Senior Cloud Operations Engineer (Azure) — NASA Mission Enabling Services

MRI Technologies has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Cloud Operations Engineer on the Mission Enabling Services Contract (MESC) at NASA. In this role, you will build and operate Azure cloud infrastructure from the ground up-establishing the landing zones, governance controls, identity integration, and compliance foundations that will carry NASA's mission workloads for years to come.

You will work alongside cloud architects, security engineers, and NASA stakeholders, leading the Azure expansion of a production platform that already operates at enterprise scale on GCP. You are the subject-matter expert on Azure infrastructure design and federal compliance requirements-translating deep technical knowledge into a government-grade environment that meets NIST 800-171, CMMC 2.0, and NASA security standards. This is a build role, not a maintenance role. The platform is early-stage, and your decisions now will define how it operates across the life of the program.

A typical day might begin with reviewing Terraform changes for a new Azure subscription configuration or coordinating with the security team on a Defender for Cloud alert. By midday you could be designing a new landing zone architecture, implementing Azure Policy assignments across management groups, or troubleshooting a network connectivity issue between the Azure environment and the existing GCP platform. In the afternoon, you might be building CI/CD pipeline stages for infrastructure provisioning, updating cost management tagging standards, or drafting runbook documentation for the operations team. The work is hands-on, high-trust, and connected to infrastructure that supports NASA mission success.

What We Are Looking For

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, IT, or equivalent
• 6 or more years of relevant cloud engineering experience
• Deep experience designing and operating Azure cloud environments at an enterprise or government scale
• Terraform (HCL) for Azure infrastructure automation
• Azure Active Directory / Entra ID administration and federated identity configuration
• Azure Policy, Management Groups, and subscription governance
• CI/CD pipeline experience (Azure DevOps, GitLab, or equivalent)
• Experience with NIST 800-171 or CMMC 2.0 compliance requirements
• Strong networking fundamentals: VNets, NSGs, ExpressRoute/VPN, DNS
• Ability to excel in a remote work environment

Preferences

• Azure Solutions Architect Expert or equivalent certification
• Experience with multi-cloud environments (Azure + GCP integration)
• Microsoft Sentinel, Defender for Cloud, or Azure Monitor experience
• Prior federal government or DoD cloud engineering experience
• Experience with CUI handling and controlled environment design
• Familiarity with CMMC 2.0 Level 2 self-assessment or C3PAO audit preparation

This position has been posted at multiple levels. Depending on your experience and business needs, we may consider candidates at any level for which the position has been advertised.

Benefits and Perks

We offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, company-paid life and disability insurance, paid time off, and 401(k). You'll also enjoy a flexible work schedule and strong career development opportunities working alongside NASA's mission teams.

Proof of U.S. Citizenship is a requirement for this position. Must be able to complete a U.S. government background investigation.

MRI Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.

As we are a Federal Contractor, most positions require the employee to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government background investigation. MRI also completes a pre-screening background check for anyone offered employment.