✅ 100 Interview Questions + Best Answers (Senior Infrastructure / Cloud / Identity Engineer)
1. General Background (10)
1. Tell me about your experience as a Senior Cloud/Infrastructure Engineer.
I have over X years designing, deploying, and operating large-scale cloud and hybrid infrastructures, mainly using Azure/AWS, automation frameworks, and identity governance solutions.
2. What cloud platforms are you most experienced with?
Primarily Azure and AWS, including IAM, networking, compute, storage, automation, and security.
3. How do you stay updated with new cloud technologies?
I combine vendor documentation, official training, community forums, hands-on labs, and certifications.
4. Describe your biggest infrastructure project.
I led a migration of X workloads to the cloud, implementing IaC, CI/CD pipelines, Zero Trust security, and identity automation.
5. What is your approach to documentation?
Clear, versioned, automated where possible (wikis, Git), updated during change cycles.
6. Why are you interested in this position?
Because it matches my skills in cloud identity and infrastructure modernization, and the company has a strong culture of innovation.
7. Describe your leadership style.
Collaborative, data-driven, focused on enabling teams through clarity, automation, and good communication.
8. What is your troubleshooting methodology?
Reproduce → Isolate → Measure → Analyze logs → Apply fix → Document → Prevent.
9. Tell me about a conflict you solved in the team.
I facilitated alignment between dev and ops on deployment policies by establishing automation and SLAs.
10. What do you think defines a senior engineer?
Technical depth + ownership + proactive improvement + mentoring + architectural vision.
2. Cloud Architecture (AWS/Azure/GCP) (10)
11. How do you design a highly available cloud environment?
Multi-AZ, multi-region when needed, managed PaaS services, autoscaling, load balancing, IaC for consistency.
12. What is the Well-Architected Framework?
A set of principles for reliability, cost optimization, operations, performance, and security.
13. How do you secure cloud workloads?
Least privilege, identity-based access, segmentation, encryption, secrets management, monitoring & alerts.
14. Explain the difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
IaaS = infrastructure; PaaS = managed runtime; SaaS = ready-to-use applications.
15. What is the shared responsibility model?
Cloud provider secures the cloud; customer secures what they put in the cloud.
16. How do you design multi-region applications?
Global load balancing, replicated databases, decoupled components, eventual consistency.
17. What is your experience with serverless?
I’ve deployed Lambda/Azure Functions with event triggers, minimized compute costs, and improved scalability.
18. How do you optimize cloud costs?
Right-sizing, reserved instances, autoscaling, eliminating unused resources, use of cost tools.
19. When would you choose containers instead of VMs?
When portability, fast scaling, and immutable deployments matter.
20. What is Infrastructure as Code in your daily work?
Mandatory: versioning, repeatability, automated deployments, compliance enforcement.
3. Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, ARM/Bicep, CloudFormation) (10)
21. Explain IaC.
Declarative infrastructure versioned in Git, automated deployment pipelines, consistent environments.
22. Terraform vs CloudFormation vs Bicep?
Terraform = multi-cloud; CloudFormation = AWS-native; Bicep = Azure-native, modern ARM.
23. How do you structure Terraform code?
Modules, remote state, workspaces, variable files, policies.
24. What is a Terraform state file?
The source of truth for deployed resources; must be secured and backend-managed.
25. How do you avoid Terraform drift?
Regular plan/apply cycles, CI pipelines, policy guardrails.
26. How do you manage secrets in IaC?
DO NOT store in code; use Key Vault, Secrets Manager, SSM, Vault.
27. What is Policy as Code?
Using tools like Azure Policy, OPA, or Sentinel to enforce governance automatically.
28. How to handle breaking changes in Terraform modules?
Version modules, test on dev environments, use blue-green deployments.
29. Describe your CI/CD pipeline for IaC.
Lint → Validate → Plan → Manual Approval → Apply → Post-validation.
30. How do you integrate IaC with configuration management?
IaC creates resources; Ansible/DSC configures OS and applications.
4. Identity & Access Management (Azure AD / Entra ID / IAM) (15)
31. Explain Zero Trust.
Verify explicitly, enforce least privilege, assume breach.
32. What is Conditional Access?
Policies controlling user and device access based on conditions (risk, location, app, device).
33. What is MFA and why is it important?
Multi-factor authentication reduces account takeover risk drastically.
34. Explain OAuth 2.0 vs OpenID Connect.
OAuth = authorization; OIDC = authentication on top of OAuth.
35. What is SCIM?
A standard for automating user provisioning and deprovisioning.
36. What tools do you use to govern identities?
Azure AD Identity Governance, Access Packages, PIM, Entitlement Management.
37. What is Privileged Identity Management (PIM)?
Controls just-in-time elevation of privileged roles.
38. Explain “least privilege access.”
Users and systems only get the minimum permissions needed.
39. How do you secure service accounts?
Managed identities, passwordless auth, rotation, monitoring.
40. What is identity lifecycle automation?
Automating onboarding, transitions, offboarding, and access adjustments.
41. What is SSO and how do you implement it?
Single Sign-On using SAML/OIDC/OAuth; identity provider handles authentication.
42. How do you manage external users (B2B)?
Guest policies, entitlement packages, conditional access, lifecycle automation.
43. How do you audit IAM security?
Review logs, privileged access, orphaned identities, conditional access reports.
44. Explain RBAC vs ABAC.
RBAC = roles; ABAC = attributes (more dynamic and granular).
