Azure & AI Modern Infrastructure Engineer

If you've spent the last few years actually deploying things in Azure, not just managing what someone else built, and you're the person the dev team calls when they need infrastructure to make sense, this could be your next step.

The Company

This is a 60 year old, well established, mid-sized investment management firm with tens of billions in AUM. The technology team has tripled in the past few years and is not slowing down. Geographic expansion, new business lines, and a real AI buildout are all in motion. Technology is treated as a business driver here, not a cost center. You will hear that from the CEO down.

The Business Problem

The infrastructure team runs a nearly all-Azure environment competently. The infrastructure manager is looking for a right hand who can look at that environment with a fresh set of eyes and push it forward.

The team still defaults to spinning up Windows or Linux VMs when Azure-native PaaS services should be doing that work. Azure App Services are underutilized. Azure VDI needs optimization. Infrastructure as code hasn't started. Internal scripting and automation are nearly nonexistent.

At the same time, the development team is moving intoAI pipeline work and needs an infrastructure partner, not a ticket queue. Copilot governance is being scoped from scratch. MCP integrations, Snowflake Cortex, and vendor AI into their environment are on the whiteboard.

The head of infrastructure needs a number two who can help lead all of it.

What You'll Do

• Challenge the default: identify where the team is spinning up VMs and replace them with the right Azure-native or PaaS services

• Own Azure VDI optimization and Azure App Services improvements; two specific gaps they know exist

• Support the Intune rollout for device management and redeployment; this initiative is already underway and needs hands-on execution

• Build internal scripting and automation capability from the ground up; PowerShell baseline, Python a plus; this does not exist today

• Lead Copilot governance scoping and rollout; design the guardrails before the firm goes near it

• Execute on AI integrations that are on the whiteboard: MCP connections, Snowflake Cortex, external vendor AI into their environment

• Be the infrastructure partner for the dev team's AI pipeline buildout; they need hands-on help, not handoffs

• Work toward infrastructure as code; Terraform and automated pipelines are not in use yet; you help get them there

• Be the security voice in project rooms. The existing program is solid, this is about mindset and controls in motion, not building from scratch

• Handle conventional infrastructure as needed; servers, storage, backup, networking; stable and light

What the Environment Looks Like

• Nearly all Azure; VDI, M365, identity, app services. Small VMware remnant on-prem for domain controllers only.

• SQL Server largely replaced by Snowflake; that is where the data work lives

• Dev workloads in Azure; infra manages the servers, devs own the applications

• Linux is minimal; a few application-specific servers, mostly command line maintenance

• Automation and scripting: almost none built internally today; this is a gap you help close

• IaC: Terraform not in use, pipelines mostly manual; modernization starts with this hire

• Network is stable; routers, switches, firewalls are set-and-forget; not a focus of this role

• Copilot rollout in governance and scoping phase; guardrails being designed now

• Intune rollout for device management and redeployment already in progress; this person will be involved from the start

• Collaborative team; everyone answers help desk tickets including the CTO

What We're Looking For

• Real Azure deployments in your history; not just lab work or certifications alone

• Cloud-first default; your first instinct is the right Azure-native service, not a new VM

• Hands-on scripting and automation; PowerShell baseline, Python a plus

• Ability to communicate from a CEO's office to a developer's standup without changing who you are

• Experience in a regulated or compliance-driven environment where security controls, audit trails, and data governance are enforced, not suggested. Financial services background strongly preferred.

• Solid fundamentals across networking, server, and security. You've been hands on with on-prem prior to becoming cloud native.

• Intune experience for endpoint management and device compliance; hands-on preferred

• No ego. Collaborative. You want opportunities, not a title.

• Willing to in-office 3 days/week. We're in Midtown NYC but you can be in our Greenwich, CT location one day/week if necessary.

What This Is Not

• A conventional Windows/VM maintenance role. You are coming in to improve things, not support them; some of what exists may be rebuilt from scratch.

• A specialist track; networking is light, security is a mindset, not your whole job.

• A hedge fund grind; wealth management hours, only 3 days in office, no logging in at 1am

Growth

The CTO envisions this hire carrying real influence over where the infrastructure grows. As the firm scales, the technology pillars are converging. The right person finds their opportunity: infrastructure leadership, data and analytics, even a CISO path as the firm reaches the scale that warrants one.

This is for someone who says, "I want to learn everything, prove myself, and be rewarded for it," not someone who wants just architecture or people management.