure Firewall, Storage

•  Implement IaC (Terraform), reusable pipelines (GitHub Actions/Azure DevOps), environment drift detection, and change-management with approvals.

•  Ensure cost governance (FinOps practices), right-sizing, reservation planning, savings plan utilization, and show back/chargeback reporting.

• Lead disaster recovery (DR) and backup strategy across Azure workloads; coordinate with enterprise backup platforms (e.g., Cohesity/ Commvault).

Identity, Access & Security

• Own on-prem AD (forest/domain design, GPOs, OU structure, sites & services, trusts, replication, delegation model, tiering strategy).

• Run and harden PKI (root/subordinate CAs, CRLs/OCSP, key ceremonies, certificate lifecycle automation, HSM integration where applicable).

• Integrate Okta with AD/Entra ID for SSO/MFA, drive lifecycle automation of identities and entitlements across cloud and SaaS apps.

Governance, Compliance & Process

• Enforce landing zone standards, resource hierarchy, and Blueprints/Policy for compliance.

• Maintain operational runbooks, configuration standards, and change/release processes (ITIL).

• Participate in on-call rotation, lead incident response, and post-incident reviews with blameless culture.
   

Qualifications

• IT experience with 5+ years hands-on Azure operations and architecture.

• Expert in AD/PKI: enterprise AD ownership, CA hierarchy, GPO strategy, certificate automation/integration.

• Identity expertise with Okta and Microsoft Entra ID (Conditional Access, PIM, federation, SCIM).

• Solid IaC & CI/CD: Terraform/Bicep, GitHub Actions/Azure DevOps, modular repo patterns.

• Familiar with FinOps practices; can analyze costs, reservations, and optimizations.

• Working proficiency in AWS (VPC, IAM, EC2, S3, CloudWatch/CloudTrail, Transit Gateway) for hybrid environments.

Certifications Required: Azure Certified Cloud Architect

Salary and Other Compensation:

The annual salary for the position is between $75,000/yr - $90,000/yr and depends 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.

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

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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