Job Description:

Thank you for stopping by to check out the Azure Applications Lead role I posted here on LinkedIN. If you are familiar with my Job Descriptions, welcome back. If you are new to my JD's, I like to add humor to these things. So, no AI, no 'Bots', just a guy typing this up late on a Thursday. Make sure to apply with all the requested information, as laid out in the job overview below.For this role, 'social fit' is almost as important as the technical fit. So, you might ask 'so, Tom, what makes a good social fit here?'. Well, I am glad you asked...here are a few of those social fit characteristics:This role is for one of my absolute favorite Directors of IT. This gentleman and I have been close personal friends for roughly 8 years or so and have worked together at a previous firm he was with as well...so, I know him well. He is the individual that really subscribes to this mantra 'Integrity is what you do when no one is watching'. He is one of those leaders that you can be honest with without fear or reprisal. We all have been in situations where you, perhaps, disagreed with the direction of an application or initiative and didn't speak up because of what someone might think... This individual encourages to speak up.This organization as a whole is as steady as they come... So, they also seek individuals who are seeking their next long term role. If you have been at a good majority of your roles for only 9 months or so, they are probably going to take a pass. They are seeking some consistency in terms of durations of the roles you have held in your past.For this role, it important to document document and - oh yeah - document well. This leads to order to document well, you also need to plan quite well also. So, all this being said, if you have some solid project management experience in tandem with your Cloud Engineering experience, that would be spot on with regards to what we are seeking.This role is being done onsite in Downtown Minneapolis. They offer free underground parking...so, that is a real bonus based off the price of parking in Minneapolis and - oh thats right - that cold weather and snow. This role will be a short contract that will turn into a hire. So, I am anticipating about 1 to perhaps 2 months of contract work and then converting this to a permanent employee rather quickly.There are no Visa sponsorship opportunities for this role. I can only work with US Citizens or Green Card Holders for this role.We are seeking a Cloud Applications Lead / Cloud Applications Manager that is hands on and technical as opposed to all managerial in terms of focus. Very solid documentation and planning skills are an absolute must for this role. So, this leads to a keen sense of how to gather requirements and ask the right questions of the right stakeholders as necessary for success here. We have all come across individuals who just 'do what they are told'. This is not a 'do what you are told' role, this is a role for the 'thinker'...the person that asks 'why', and will pivot off of new information and - in some cases - change the entire direction of a project. You will lead and own the cloud application architecture, design, documentation and standardization of these guys Azure environment. The technologies you will be using include C#, , and Azure. You will be spending a good chunk of your time working on integration of 3rd party API's as well (those API's are typically built in C# and ) as well.Here are some of the fun things you will be doing:Track the benefits of cloud migrations/strategies/technologies and report them regularly to senior leadership...this will also include tracking of the actual Azure project deliverables as well. This reporting piece is very important for success in this role.Plan and facilitate all required IT security reviews of the applications identified for continued cloud migrations.Own the program budget and ensure traceability of the program spend.Helps to identify priorities and resource requirements for each project or program.Create strategic and tactical recommendations to Cloud management to ensure successful delivery of projects into these guy's Cloud ecosystem.Prepare assigned project resources with necessary project-related information, ensuring proper understanding of project requirements, roles, responsibilities, work processes, and success criteria.Implement the necessary project management infrastructure (project plans, issues lists, communication plans) for successful migrations.Here is what we are seeking. I won't bore you with a zillion bullet gotta have's.... If you are anything like me, you kinda laugh at some JD's that have a bunch of 'gotta haves' only to think 'that person doesn't exist'.Extensive hands-on experience with building and managing scalable cloud services.Extensive experience documenting cloud environments, migration processes, plans and so on.Deep experience with Microsoft Office 365 platform and Azure Cloud Strategies, Migrations and Deployments. This should include a proven track record of delivery across Cloud / Saas related projects and programs.Understanding of Citrix Enterprise and SDWan.Fundamental understanding of .Net Development (C#.Net, ).Demonstrated ability to simplify complex technical subject matter and communicate the business and operations impact of choices to business and IT leaders (in other words, the ability to speak to people in 'their language').Experience with architecture designs and concepts, which include but are not limited to: Security, High Availability, Recovery, Performance, Monitoring / Operations Design, and Application Architecture.5+ years Project Management experience with large and complex enterprises.Understand and leverage network, server, and monitoring system APIs to automate provisioning.