AI DevOps Engineer – F-1 OPT / STEM OPT – 1099 Contract

AI DevOps Engineer – F-1 OPT / STEM OPT – 1099 Contract

Location: United States (Remote)
Employment Type: 1099 Independent Contractor
Experience: 5+ Years
Work Authorization: F-1 OPT or STEM OPT

About the Opportunity

Bitcot is seeking an experienced AI DevOps Engineer with strong expertise in Microsoft Azure to support a strategic AI and cloud transformation initiative for a leading healthcare enterprise in the United States.

This opportunity is specifically open to U.S.-based candidates currently authorized to work under F-1 OPT or STEM OPT.

The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience building and supporting cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, AI/ML platforms, containerized applications, and automated deployment workflows. You will collaborate with cloud architects, AI engineers, data scientists, and software engineering teams to deploy and manage modern AI applications in Azure.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines for AI, machine learning, and cloud-native applications.
• Deploy, automate, and manage AI workloads using Microsoft Azure services.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform, Bicep, or ARM Templates.
• Build and manage containerized applications using Docker and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Develop and maintain MLOps pipelines for model training, deployment, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• Automate cloud infrastructure provisioning and application deployments.
• Monitor application performance, infrastructure health, and cloud resources using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights.
• Collaborate with Data Science, AI Engineering, Analytics, and Software Engineering teams to support secure deployment and operation of AI-enabled applications.
• Implement cloud security best practices, identity management, secrets management, and governance policies.
• Optimize Azure infrastructure for scalability, reliability, security, and cost efficiency.
• Troubleshoot production issues and participate in root cause analysis.
• Ensure cloud environments comply with enterprise security and operational standards.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in DevOps, Cloud Engineering, Platform Engineering, or Site Reliability Engineering.
• Practical experience supporting AI/ML, Data, or Generative AI platforms.
• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure.
• Experience building CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps and/or GitHub Actions.
• Strong experience with Terraform (preferred), Bicep, or ARM Templates.
• Experience with Git and modern version control practices.
• Proficiency in Python, PowerShell, or Bash scripting.
• Experience with cloud monitoring and observability solutions.
• Strong understanding of networking, cloud security, identity management, and DevOps best practices.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Azure AI Services and Azure OpenAI.
• Hands-on experience implementing MLOps frameworks and AI model lifecycle management.
• Experience with Generative AI, LLMs, Prompt Engineering, or AI orchestration frameworks such as LangChain or Semantic Kernel.
• Familiarity with MLflow, model registries, and experiment tracking.
• Experience with Azure Data Factory, Databricks, or data engineering pipelines.
• Microsoft Azure certifications are highly preferred.
• Experience supporting enterprise healthcare or other highly regulated industries is a plus.

F-1 OPT / STEM OPT Requirements

• Must currently be located in the United States.
• Must currently hold valid F-1 OPT or STEM OPT work authorization.
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S. for the duration of the engagement.
• Must be open to a 1099 independent contractor engagement.
• Candidates should be prepared to provide applicable work authorization details during the recruitment/onboarding process.
• No H-1B, CPT, or candidates requiring sponsorship for this opportunity.

Employment Details

• Employment Type: 1099 Independent Contractor
• Location: United States (Remote)
• Experience: 5+ years
• Work Authorization: F-1 OPT or STEM OPT
• Engagement: Direct 1099 engagement with Bitcot
• Travel: Occasional travel may be required based on business and project needs.