Senior Microsoft Cloud Security Engineer/Architect

Our client is seeking an experienced, hands-on Cybersecurity Specialist to serve as the senior on-site technical support for cybersecurity operations, Microsoft Azure Government, Microsoft 365 GCC High, cloud infrastructure, identity, endpoint security, networking, and incident response.

This role will serve as an escalation point for complex security and infrastructure issues, and to help strengthen Groundswell’s internal cyber capabilities, supporting the company’s ongoing compliance with CMMC level 2. The position will be responsible for investigations, configuration, troubleshooting, control implementation, and high-impact issue resolution.

The individual contributor position works closely with small internal operations team and External Supplier teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Own cybersecurity operations to include incident response, investigations, response, threat identification threat, containment, recovery, root-cause analysis, and post-incident improvements.

• escalation point for complex security, cloud, identity, endpoint, network, Azure Virtual Desktop, and infrastructure issues.

• Administer privileged access and identity controls, including Conditional Access, multifactor authentication, service principals, Privileged Identity Management, least privilege, separation of duties, and time-limited elevation.

• Maintain Cisco Meraki environment, including firewalls, switches, wireless access points, VLANs, access-control lists, segmentation, logging, site connectivity, outage response, and recovery documentation.

• vulnerability and configuration management using Tenable, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Secure Score, vendor advisories, and threat-intelligence sources. Prioritize findings based on severity, exploitability, exposure, asset criticality, known exploitation, operational risk, and CUI impact; coordinate remediation, document exceptions and residual risk, and confirm corrective actions are effective.

• Lead AvePoint backup and recovery for Microsoft 365 GCC High, including monitoring jobs, resolving failures, testing restores, and maintaining recovery practices for Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.

• Serve as a technical subject matter expert for CMMC Level 2 and related certification programs by maintaining the System Security Plan, Plans of Action and Milestones, etc

• Provide senior escalation support while preserving the Helpdesk’s responsibility for routine ticket intake and normal user support, and mentor Helpdesk personnel in incident recognition, evidence preservation, escalation, troubleshooting, and documentation.

• Prepare, review, implement, and document technical changes in support of CMMI-SVC, ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 20000-1, ISO/IEC 27001, UK Cyber Essentials, and CMMC requirements.

• Azure Government / Microsoft GCC High
• Proficiency with the following tools: Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, Entra ID, Intune, Purview, Exchange Online, Sharepoint Online, Teams, Azure Networking, Azure Virtual Desktop, KQL, Powershell

• SME for CMMC Level 2 Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, computer science, information systems, engineering, network engineering, or a related technical field.

• Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect Expert, Microsoft Security Operations Analyst Associate, or Microsoft Azure Security Engineer Associate certification.

• Demonstrated experience leading AvePoint backup and recovery, security automation, or large-scale operational improvement in a regulated Microsoft Government cloud environment.

• Advanced Cisco networking experience, including CCNP Enterprise or Cisco Meraki Solutions Specialist certification.