Desktop Architect (Azure Virtual Desktop)

About the job
Location: Edmonton, AB (Primarily Remote; occasional onsite on reasonable notice)

Openings: 1

Respond-by & Anticipated Interview Dates: Respond by September 19, 2025; interviews September 29 – October 1, 2025

Contract duration: 6 months with possibility of renewal

Project/Program Overview

Support a provincial government’s Remote Access Services, with a focus on Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) operations and continuous service improvement. You’ll partner with a third-party managed service provider, Service Owner/Manager, and internal technical/security teams to keep services stable, secure, cost-optimized, and audit-ready.

Role Summary

As Remote Desktop Architect (AVD) you’ll own day-to-day operational oversight and light architectural guidance for AVD: monitoring and capacity reporting, DR planning/testing, vulnerability remediation coordination, certificate renewals, compliance documentation, and SOP/knowledge base content. All while driving incremental service improvements and a great end-user/admin experience.

Responsibilities

Operations & Cost Optimization: Ensure AVD services run efficiently; tune architecture/config to balance performance, user experience, and spend.
Documentation & Audit Readiness: Produce/maintain SOPs, change records, knowledge articles, and audit artifacts.
Security & Compliance: Evaluate risks; implement controls aligned to Statement of Sensitivity (SOS) and Security Threat Risk Assessment (STRA); review vulnerability reports and track remediation and exceptions.
Service Development & CSI: Partner with Service Owner/Manager and provider on the service roadmap, certificate renewals, upgrades, and continuous service improvement.
Monitoring & Reporting: Assist providers with monitoring tooling and regular service/capacity reports; analyze trends to pre-empt issues.
DR & Resilience: Review/update disaster recovery plans; coordinate annual DR testing and improvement options.
Cloud & On-Prem Oversight: Review/document current AVD configurations across cloud/on-prem; keep SharePoint service documentation current.
Stakeholder Enablement: Provide technical input to projects; contribute to team upskilling via cross-training and stretch assignments.

Must-Have Requirements

Demonstrated hands-on experience with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) operations/administration and remote access services.
Strong documentation discipline (SOPs, change management, KB articles, audit packages).
Experience collaborating with managed service providers and cross-functional security/infra teams.
Practical knowledge of certificate management, vulnerability management, and DR planning/testing.
Familiarity with public-sector security/compliance practices (e.g., STRA, SOS), risk evaluation, and control implementation.
Ability to ramp up on new technologies quickly and operate in a structured ITIL-style environment.

Nice-to-Have Requirements

Experience with service road-mapping and continuous service improvement (CSI).
Exposure to Azure governance/capacity/cost reporting, and building/consuming monitoring dashboards.
SharePoint content management for service documentation and knowledge bases.
Prior public-sector or highly regulated environment experience.

Ways of Working & Tools

Partner closely with Service Owner/Manager, MRA vendor (managed remote access provider), security, and infra teams.
Maintain service documentation in SharePoint; support monitoring/reporting for performance, troubleshooting, and capacity.
Standard hours 08:15–16:30 MT, Monday–Friday (excluding provincial holidays).

Security/Compliance & Mandatory Training

Criminal Record Check required prior to start.
Mandatory training post-hire: FOIP and Security Awareness (additional courses as assigned).

Contract & Hours

Hours/Day: 7.25 | Hours/Week: 36.25 | Total Hours: 899 (≈ 124 workdays / ~25 weeks).
Work Location: Primarily remote; must be performed from within Canada. Onsite meetings may occur on reasonable notice.
Travel Time: 0%.