Senior Cloud Engineer I (Hybrid)

About this role

AIR’s Tek Office is seeking an experienced Senior Cloud Engineer with a focus on Microsoft 365/Entra to join its diverse and talented group. The Senior Cloud Engineer manages and optimizes the organization’s Microsoft 365 and Entra ID tenants, with primary responsibility for Exchange Online, identity, security, and collaboration services. This role requires advanced skills in Microsoft 365 administration, investigation, and strong cross‑platform experience, with the ability to drive automation and modern cloud practices. This position reports to the Director of IT Infrastructure Operations.

This position offers hybrid work flexibility, requiring three days per week in AIR’s Crystal City, Virginia office, with occasional travel for meetings, training sessions, and conferences.

About AIR:

Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance to address some of the most pressing challenges in the United States and globally. We generate evidence and apply data-driven solutions that expand opportunities and improve lives for all.

Key responsibilities:

The key responsibilities for the position include, but are not limited to-

• Design, configure, and administer Microsoft 365 services including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Teams, Copilot, and related security/compliance features.

• Administer and harden Entra ID (Azure AD), including conditional access, identity protection, app registrations, and role‑based access control.

• Own Exchange Online configuration: mail flow, transport rules, connectors, policies, hybrid connectivity, and advanced troubleshooting of mail delivery issues.

• Investigate incidents, identify patterns, and develop detection queries and reports leveraging Microsoft 365 Defender, Purview, and Log Analytics.

• Collaborate with security and networking teams to implement and maintain security baselines, DLP, retention, eDiscovery, and auditing across the M365 environment.

• Develop and maintain automation, scripts, and integrations to streamline administration, reporting, and provisioning.

• Contribute to CI/CD and infrastructure‑as‑code practices (e.g., Azure DevOps, GitHub) for Microsoft 365 configuration and related workloads.

• Work with containerized and cloud workloads (e.g., Kubernetes) where they integrate with M365/Entra for identity, security, or application access.

• Lead complex incident response and root‑cause analysis for M365 and identity‑related outages and security events.

• Produce and maintain technical documentation, standards, runbooks, and architectural diagrams for Microsoft 365 and Entra services.

• Mentor junior collaborators and provide guidance on best practices, governance, and operational excellence.