Cloud Operations Engineer II

Zafin is an AI platform company helping regulated institutions modernize how critical work is designed, governed, and delivered. Our technology enables organizations to move faster while maintaining the governance, accountability, and control required in highly regulated environments. Our portfolio includes Zafin AIOS, an agent orchestration platform for governed AI work; the Zafin Banking Platform, which helps banks modernize product, pricing, offers, billing, loyalty, and relationship management; and Zafin IO, an integration platform that connects data, systems, and workflows across complex enterprise environments. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Zafin partners with leading financial institutions across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. As AI transforms the future of financial services, we're building the platforms that help regulated organizations adopt AI responsibly and at scale. What is the opportunity? As a Cloud Operations Engineer III at Zafin, reporting to the Manager, Cloud Operations, you will be responsible for deploying, managing, and optimizing our SaaS cloud infrastructure and applications, ensuring reliability, security, scalability, and high availability. Working closely with Engineering, DevOps, and Operations teams, you will automate deployments, troubleshoot production issues, support disaster recovery, and drive operational improvements while promoting best practices in cloud security, release management, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE). What will you do? - Build, deploy, manage, and maintain Zafin's SaaS environments, including the underlying cloud infrastructure and application stack, ensuring high availability, scalability, reliability, and security. - Manage cloud infrastructure and application deployments, primarily within Microsoft Azure environments, including Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Networking, and Azure Security services. - Design, develop, maintain, and optimize automated deployment processes and CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps and related technologies. - Implement and manage Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform, Ansible, and other infrastructure automation technologies to ensure consistent and scalable deployments. - Perform periodic infrastructure and application maintenance, including rolling updates, patch management, AKS upgrades, certificate management, and environment configuration updates. - Provide Business-as-Usual (BAU) operational support, proactively troubleshooting environment-related issues, identifying root causes, and implementing sustainable resolutions. - Monitor cloud infrastructure, application performance, system health, and operational metrics using tools such as Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Prometheus, and Grafana. - Troubleshoot complex infrastructure, deployment, networking, application, and production incidents, conducting root cause analysis (RCA) and implement corrective and preventive measures. - Apply Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles and industry best practices to improve system resilience, service availability, operational efficiency, and incident response. - Work with Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift to support containerized application deployments, orchestration, and operational management. - Manage and troubleshoot cloud networking and security configurations, including Firewalls, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), Network Security Groups (NSGs), VPNs, Private Endpoints, DNS, and Load Balancers. - Support application security and infrastructure protection using Microsoft Azure security services and cloud security best practices. - Support disaster recovery processes, including environment recovery, operational readiness, and business continuity planning. - Develop and maintain infrastructure automation scripts using Bash, Python, PowerShell, or similar scripting technologies. - Collaborate with Engineering, DevOps, and Operations teams to define and promote industry’s best practices in deployment automation, release management, and operational support. - Act as a subject matter expert for Zafin's SaaS environments, providing technical guidance and supporting knowledge sharing across teams. - Identify and implement operational improvements in day-to-day activities, deployment processes, infrastructure management, and incident resolution to improve team efficiency. - Optimize cloud infrastructure performance, resource utilization, operational costs, and service reliability. - Support application servers and database environments, including JBoss, WildFly, and PostgreSQL, as part of infrastructure and application operations. - Manage production incidents, issue triaging, resolution, and escalation in accordance with IT Service Management (ITSM) standards. - Maintain operational documentation, deployment procedures, incident resolution records, technical runbooks, and knowledge repositories. - Provide roster-based production support, including on-call responsibilities, offshore support coordination, and support across multiple time zones. - Communicate proactively with internal and external stakeholders regarding infrastructure changes, maintenance activities, incidents, releases, and operational improvements. - Ensure timely follow-up, ownership, and resolution of assigned operational activities, while keeping relevant stakeholders informed through designated communication channels. - Continuously evaluate emerging cloud technologies, tools, and best practices to enhance infrastructure reliability and operational excellence. What do you need to succeed? Must have - Bachelor's degree or postgraduate qualification in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related discipline, or equivalent practical experience. - 6–10 years of experience in cloud operations, infrastructure deployment, application maintenance, DevOps, Site Reliability Engineering, or related technical roles. - Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure, including infrastructure deployment, administration, maintenance, troubleshooting, and application security using Azure services. - Strong expertise in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Networking, and Azure Security services. - Solid understanding of cloud computing concepts, cloud infrastructure architecture, scalability, high availability, reliability, and security. - Strong hands-on experience with Docker and Kubernetes, including container administration, orchestration, deployment, and troubleshooting. - Proven experience with Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices, including infrastructure