Principal Platform Engineer – Azure Data & AI Platform Engineer/Remote

Apetan Consulting LLC is seeking a highly experienced Principal Platform Engineer specializing in Azure Data & AI platforms to lead the design, development, and optimization of enterprise-scale cloud data and AI infrastructure. This role will involve driving architecture decisions and platform reliability while collaborating with various stakeholders to enable AI/ML workloads and establish governance standards.

Responsibilities:

• Design and architect scalable Azure-based Data & AI platforms
• Lead enterprise cloud modernization and platform engineering initiatives
• Build and maintain secure, high-availability data platforms using Azure services
• Develop reusable infrastructure and automation frameworks using Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
• Enable AI/ML workloads through modern MLOps and data engineering practices
• Establish governance, security, observability, and compliance standards for cloud platforms
• Collaborate with data scientists, engineers, architects, and business stakeholders
• Optimize platform performance, scalability, reliability, and cost efficiency
• Mentor engineering teams and provide technical leadership across programs
• Drive DevOps and CI/CD best practices for data and AI solutions
• Evaluate emerging Azure technologies and recommend strategic adoption

Requirements:

• Bachelor s or Master s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, cloud engineering, or platform engineering
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure cloud services
• Strong expertise in: Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, Azure Data Lake, Azure Machine Learning, Microsoft Fabric (preferred), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure DevOps
• Strong programming skills in Python, SQL, and/or Scala
• Experience with Terraform, Bicep, or ARM templates
• Deep understanding of: Data architecture, Distributed systems, Data governance, Security and compliance, MLOps/DevOps practices
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and automated deployments
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Azure certifications such as: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Data Engineer Associate, Azure AI Engineer Associate
• Experience with Generative AI, LLMs, or AI platform enablement
• Experience working in regulated enterprise environments
• Familiarity with multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud architectures