Azure APIM Specialist

Experience

Minimum of 3-5 years of experience working with Azure APIM or similar API management platforms.

1. Azure API Management (APIM)

• In-depth knowledge of Azure API Management and its capabilities for API development, implementation, management, and on-boarding.
• Proficiency in configuring and managing APIs, policies, products, and subscriptions within APIM.
• Experience in designing and implementing API governance frameworks and best practices.
• Ability to create and manage policies in APIM to enforce security, throttling, transformation, and caching.
• Familiarity with policy fragments to modularize and reuse policy components for efficient policy management.

2. API Design and Development

• Strong understanding of RESTful API design principles, including resource modelling, URI design, and HTTP verb usage.
• Experience in designing and developing APIs using API description languages like OpenAPI (formerly Swagger).
• Proficiency in defining API contracts, including request/response structures, headers, and authentication mechanisms.
• Ability to create well-documented APIs with clear and concise documentation for API consumers.

3. Azure Platform Knowledge

• Broad understanding of Azure cloud services and how APIM integrates with other Azure services, such as Azure Functions, Azure Logic Apps, and Azure App Services.
• Familiarity with Azure security services and features, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Key Vault, and Azure Security Centre.

4. GraphQL

• Experience in integrating GraphQL APIs with Azure API Management for unified API management and governance.
• Familiarity with GraphQL tools, libraries, and frameworks for API development and testing.

5. Backend Integration

• Expertise in integrating APIM with backend services and systems using various protocols and data formats.
• Experience in configuring APIM policies for authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and caching to protect and optimize backend services.
• Familiarity with backend integration patterns, including direct backend communication and hybrid model with API gateways.

6. Policy Management and Enforcement

• Proficiency in designing and implementing custom policies in APIM to enforce security, transformation, throttling, and logging.
• Ability to create and manage policy fragments for reusability and modular policy management.
• Experience in applying policy expressions, conditions, and variables to dynamically control API behaviour.

7. Logging, Monitoring, and Analytics

• Knowledge of logging and monitoring capabilities in APIM to track and analyze API usage, performance, and errors.
• Experience in configuring logging and analytics solutions to capture API traffic and generate meaningful insights.
• Familiarity with Azure Monitor and other monitoring tools to proactively identify and resolve API issues.

8. High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR)

• Understanding of HA and DR concepts and best practices in the context of APIM deployments.
• Experience in designing and implementing HA architectures for APIM to ensure high availability and fault tolerance.
• Familiarity with disaster recovery strategies and implementation approaches for APIM deployments.

9. Security and Identity Management

• Knowledge of security protocols and mechanisms such as OAuth, JWT, and API keys.
• Experience in configuring authentication and authorization policies in APIM to secure APIs.
• Familiarity with identity providers, including Azure Active Directory (AAD) integration with APIM for identity and access management.

10. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and CI/CD

• Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and experience with Azure Bicep for defining and deploying APIM resources.
• Knowledge of CI/CD principles and experience with Azure DevOps or similar tools for managing APIM configurations, deployments, and on-boarding processes.
• Ability to automate APIM configuration and deployment processes using IaC and CI/CD practices.

11. Automated Testing

• Experience in designing and implementing testing strategies for APIs within APIM.
• Proficiency in API testing tools and frameworks, such as Postman or Newman.
• Familiarity with functional testing, performance testing, and security testing of APIs.

12. On-boarding API

• Ability to create and manage on-boarding processes and procedures for API consumers.
• Experience in defining and implementing API subscription models, access controls, and documentation for seamless API on-boarding.
• Familiarity with developer portal customization and self-service capabilities for API consumer on-boarding.

13. Developer Portal

• Proficiency in configuring and customizing the Azure API Management Developer Portal.
• Experience in designing and managing the developer portal to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience for API consumers.
• Ability to create and maintain API documentation, code samples, tutorials, and interactive API exploration features within the developer portal.

14. Networking Capability and Experience

• Strong understanding of networking concepts and protocols, including TCP/IP, DNS, and HTTP(S).
• Experience in provisioning and configuring networking components for Azure API Management, such as virtual networks, subnets, load balancers, and network security groups.
• Proficiency in implementing networking requirements for APIM, including VNet integration, private endpoints, and firewall configurations.
• Familiarity with network performance optimization, traffic routing, and network-level security considerations for APIM.

15. Document Production Ability

• Proficiency in producing comprehensive and well-structured technical documentation specific to Azure API Management (APIM).
• Ability to create clear and concise documentation for APIM configurations, policies, security measures, and API documentation.
• Experience in preparing API documentation, including endpoint details, request/response examples, and usage guidelines.

16. Industry Standards and Best Practices

• Stay up to date with industry trends, standards, and best practices related to API management, integration, testing, on-boarding, developer portal customization, networking, and GraphQL APIs.
• Knowledge of API-related standards and technologies, such as REST, JSON, XML, and SOAP.

17. Communication and Collaboration

• Excellent communication skills to collaborate effectively with stakeholders, developers, and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to translate business requirements into technical API designs, policies, configurations, on-boarding processes, developer portal customization, and networking provisioning.
• Experience in providing guidance and support to development teams, API consumers, and internal users on API design, policy enforcement, testing, on-boarding, networking, and developer portal usage best practices.