provisioning, automation, and configuration management. - Experience designing, developing, implementing, and supporting CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps. - Strong working knowledge of Linux administration, including system maintenance, configuration, performance monitoring, and troubleshooting. - Proficiency in automation and scripting using Bash, Python, PowerShell, or similar scripting languages. - Strong understanding of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles, cloud security, incident response, infrastructure reliability, and operational excellence. - Experience with monitoring, logging, alerting, and observability platforms such as Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Prometheus, and Grafana. - Strong understanding of cloud networking concepts and technologies, including Firewalls, WAF, NSGs, VPNs, Private Endpoints, DNS, and Load Balancers. - Practical experience with Azure application security, access management, network security, and secure infrastructure deployment practices. - Good knowledge and hands-on experience with JBoss, WildFly, and PostgreSQL. - Experience performing infrastructure upgrades, AKS upgrades, rolling updates, patch management, certificate management, and deployment troubleshooting. - Proven experience in production incident management, root cause analysis (RCA), issue triaging, and operational support. - Strong understanding of IT Service Management (ITSM) standards, including incident, problem, and change management processes. - Experience supporting disaster recovery processes, business continuity, and infrastructure resilience. - Strong diagnostic and troubleshooting capabilities, including the ability to investigate complex cloud infrastructure, networking, application, and production issues. - Experience working with cross-functional Engineering, Development, DevOps, and Operations teams to support reliable application deployments. - Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize multiple tasks and work independently in a fast-paced environment. - Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate technical issues, solutions, and operational updates to internal and external stakeholders. - Strong ownership, accountability, proactive communication, and follow-through on assigned responsibilities. - Ability to provide customer-facing troubleshooting support and effectively communicate during incidents, releases, and infrastructure changes. - Willingness to learn and adapt to new cloud technologies, tools, and operational practices. - Flexibility to participate in scheduled on-call and roster-based support, including offshore hours, multiple time zones, and weekends when required. Nice to have - Experience with additional cloud platforms such as AWS or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). - Experience with Ansible or other infrastructure automation and configuration management technologies. - Experience with advanced observability platforms such as Datadog, AWS CloudWatch, or equivalent monitoring solutions. - Familiarity with cloud infrastructure cost optimization, capacity planning, and resource utilization. - Experience supporting enterprise SaaS applications and mission-critical platforms in production environments. - Exposure to highly regulated industries, particularly banking or financial services. - Experience supporting globally distributed Engineering and Operations teams. - Experience with high-availability architecture, disaster recovery testing, and infrastructure resilience planning. - Experience facilitating technical discussions, incident reviews, root cause analysis sessions, and knowledge-sharing activities. - Professional certifications such as: - Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate - HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate - Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Specific KPIs will be established by the Manager, Cloud Operations, through periodic goal-setting discussions. Key expectations include: - Demonstrating clarity in written and verbal communication. - Taking a proactive approach to operational responsibilities and issue resolution. - Ensuring consistent follow-up and follow-through on assigned tasks and incidents. - Delivering assigned activities and deployment milestones on time. - Demonstrating effective client-facing communication and presentation skills. - Providing timely and proactive updates to team members and stakeholders through designated communication channels. - Collaborating effectively across teams to resolve issues and improve operational efficiency. - Maintaining accountability and ownership of production incidents, infrastructure changes, and operational deliverables. Additional Job Details Vacancy Status: Open Position to Be Filled Expected Salary Range: CAD 85K – 100K Mode of Work: Hybrid Use of AI: Zafin may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or other forms of automated technology to screen and/or assess applicants for this position. Zafin will not utilize AI for conducting interviews and/or making hiring decisions. What's in it for You? At Zafin, you'll join a culture that values diversity, teamwork, and high-quality work, with opportunities for professional growth and career advancement. We invest in our people through a comprehensive rewards program that supports your health, financial well-being, and work-life balance, including: - Competitive salaries and annual bonus opportunities - Fully company-paid health benefits - Generous vacation, holidays, and paid volunteering days - RRSP matching - Employer-paid insurance coverage - Wellness resources and extensive paramedical benefits Explore career opportunities and learn more about life at Zafin at zafin.com/careers. What’s in it for you Joining our team means being part of a culture that values diversity, teamwork, and high-quality work. We offer competitive salaries, annual bonus potential, generous paid time off, paid volunteering days, wellness benefits, and robust opportunities for professional growth and career advancement. Want to learn more about what you can look forward to during your career with us? Visit our careers site and our openings: zafin.com/careers Zafin welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. Zafin is committed to protecting the privacy and security of the personal information collected from all applicants throughout the recruitment process. The methods by which Zafin contains uses, stores, handles, retains, or discloses applicant information can be accessed by reviewing Zafin’s privacy policy at https://zafin.com/privacy-notice/. By submitting a job application, you confirm that you agree to the processing of your personal data by Zafin described in the candidate privacy notice.