Azure Server Administrator

ApplyBoard simplifies the study abroad application process by connecting international students, international student advisors, and educational institutions on one personalized platform. For more than a decade, ApplyBoard's team members have been dedicated to breaking down barriers to international education, while thriving at a company that invests in their career growth. Our six core values guide us in our mission to educate the world, and are the foundation of our company culture. As an organization built on diversity, our team members are representative of the students we support.

The Opportunity:

We are hiring an Azure Server Administrator who owns the university's Microsoft Azure environment end to end: how it is designed, how it runs day to day, and how it stays secure and compliant. This is a hands-on seat with real ownership. You keep the systems that serve our students, faculty, and staff reliable and secure, and you close the loop on every incident, patch, and audit finding.

You own architecture decisions, daily operations, and the security and compliance posture, with Information Security as your partner and Microsoft and vendor support as your escalation path. You will be trusted to make sound platform decisions and to document them so the institution is never dependent on what only you know.

Operating model

• You are the university's Azure owner. You design, operate, secure, and improve the environment, escalating to Microsoft and vendor support when depth beyond one person is required.
• You mitigate the single-person risk deliberately: documented runbooks, Infrastructure-as-Code where practical, and cross-training a designated IT backup on critical recovery procedures.
• You provide on-call coverage for Azure incidents and own them through resolution and post-incident documentation.
• Every production change goes through change management. You document what you build to a standard a colleague can follow without you in the room.
• You partner with Information Security on audit findings, vulnerability remediation, and compliance evidence.

What You’ll Be Doing Every Day: 

Core responsibilities

• Administration of Azure infrastructure supporting university academic and administrative systems
• On-call coverage for Azure incident response, with documented escalation paths
• Process, procedure, and configuration documentation
• Change management participation for all production modifications
• Documentation, runbooks, and cross-training of a designated IT backup on critical procedures

Architecture and platform

• Azure architecture design and planning for university workloads, right-sized rather than gold-plated
• Infrastructure-as-Code development using ARM templates, Bicep, or Terraform for repeatable deployments
• Azure Policy implementation for governance guardrails
• High availability and recovery design appropriate to each workload's actual criticality
• Cost optimization and resource management, reviewed on a regular cadence

Operations

• Day-to-day management of Azure VMs, databases, and platform services
• Monitoring and alerting through Azure Monitor and Log Analytics, tuned so alerts mean something
• Backup and disaster recovery implementation, with recovery actually tested, not assumed
• Performance tuning and root-cause troubleshooting
• Security posture management through Microsoft Defender for Cloud and network security groups
• Patch management and OS update cycles across the server fleet

Security and compliance

• Identity and access management through Microsoft Entra ID
• Azure Key Vault administration for secrets, keys, and certificates
• Compliance alignment for Azure workloads: FERPA and GLBA, plus PCI-DSS and HIPAA where applicable
• Azure Firewall and Web Application Firewall management
• Virtual network peering and VPN connectivity
• Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments, with remediation driven to closure

What You Bring to the Table:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 5+ years administering Windows and/or Linux servers in a production environment
• 3+ years hands-on with Microsoft Azure: compute, storage, networking, identity, and monitoring
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Entra ID, role-based access control, and network security fundamentals
• PowerShell scripting proficiency; Azure CLI experience preferred
• Demonstrated experience owning an environment independently, with clear documentation and change management discipline

Preferred:

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104); Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) a plus
• AZ-500, SC-300, or a comparable security credential such as Security+ or CISSP
• Infrastructure-as-Code delivery in production with ARM templates, Bicep, or Terraform
• Higher education or other regulated-industry experience
• Familiarity with Ellucian Colleague or a comparable ERP environment

What success looks like in a year:

• The Azure environment is monitored, patched, and backed up on a documented cadence, and recovery has been tested
• Incidents are resolved inside agreed response targets, with post-incident documentation the team actually uses
• Audit and vulnerability findings are remediated or on a dated plan, with evidence ready for review
• Identity, secrets, and network security controls are documented and verifiable, and a designated backup can execute critical recovery procedures without you

About ApplyBoard

ApplyBoard empowers students around the world to access international education. Our global team leverages cutting-edge technology to build innovative tools and share sector insights that support our network of international students and 1,500+ partner institutions. We've helped more than 1,300,000 students from over 180 countries with their study abroad journey so far, and we're just getting started.

Ready to join us? We're grateful for your interest in joining the ApplyBoard team. However, only select applicants will be contacted for an interview.

We may use artificial intelligence tools to support the hiring process, potentially while reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing applicant responses. These tools don't replace human judgment, and final hiring decisions are made by our team members. If you'd like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

ApplyBoard welcomes applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates in all aspects of the hiring and selection process.