Associate Director, Cloud Infrastructure Engineer- Azure

Kyowa Kirin is a fast-growing global specialty pharmaceutical company that applies state-of-the-art biotechnologies to discover and deliver novel medicines in four disease areas: bone and mineral; intractable hematologic; hematology oncology; and rare disease.  A Japan-based company, our goal is to make people smile by delivering breakthroughs where no adequate treatments currently exist, working from drug discovery to product development and commercialization. In North America, we are headquartered in Princeton, NJ, with offices in California, Massachusetts, and Ontario.

Summary:

The Cloud Infrastructure Engineer will play a pivotal role in supporting, enhancing, and stabilizing our infrastructure, networking, and cloud services (AWS and Azure) across our portfolio.  This role primarily involves designing, implementing, and deploying cloud services with a focus on the Azure Platform. Key responsibilities include improving infrastructure platform stability, modernizing processes, reducing risk, and effectively supporting business capabilities throughout the organization.
The Cloud Infrastructure Engineer will possess strong strategic thinking and project management skills, with a proven ability to drive execution to completion. 
An understanding of the Pharmaceutical Industry and manufacturing functions is essential to success in the role.

Essential Functions:

•    Design and implement scalable, secure, and resilient cloud architecture on Microsoft Azure.
•    Develop and deploy Azure infrastructure solutions, including virtual machines, storage accounts, and networking components.
•    Ensure all cloud solutions adhere to industry best practices, including Zero Trust and NIST frameworks and organizational standards
•    Monitor the performance, availability, and security of Cloud environments.
•    Manage backup and disaster recovery processes to ensure data integrity and business continuity.
•    Integrate DevOps practices into cloud operations, including continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD).
•    Develop and maintain automation scripts and tools to improve efficiency and reduce manual tasks.
•    Implement infrastructure as code (IaC) to manage and provision cloud resources
•    Responsible for proposing, planning, overseeing, and implementing infrastructure projects that enable our business while thinking in an Enterprise mindset.
•    Establish controls and ensure compliance with all industry best practices in line with relevant regulatory requirements. 
•    Accountable for continuous operation and maintenance of IT systems and associated site infrastructure. 
•    Build strategic partnerships with key technology vendors and service providers to implement and support systems. 
•    Continually research and implement new technologies to support critical business functions. 
•    Coach functional teams and mentor cross functional team members within scope of responsibility.  

Requirements:

Education
Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology or equivalent

Experience
At least 7 years of pharma/biotech IT experience with at least 3 years directly supporting manufacturing functions. 

Technical Skills
At least 5 years of architecture experience including solutions, business and enterprise architecture; Data architecture a plus; Must include SaaS products, At least 5 years as a Cloud Engineer, with at least 3 years as an Azure Cloud Engineer, At least 8 years of project implementation and/or support expertise; Strong understanding of cloud computing principles and best practices; Hands-on experience with Azure services, including compute, storage, networking, and databases; Proficiency in scripting languages such as PowerShell or Python; Experience with DevOps tools and practices, including CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code; Knowledge of security best practices and experience implementing security controls in cloud environments; Understanding of networking concepts and protocols; Experience managing / processing external data feeds (inbound and outbound); Broad knowledge of the pharmaceutical functional business units; Project management experience; Understanding of HIPAA, GDPR, information security, compliance, and privacy requirements for delivering data and analytics projects in the US healthcare industry

Non-Technical Skills
Demonstrated ability to organize, prioritize, meet deadlines, make decisions, and change course of action quickly. Strong interpersonal and communication skills. Strong work ethic is required. Detail oriented and excellent follow through. Has the ability to flex and deal with ambiguity in a dynamic, fast-paced, high growth environment. Has a passion for personal learning and development to be able to grow with th