Cloud Computing Engineer (Linux/Ansible)

The Cloud Computing Engineer designs, creates, configures and delivers cloud infrastructure environments for a variety of environments across BCBSA using best practices and business acumen. This role includes all technological aspects associated with cloud computing technology stack, including architecture, security, design, planning, management, maintenance and support. The scope of the role includes the extensive knowledge of on-premise (private), off-premise (public) and hybrid cloud models along with cloud implementation service models (IaaS, PaaS and SaaS). The major purpose of this role will be mapping of our on-premise compute to cloud. Lead/oversee the cloud infrastructure environment construction and implementation during the life cycle of the solutions. Evaluate the success of architecture, network, security and environment designs as they are implemented. Evaluate strengths and flaws in architecture, network, security and environment designs for continuous improvement. Communicate with management and technical personnel on cloud adoption and usage topics on a continuous basis. May be required to represent EIT in a project as a technical lead. May be required to coordinate with other EIT personnel.

Design cloud infrastructure environments with best practice configurations for a wide variety of systems including databases, web services and messaging systems, and other application support environments. Efficiently translate project requirements from architecture/environment diagrams to formulate appropriate questions to identify and remediate design gaps. Review and analyze architecture level security solutions at the domain or product level to transform them into cloud infrastructure designs and implementations. Establish strategic relations with key technology vendors in order to influence changes in future product releases. Must have experience with cloud technologies including but not limited to compute, storage, network, databases

Researches and benchmarks best practices and/or products in the area of cloud technologies. Routinely gathers and assesses changing BCBSA business needs. Analyzes and modifies enterprise technology strategy and architecture. Analyzes how business processes interact with technology to create value for the business. Maintains knowledge of cloud technologies, trends, and standards. Provides input to the content of Requests for Information / Proposal (RFI/P) around the BCBSA technology architecture / infrastructure requirements and guiding principles. Conducts trend analyses to track emerging industry trends and technologies. Research, and assist in the piloting the evaluation of new tools, technologies, and/or processes to maintain and enhance the critical system infrastructure.

Possesses a thorough understanding of cloud security fundamentals, such as; Encryption, Key Management, Identity to/from the cloud, shared cloud security, logging and monitoring cloud infrastructure. Continually evaluate new cloud infrastructure threats with associated mitigating designs and their impact on IT and Business operations always balancing these needs to develop and implement the best security solutions for the business

Establish cloud computing templates and implementation guidance for applications that leverage IaaS solutions to meet BCBSA use cases. Integrate application design strategies to include the design of loosely coupled cloud resources to allow for a redundant and resilient end user application design. Assist in performance analysis and improvements while ensuring security controls are in place protecting the network and data. Work with EIT staff including Enterprise Architect, Delivery teams, core computing and application support team to ensure adequate system performance based on business requirements and industry best practices.

Documentation of cloud design guidelines for both new business applications and the porting of existing BCBSA Business applications to align with a cloud model. Participate and conduct liaison activities in reviewing the application designs, providing recommended alterations to designs, and partnering with enterprise architects to transform current application design principles to be more cloud aligned. Coordinate and/or complete the development of all necessary design documentation associated with cloud service solutions. These are to include all aspects of cloud solutions such as application resiliency, disaster recovery, build book creation, and run book creation

Build credibility with clients and technical staff through the delivery of sound business infrastructure cloud solutions. Consults with business and Enterprise IT Leadership and project staff to fit systems to solutions and identify when it is necessary to modify technical infrastructure to accommodate project needs. Work effectively day-to-day with multi-disciplinary teams in IT.

Work closely with network and application security engineers to assure BCBSA applications and systems are designed and configured to conform to general and product/application specific security architectures and to the security polices, guidelines and best practices provided by the Business Protection group for the protection of sensitive healthcare data.

Education

• High School Diploma, Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Security, related discipline or equivalent experience in the field.
• Masters Degree (preferred)

Certifications

• Certification in one Cloud Platform (AWS preferred)

Experience

• Experience with Amazon Linux, Red Hat Linux 8 & 9, and VM, OpenShift, and VMC on AWS
• 5+ years or more of enterprise-level Infrastructure consulting or implementation experience.
• Experience with Ansible, Powershell or other automation environments and scripting technologies.
• Experience migrating workloads from on premise to cloud
• Focus on Infrastructure support, design, build, deployment and system hardening
• Experience with network technologies and with system, security, and network monitoring tools
• Experience using AWS CDK for IaC automation
   

Skills

• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written
• Knowledge of networking fundamentals, including VPN configuration
• Familiarity with Containerization
• Good working knowledge of the technical aspects of:
• Application protocols, such as HTTP(S), SMTP, SSL, and DNS
• Common applications of cryptography, such as X.509 PKI, PGP, etc.
• Knowledge of Active Directory
• Security event and log management
• Identity and access management
• Encryption in the cloud
• Thorough understanding of the latest security principles, techniques, and protocols
• Ability to engage in end-to-end troubleshooting of technical issues
• A strong background in developing Infrastructure automation using Ansible Automation Platform and other cloud orchestration tools is desired. 
• Familiarity with DevOps methodology and tools like Docker, Git, RedHat Satellite.

People Management

• No

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