Cloud Foundation Lead - Azure

About the role

A leading institution in the UAE is building a digital-first, AI-enabled financial services organisation from the ground up and is looking for a Cloud Foundation Lead. This is a senior leadership role responsible for setting the strategy and direction of the Microsoft Azure foundation, so that teams can securely consume compliant environments through a self-service platform. The role works closely with Infrastructure, Security, Data & AI and Engineering teams.

Key responsibilities

• Own the strategy, architecture and governance of the enterprise Azure foundation, including management groups, landing zones, subscriptions and policy guardrails.
• Establish landing zones as a product, giving teams secure, compliant, repeatable environments via automated self-service provisioning.
• Lead cloud identity foundations with Microsoft Entra, including workload identities, managed identities and privileged access.
• Define the in-cloud networking foundation, including hub-and-spoke architecture, DNS, private endpoints and private connectivity.
• Own and govern a shared Infrastructure as Code module library of reusable, versioned Terraform modules.
• Set up policy as code and automated guardrails, working with Information Security to turn security requirements into enforceable controls.
• Establish FinOps disciplines: tagging, cost allocation, budgeting, optimisation, right-sizing, reservations and consumption visibility.
• Drive automation, ensure changes are versioned, tested and audited, and embed cloud residency, regulatory and audit controls.
• Drive adoption of the shared cloud foundation across Data & AI, Engineering and other teams, and build and lead the Cloud Foundation team.
• Manage key technology and vendor relationships, including Microsoft and other cloud partners.

Required profile

• 8+ years of experience in cloud platform, cloud foundation or cloud infrastructure engineering, with experience setting technical direction and leading teams.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline.
• Experience in a regulated environment, with a strong understanding of compliance, auditability, data residency and evidence requirements.
• Exposure to Kubernetes / AKS foundations and cloud-native observability, and experience with AI-assisted engineering tools under governance.
• AWS experience is advantageous alongside deep Azure expertise.

Required skills

• Deep experience designing and operating Microsoft Azure at enterprise scale, including landing zones, Azure Policy and governance.
• Strong Microsoft Entra expertise, including workload identities, managed identities and privileged access.
• Extensive Infrastructure as Code experience, especially Terraform module libraries.
• GitOps and CI/CD practices, including configuration drift management.
• Cloud security, governance and policy-as-code principles.
• Azure certifications such as Azure Solutions Architect Expert or Azure Administrator are advantageous; AWS certification is also beneficial.