Principal Azure & AI Architect (Hands-On)

Principal Azure & AI Architect (Hands-On) — Player-Coach Role Role Snapshot (At a Glance)ParameterDetailsJob TitlePrincipal Azure & AI Architect (Hands-On)Location100% Remote — Anywhere in IndiaWork ModePermanent Work From Home (WFH)Experience11+ Years (Hands-On Mandatory)CompensationUp to ₹27 LPA (Negotiable for Superstars)Employment TypeFull-TimeReporting ToCTO / VP of EngineeringTeam SizeLead a pod of 4–8 engineers (Player-Coach Model)Notice PeriodImmediate to 30 Days Preferred What You'll Actually Do (The 70/30 Split)

70% → Writing production code, building POCs, debugging complex systems
30% → Architecture design, mentoring engineers, stakeholder engagement

This is NOT a delegation role. You will commit code to the main branch daily. You will debug production issues. You will ship.

Core Responsibilities (The Main Points)1️⃣ Hands-On Engineering (35%)

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  Write production-grade code daily in Python, C#, .NET Core, or Go

  
  


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  Build microservices, REST APIs, GraphQL, gRPC services

  
  


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  Develop serverless functions (Azure Functions) & event-driven workloads

  
  


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  Implement async patterns — message queues, event streams

  
  


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  Refactor legacy monoliths → cloud-native microservices

  
  


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  Maintain 80%+ test coverage (pytest, xUnit, NUnit)

  
  


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  Debug using OpenTelemetry, Application Insights, distributed tracing

  
  

2️⃣ AI & ML Engineering (25%)

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  Design RAG pipelines using Azure OpenAI, LangChain, LlamaIndex

  
  


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  Build document ingestion — PDF parsing, chunking, embeddings, vector indexing

  
  


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  Implement semantic search (Azure AI Search, Pinecone, Milvus, pgvector)

  
  


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  Fine-tune LLMs (Llama 3, Mistral, Falcon) using LoRA, QLoRA, PEFT

  
  


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  Build AI agents (Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, CrewAI)

  
  


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  Deploy ML models on Azure ML — MLOps, model registry, drift monitoring

  
  


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  Build ETL/ELT pipelines (Azure Data Factory, Databricks, Spark)

  
  

3️⃣ Cloud Architecture (15%)

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  Design multi-tier, cloud-native architectures on Azure

  
  


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  Architect HA/DR systems with multi-region failover

  
  


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  Implement Zero Trust security (Entra ID, Managed Identities, Defender)

  
  


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  Design multi-tenant SaaS architectures

  
  


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  Create Azure Landing Zones (CAF/WAF aligned)

  
  


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  Write ADRs, runbooks, architecture diagrams

  
  

4️⃣ DevOps, MLOps & Platform Engineering (10%)

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  Author Terraform modules (Expert — mandatory), Bicep, ARM

  
  


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  Build CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, ArgoCD)

  
  


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  Deploy & scale on AKS — service mesh, HPA/VPA, ingress controllers

  
  


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  Implement observability — OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Prometheus, SLIs/SLOs

  
  


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  Lead incident response & post-mortems

  
  

5️⃣ Security & Compliance (5%)

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  Implement Zero Trust across identity, network, data, app layers

  
  


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  Manage secrets via Azure Key Vault & Managed Identities

  
  


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  Ensure encryption at rest & in transit (TLS 1.2+, AES-256)

  
  


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  Compliance: HIPAA, SOC2, GDPR, ISO 27001, RBI

  
  

6️⃣ Leadership & Mentorship (10%)

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  Lead a pod of 4–8 engineers — you code alongside them

  
  


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  Conduct 1:1s, code reviews, architecture reviews

  
  


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  Define technical roadmaps with Product Managers

  
  


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  Mentor junior/mid-level engineers on Azure & AI

  
  


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  Engage C-level executives on technical strategy

  
  


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  Participate in hiring & onboarding

  
  

7️⃣ Project Delivery (Cross-Cutting)