45. How do you protect high-privilege accounts?
PIM, MFA enforced, isolation from internet, dedicated admin workstations.
5. Networking (10)
46. Explain the difference between VPC/VNet, Subnets, Security Groups.
VPC/VNet = virtual network; subnets = segments; SG/NSG = traffic rules.
47. What is a VPN vs ExpressRoute/Direct Connect?
VPN = encrypted over public internet; XRoute/DC = private dedicated circuit.
48. How do you design network segmentation?
By application tiers, sensitivity, regulatory needs, zero-trust principles.
49. What is DNS and how does it affect cloud systems?
Name resolution; failures affect service communication and access.
50. What is load balancing?
Distributing traffic across instances to improve availability.
51. When to use Application Gateway vs Load Balancer?
App Gateway = layer 7 (routing, SSL termination); LB = layer 4.
52. Explain NAT Gateway.
Allows outbound communication without exposing inbound public IPs.
53. What is a firewall in cloud environments?
Packet or application filtering, sometimes with threat intelligence.
54. Explain peering.
Private connectivity between VNets/VPCs.
55. What is a service endpoint/private endpoint?
Private access to PaaS without public internet exposure.
6. Security (10)
56. How do you implement Zero Trust at scale?
Identity-first access, segmentation, conditional access, posture checks.
57. What is SOAR/SIEM?
SIEM = collects logs; SOAR = automates response.
58. What is encryption at rest vs in transit?
At rest = stored data; in transit = moving data, usually TLS.
59. Describe your approach to patch management.
Automated pipelines, maintenance windows, compliance metrics.
60. How do you mitigate DDoS attacks?
Using cloud DDoS protection, autoscaling, WAF, rate limiting.
61. What is a WAF?
Filters HTTP traffic, blocking OWASP threats.
62. How do you secure API endpoints?
JWT tokens, rate limiting, private networking, API gateways.
63. Explain vulnerability management.
Scanning, prioritizing CVEs, patching, validating.
64. What is a secure baseline?
Standardized configuration aligned with CIS/NIST benchmarks.
65. How do you protect secrets and keys?
Use Key Vault/Secrets Manager; rotate automatically; no hardcoding.
7. DevOps & Automation (10)
66. What CI/CD tools have you used?
Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins.
67. How do you implement GitOps?
Declarative infra in Git; controllers sync changes automatically.
68. What scripting languages do you use?
PowerShell, Python, Bash for automation.
69. What is configuration drift?
Difference between declared state and actual environment.
70. How do you automate cloud governance?
Policies, IaC guardrails, cost management automation.
71. What is container orchestration?
Kubernetes for scalable, resilient container workloads.
72. Explain blue-green deployment.
Two environments; switch traffic when ready.
73. How do you monitor cloud environments?
Metrics, logs, distributed tracing, alerting systems.
74. What is observability?
Understanding internal system state from external outputs.
75. What is “shift-left security”?
Integrating security earlier in the development lifecycle.
8. Hybrid Environment (8)
76. How do you integrate on-prem AD with Azure AD?
Using AAD Connect, cloud sync, federation when required.
77. What is ADFS and when is it needed?
Federation service for on-prem auth; used when legacy protocols are required.
78. How do you migrate identity workloads to the cloud?
Assess → Modernize → Sync → Conditional Access → Remove dependencies.
79. What is Azure Arc?
Management and governance for hybrid/multi-cloud resources.
80. How do you design hybrid networking?
VPN/ExpressRoute, routing control, private DNS, segmentation.
81. Explain file system synchronization options.
DFS, Azure File Sync.
82. How do you handle hybrid identity security?
Password hash sync, MFA enforcement, secure ADFS, monitoring.
83. How do you manage legacy workloads in modernization?
Encapsulate with containers, lift-and-shift, or refactor progressively.
9. Troubleshooting & Scenarios (7)
84. A user cannot authenticate – what do you check?
Identity status, MFA, conditional access, logs, device state.
85. A VM is slow – what do you check?
Metrics: CPU, memory, disk, network; logs; scaling options.
86. Terraform apply failed – next steps?
Check drift, validate state lock, run plan, inspect logs.
87. An application cannot reach a database. Steps?
DNS → firewall → route tables → credentials → TLS settings.
88. A Conditional Access policy blocked all admins. What do you do?
Use emergency break-glass accounts outside the policy.
89. A certificate expired in production. How to prevent next time?
Automation + monitoring + rotation policies.
90. Latency increased in the app. What do you analyze?
Regions, load balancer health, dependency services, network paths.
10. Behavioral & Leadership (10)
91. How do you prioritize tasks in a critical incident?
Impact → urgency → risk → quick containment → root cause.
92. Tell me about a time you automated something impactful.
Example: identity onboarding automation cut provisioning time by 80%.
93. How do you mentor junior engineers?
Pairing, code reviews, feedback, training paths.
94. How do you communicate complex technical concepts?
Use diagrams, analogies, and step-by-step breakdowns.
95. How do you handle pressure during outages?
Stay calm, follow incident playbook, communicate clearly.
96. What motivates you in this field?
Solving complex problems and enabling secure digital transformation.
97. Describe a time you improved system security.
Implemented PIM + MFA + identity governance automations.
98. How do you manage technical debt?
Track, prioritize, dedicate sprint capacity, automate refactors.
99. Describe your approach to cross-functional collaboration.
Align goals, communicate early, document decisions.
100. What are your long-term career goals?
Become a cloud architect or identity technical leader, guiding strategy and automation.