Senior Cloud Security Engineer

Job Summary Senior Cloud Security Engineer

- Serve as the subject matter expert for cloud security, particularly supporting VDOT's enterprise Azure migration.
- Architect, implement, and secure cloud environments in alignment with SEC530, Zero Trust, and enterprise compliance frameworks.
- Lead the design, implementation, monitoring, and continuous improvement of VDOT's cloud infrastructure and services.
- Provide senior-level technical leadership for cloud security architecture, identity and access management, network security, security monitoring, vulnerability management, incident response, and cloud governance.
- Collaborate with multiple teams (Cloud Engineering, Network Engineering, Security Operations, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure, Application Development, DevOps, Risk Management, and IT leadership) to ensure secure, resilient, and compliant cloud environments.
- Identify and assess cloud security vulnerabilities, prioritize remediation based on business impact, track and validate corrective actions.
- Lead and guide complex cloud security initiatives, providing technical direction to engineers.
- Influence architecture and security decisions, and implement security gates within deployment pipelines.
- Assess security gaps and recommend remediations; create and maintain security documentation; support audits and assessments.
- Review proposed cloud solutions for security risks and define appropriate security controls.
- Develop Azure policies and automation runbooks to enforce standardization, compliance, and support incident response workflows.
- Monitor security events using SIEM tools and coordinate incident response with the SOC team.
- Investigate and contain cloud security incidents, diagnose system problems, and threats using various tools and logs.
- Review firewall and NSG rule requests for compliance.
- Produce documentation, architecture diagrams, IP schemes, and access controls as needed.
- Work independently on assigned projects and mentor junior engineers.
- Effectively communicate complex technical issues to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Maintain required certifications (Azure Security Engineer Associate, Security+, Certified Cloud Security Professional) and ideally possess preferred certifications (CCSP, AZ-305).

Experience & Skills Required:
- 8+ years of enterprise cloud experience and 5+ years in cloud security.
- Hands-on expertise in cloud infrastructure, cloud engineering, and cybersecurity.
- Strong experience in networking, identity management, security operations, and risk assessment.
- Experience designing and implementing secure cloud solutions, including working with NSGs, Azure Firewall, WAF, Monitor, Application Gateways, and network segmentation.
- Skilled in incident response, security investigations, log analysis, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, and SIEM tools (Splunk, Sentinel, CNAPP).
- Ability to develop Azure policies, automation runbooks, and enforce security controls.
- Experience with SEC530, CIS Benchmarks, NIST CSF/800-53, Zero Trust, and regulatory compliance.
- Proficient in IAM, RBAC, PAM, least-privilege access, and multi-factor authentication.
- Experience in highly regulated/government environments.
- Excellent communication and mentoring skills.
- Relevant certifications required; additional certifications preferred.