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  Own end-to-end delivery — requirements → production

  
  


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  Break down epics, estimate effort, sprint planning

  
  


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  Ensure on-time delivery without compromising quality

  
  


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  Collaborate with QA, DevOps, Product, Design

  
  

️ Mandatory Tech Stack (Hands-On Required — 80%+)CategoryMust-Have TechnologiesLanguagesPython (Advanced — mandatory), C#/.NET Core (Advanced), Go, Java, SQLAzure ComputeAKS, Azure Functions, App Services, Container AppsAzure NetworkingVirtual WAN, Hub-and-Spoke, Private Link, ExpressRoute, Front DoorIdentity & SecurityEntra ID, Managed Identities, Key Vault, Defender for Cloud, RBAC, PIMData & StorageAzure SQL, Cosmos DB, ADLS Gen2, Blob Storage, Microsoft Fabric, RedisIntegrationLogic Apps, Service Bus, Event Grid, Event Hubs, API ManagementLLM FrameworksLangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, CrewAIAI ConceptsRAG, Vector DBs, Prompt Engineering, Fine-Tuning (LoRA/QLoRA/PEFT), AI AgentsML LibrariesPyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, XGBoost, Hugging FaceData EngineeringApache Spark, Databricks, Kafka, Data Factory, Delta Lake, IcebergIaCTerraform (Expert — mandatory), Bicep, ARM, PulumiCI/CDGitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, ArgoCD, FluxContainersDocker, Kubernetes, Helm, Istio, LinkerdTestingpytest, xUnit, NUnit, Jest, Selenium, Playwright, Locust KPIs That Define SuccessAreaKPICode Quality80%+ test coverage, zero critical SonarQube issuesDelivery95% on-time sprint delivery, zero P0 production incidentsAI Impact2+ GenAI features shipped to production per quarterCost Optimization20–30% reduction in Azure spendMentorship2+ engineers promoted or certified per yearDocumentation100% of major decisions documented via ADRsReliability99.9% uptime for critical services✅ What We're Looking For

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  11+ years in software engineering, 4+ years in Azure architecture

  
  


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  Actively coding in the last 12 months — we will test your code

  
  


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  Native-level English — lead calls with US/UK clients confidently

  
  


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  Self-driven — identify problems and solve them without tickets

  
  


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  Explain complex AI/cloud concepts to C-level executives

  
  


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  B.E./B.Tech/M.Tech/MCA in CS or equivalent experience

  
  

Soft Skills That Matter

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  Ownership Mindset — treat the product like your own startup

  
  


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  Bias for Action — ship fast, iterate faster

  
  


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  Mentorship — lift the team up, don't gatekeep

  
  


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  Adaptability — technology-agnostic problem solver

  
  


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  Documentation — ADRs, runbooks, READMEs are second nature

  
  


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  Collaboration — work well with Product, Design, QA, DevOps

  
  

What You'll Work On (Indicative Projects)

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  GenAI Chatbots & Copilots — Enterprise RAG on Azure OpenAI

  
  


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  Data Modernization — Legacy ETL → Databricks + Microsoft Fabric

  
  


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  Cloud Migration — On-prem → AKS

  
  


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  Platform Engineering — Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) on Azure

  
  


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  MLOps Pipelines — Automated training, deployment, monitoring

  
  


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  FinOps — Reduce cloud spend by 30%+

  
  


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  Multi-Tenant SaaS — Scalable platforms on Azure

  
  


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  AI Agents — Autonomous workflow automation

  
  

Why This Role?

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  100% Remote — work from anywhere in India

  
  


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  Player-Coach Model — lead AND code, not just manage

  
  


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  Cutting-Edge AI — GenAI, LLMs, RAG, AI Agents

  
  


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  Elite Bench — building a team of superstars for strategic initiatives

  
  


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  Negotiable Pay — up to ₹27 LPA for the right person

  
  

Ready to build the future of Azure + AI?
If you live and breathe Azure and AI — we want to talk. Regardless of your current salary or pedigree.

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