.Net Devloper (Azure Devops) - American Technology Consulting

The Department of Management's Division of Information Technology (DoIT) isseeking a highly skilled Lead DevOps Engineer/Upskilling Partner with a strongbackground in both hands-on DevOps work and leadership. This role is key todriving automation, process improvements, and migrations within ourorganization, supporting Iowa schools and stakeholders through a large portfolioof data collection and reporting applications. As a key member of our team,you'll be instrumental in driving our DevOps initiatives and delivering secure,high-quality technical solutions to our customers. The ideal candidate will playa critical role in migrating applications from TFS/ADO to GitHub, establishingDevOps best practices, and mentoring developers. This position is for someonewho excels in technical problem-solving and can guide teams through DevOpstransformations. This remote position requires attendance during standardbusiness hours Monday through Friday, with initial on-site presence stronglypreferred for orientation and team onboarding.As the Lead DevOps Engineer, you will:• Design and implement highly scalable DevOps processes to support thedevelopment and deployment of large-scale applications.• Lead initiatives focused on automation, CI/CD, and cloud technologies,centralizing code repositories into GitHub to streamline development workflows.• Assess and improve coding and review practices, ensuring a high standard ofcode quality and security by integrating automated scanning tools into thedevelopment cycle.• Proactively address technical debt before it escalates and ensure continuousimprovement of development processes.• Optimize processes around code branching, merging, and releases to facilitateseamless and efficient deployments.• Automate build and deployment processes, reducing manual effort and increasingoperational efficiency.• Enhance unit test and integration test coverage, ensuring applicationreliability and performance.• Mentor and coach the team on new DevOps skills, driving the adoption of bestpractices in development and deployment.Key Responsibilities:• Lead DevOps Strategy (60-70% hands-on, 30-40% leadership): You’ll balancehands-on work with leadership, focusing on automating CI/CD pipelines,establishing best practices, and leading development teams through migrations.• Application Migration: You will lead the migration of applications fromTFS/ADO to GitHub. Experience with GitHub Actions, GitHub Enterprise, and AzureDevOps will be critical for success. You’ll design and implement migrationstrategies that include moving wikis, project management boards, and source coderepositories.• DevOps Automation & Optimization: You’ll build scalable, automated solutionsfor builds, testing, and deployments, as well as optimize branching, merging,and release processes.• Mentorship & Technical Guidance: You will mentor and coach developers, leadingtechnical debates, and providing guidance on best practices for development,security, and process automation.• Security and Code Quality: You will integrate security scanning tools into thedevelopment pipeline (e.g., SAST, SCA, GitHub Advanced Security) and leadefforts to improve code quality through automated tests, code reviews, andcontinuous integration practices.• Cloud and Infrastructure Support: While the primary focus will be on Azure,you should have experience with other cloud providers, infrastructure as code(IaC), and setting up and managing CI/CD pipelines from scratch.Requirements:• C#, ASP.NET, MVC, .NET Core (8+ years): Strong experience in the Microsofttechnology stack is required. This role is primarily DevOps-focused, but you’llneed to understand the code well enough to mentor teams and drive bestpractices. While .NET Core isn’t currently in use, you may help introduce itinto future projects.• Security Practices (8+ years): You will implement security practices likestatic code analysis and encryption. Experience with security tools (e.g.,SonarQube, Checkmarx, GitHub Advanced Security) and maintaining compliance withstandards (e.g., ADA) is a plus.• Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, GitHub Actions (5+ years): A deepunderstanding of Azure DevOps, GitHub, and CI/CD tools is required. You willlead the migration from TFS/ADO to GitHub, building out automation and bestpractices from scratch.• Test Automation & TDD (5+ years): You’ll implement automated testing, improvetest coverage, and ensure reliability through unit and integration tests. Teamsare not yet using tools like Selenium, NUnit, or xUnit, and you’ll beresponsible for setting these up.• T-SQL and MS SQL (8+ years): Strong skills in query tuning and databaseautomation are required. The focus will be on query optimization and automatingdatabase-related tasks, not necessarily architecture design.• Technical Leadership & Mentorship (5+ years): Experience in mentoring andleading developers is crucial. You’ll establish and enforce code reviewstandards, guide development practices, and provide technical leadership inDevOps strategies.• Code Quality & Security Scanning Tools (4+ years): Familiarity with tools suchas GitHub Advanced Security, Dependabot, and Snyk will help you integratesecurity and code quality into the pipeline.• Code Branching, Merging, and Release Optimization (5+ years): Experience inoptimizing the code branching and release management processes is essential.• TypeScript/Angular, Client-Based Authorization (2+ years): While the immediatefocus is not on front-end technologies, knowledge of TypeScript and Angular is aplus. You may work with teams that use these technologies in the future.Interview Process and Key Focus Areas:• Technical Skills Emphasis: During the interview, we will place equal emphasison DevOps expertise, leadership capabilities, and cloud architecture.Specifically, we will assess your experience in migrating Microsoft applicationsfrom TFS/ADO to GitHub, the extent of your automation work, process improvementsin past projects, and your ability to influence technical decisions.• Problem-Solving: You will be tested on problem-solving skills, includingautomating deployments for large-scale applications and resolving complexpipeline issues. Expect to write pseudo-code as part of the process.• Prohibition of AI Use During Interviews: To ensure the authenticity andfairness of our candidate evaluations, the use of AI tools during interviews isstrictly prohibited. We are vigilant in monitoring the interview process andhave implemented measures to identify any use of AI-generated responses.Candidates suspected of relying on such tools face immediate disqualification.Application Process:• We’re seeking a Lead DevOps Engineer/Upskilling Partner who has a passion forimproving processes, mentoring teams, and driving automation. If you have strongDevOps experience, a deep technical background, and leadership skills, weencourage you to apply.