Assistant Director - Cloud

About the role

Northeastern University is seeking an Assistant Director to lead the management of its hybrid infrastructure, covering cloud (AWS, Azure), on‑premises compute, storage, and backup systems. The role blends strategic design with hands‑on execution, ensuring real‑time health monitoring, incident response, and alignment with the university’s cloud and infrastructure strategy.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of engineers, fostering a collaborative, high‑performance environment.
• Design, implement, and optimize scalable, secure Azure and multi‑cloud architectures, including hybrid connectivity.
• Develop and enforce cost governance, FinOps practices, and budget forecasting.
• Implement automation using Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, and PowerShell, and integrate CI/CD pipelines.
• Oversee network components such as VNets, VPNs, ExpressRoute, load balancers, firewalls, and Azure Virtual WAN.
• Drive security hardening with Azure Security Center, Defender, Sentinel, and Zero Trust models.
• Maintain comprehensive monitoring and logging using tools like Zabbix, SolarWinds, and Nagios.

Required profile

• Minimum 7 years of enterprise infrastructure architecture experience, with at least 3 years in a managerial role.
• Deep expertise in cloud networking, security, compute, storage, and hybrid connectivity.
• Proven track record in cost governance, budget management, and hardware lifecycle planning.

Required skills

• AWS and Azure cloud platforms
• Terraform, Bicep, ARM templates, PowerShell
• Azure AD, RBAC, PIM, Conditional Access, Zero Trust
• Network design: VNets, VPNs, ExpressRoute, Load Balancers, Azure Firewall, NSGs
• Monitoring tools: Zabbix, SolarWinds, Nagios
• CI/CD: Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Terraform Cloud
• FinOps and cloud cost optimization