Principal Windows Systems & Observability Platform Architect

We are seeking a Principal Windows Systems Engineer and Platform Architect to design, build, and optimize our core observability platform. In this role, you will bridge the gap between deep Windows OS internals and modern, cloud-native telemetry pipelines.

The ideal candidate is a “prolific programmer “ who approaches engineering with an automation-first mindset. You will be responsible for creating high-performance, low-level monitoring agents and data aggregation frameworks capable of processing thousands of data points per hour across tens of thousands of distributed endpoints., * Low-Level Agent & Engine Development: Architect and build high-performance monitoring agents, telemetry engines, and data pipelines using C#, C++, and native Windows APIs (Win32, P/Invoke, WMI, CIM).

• High-Throughput Automation: Design advanced, multi-threaded PowerShell automation frameworks leveraging runspaces, background jobs, and parallel data collection techniques.
• Telemetry & Security Auditing: Extract and cross-reference system metrics, logs, and events using ETW (Event Tracing for Windows), Event Logs, and deep KQL (Kusto Query Language)/Cosmos querying to isolate system irregularities and optimize performance.
• Modern Cloud-Native Delivery: Containerize big data ETL architectures and deploy platform components into Kubernetes environments (AKS/EKS).
• Quality Gates & Guardrails: Implement automated testing frameworks, strict policy-as-code configurations (e.g., Rego), and Azure DevOps/GitHub Action CI/CD pipelines to prevent infrastructure drift and catch configurations before production.
• Secure Administration: Enforce deep platform security models, including Just Enough Automation (JEA), constrained language modes, and secure KeyVault practices to reduce human error and exposure of sensitive data/PII.

• PowerShell Mastery: 15+ years of experience engineering core tools, modules, and testing frameworks. Deep expertise in language forensics, security modes, and cross-platform scripting (v5.1 to v7+).
• Windows Internals Expertise: Master-level understanding of Windows Server/Client architecture, process scheduling, memory management, Hyper-V, and OS deployment automation.
• Systems Programming: Strong proficiency in C#/.NET and C++ with deep experience handling low-level memory, DCOM settings, and P/Invoke abstractions.
• Modern DevOps & Cloud Ecosystems: Expert-level knowledge of Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Infrastructure as Code (ARM Templates/BICEP/Terraform), and intermediate experience orchestrating microservices in Kubernetes.
• Big Data & Analytics: Proven ability to overhaul massive data aggregation systems, scaling ETL architecture processing times downward via SQL, NoSQL, and advanced KQL querying.
• Security & Compliance: Experience applying STRIDE threat modeling, implementing rigorous auditing/quality gates, and hardening enterprise cloud infrastructure.

Desired Leadership & Cultural Traits

• Platform Pioneer: A proven track record of engineering scalable platforms from scratch and evangelizing modern hybrid developer/operations (DevOps/SRE) practices.
• Technical Mentorship: Ability to lead, upskill, and train multi-national engineering teams from junior to senior levels in automated workflows and platform engineering.
• Industry Engagement: Active contribution to the open-source community, technical evangelism, or recognition within the cloud/automation ecosystems (e.g., Microsoft MVP or equivalent community standing).

The hourly rate for this position is between $77.00-$87.00 per hour. Factors which may affect starting pay within this range may include [geography/market, skills, education, experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate]., Sunrise offers ACA compliant medical coverage/dental insurance/vision insurance to all employees. We also offer Sick time benefits as required per State regulations