Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Red Cell Partners is an incubation firm developing technology-led companies in healthcare, cyber, and national security, including DEFCON AI, which applies artificial intelligence, mathematical optimization, data analytics, and software engineering to complex systems. DEFCON AI is seeking a Cloud Systems Engineer to own AWS, Azure, Microsoft 365, and Entra ID infrastructure and identity operations, including automation, security, compliance, monitoring, and AI platform administration.
Responsibilities
- Administer and maintain AWS and Azure environments, including day-to-day operations of virtual machines, networking, and storage across both providers
- AWS: deploy, maintain, and optimize EC2, RDS, S3, IAM, KMS, Secrets Manager, and CloudTrail; manage VPCs, subnets, routing tables, security groups, and NACLs
- Azure: administer virtual machines, virtual networks and NSGs, storage accounts, Azure Files, Key Vault, Azure Virtual Desktop, and Site Recovery across subscriptions
- Build and manage hardened VM images and golden images for consistent, repeatable deployments
- Implement and support high availability, auto-scaling, backup, and disaster recovery configurations
- Support multi-account and multi-subscription governance structures — AWS Organizations, Azure Management Groups, and equivalent landing-zone constructs
- Own the Microsoft 365 tenant end to end: Entra ID, Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and licensing
- Administer the identity plane — Conditional Access policies, MFA enforcement, RBAC and least privilege, privileged access, hybrid identity, and application registrations. and role assignments, and conditional access policies
- Run the full user lifecycle: provisioning, onboarding, role changes, offboarding, and access reviews, automated wherever the volume justifies it
- Manage the endpoint fleet through Intune, including compliance policies, configuration profiles, patching, and device lifecycle
- Administer single sign-on and provisioning integrations (SAML, SCIM) between Entra ID and the SaaS platforms we operate
- Support data governance and protection through Purview, sensitivity labels, and DLP policy where applicable
- Design and maintain infrastructure using Terraform — modular design, remote state management, and workspace strategy — across both AWS and Azure
- Build reusable, secure baseline modules for network architecture, IAM roles, logging, monitoring, and encryption
- Automate operational workflows in PowerShell, Bash, and Python, including Microsoft Graph API automation for identity and tenant tasks
- Integrate infrastructure provisioning and security controls into CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or equivalent) and maintain version-controlled infrastructure repositories
- Implement automated drift detection and remediation, and enforce policy-as-code guardrails
- Apply and maintain hardening baselines (CIS Benchmarks, DISA STIGs) across Linux and Windows systems and cloud tenants
- Configure and monitor AWS CloudTrail, GuardDuty, Security Hub, and Config alongside Microsoft Defender and Entra ID sign-in and audit logging
- Support SIEM integration (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, or equivalent) and assist with incident response
- Maintain the vulnerability management lifecycle: patching, remediation tracking, and reporting
- Support compliance aligned to NIST SP 800-171, CMMC, and FedRAMP or SOC 2 as applicable, including evidence collection for assessments
- Administer the AI platforms in our environment — Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, AWS Bedrock, and Microsoft 365 Copilot — including seats and licensing, SSO and provisioning, retention and data controls, connector and agent governance, and spend limits
- Enforce and communicate standards for what data may be placed into AI tooling, particularly where CUI or controlled data is involved
- Partner with engineering, security, and operations to deliver reliable, scalable services
- Produce and maintain architecture diagrams, runbooks, SOPs, and audit evidence artifacts without being asked for them
- Contribute to capacity forecasting, resource planning, and cloud cost management
Skills
- 5+ years in systems administration, cloud operations, or infrastructure engineering
- 3+ years hands-on administering AWS in production, including virtual machine administration, networking, and IAM
- 2+ years administering a Microsoft 365 tenant with real admin rights — Entra ID, Exchange Online, Conditional Access, licensing, and user lifecycle. Help-desk support of Microsoft 365 does not meet this bar
- Hands-on Microsoft Azure administration in a production environment
- Demonstrated automation of operational workflows using PowerShell, Bash, or Python; working Terraform experience
- Strong understanding of IAM, encryption (KMS, TLS), and network segmentation
- Experience with Linux (RHEL or Amazon Linux) and Windows Server in a cloud context
- Experience working in Department of Defense or Department of War environments and applying their security requirements
- Disciplined documentation habits — runbooks, SOPs, and configuration records maintained as a matter of course
- US Citizenship Required
- All work must be performed within the United States
- Microsoft 365 GCC High tenant experience
- Terraform depth including modular design, state management, and leading IaC migrations from legacy tooling
- Container platform experience — Docker with ECS, EKS, or AKS
- AWS certifications (Solutions Architect, SysOps Administrator, Security Specialty) or Azure equivalents (AZ-104); Microsoft 365 Administrator (MS-102); CompTIA Security+
- AWS Control Tower, Landing Zones, or Azure Landing Zone governance tooling
- SIEM platform experience (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel)
- Administration of AI platforms at the tenant or account level - Anthropic, OpenAI, Bedrock and Copilot
- Managed service provider background administering across many client tenants
- Regulated-industry experience: defense (CMMC, NIST 800-171), healthcare (HIPAA), or financial services (SOC 2)
- Active DoD security clearance (Secret or above), or eligibility to obtain and maintain one
Benefits
- A fully remote, results-based environment
- Bonus and equity package
- 100% employer paid, comprehensive health insurance including medical, dental, and vision for you and your family
- Unlimited PTO, with your manager's approval
- Flexible work environment where you manage your work day
- 14 weeks of fully-paid parental leave
- Career track opportunity with potential for rapid advancement with strong performance as the firm grows
- Paid maternity and paternity for 14 weeks at employees' normal pay
- Opportunities for professional development and continued learning
- Optional 401K, FSA, and equity incentives available
- Mental health benefits are available through Tara Mind
- Cost effective GLP-1 solutions available through Crux
Company Overview