AZ-305: What It Verifies
- Published
- 2026-08-01
- Content type
- Certification / Standards Authority
- Read time
- 1 min
AZ-305 — Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert — is Microsoft's credential for designing infrastructure, data, business continuity, and identity solutions on Azure at an expert level.
What it verifies
AZ-305 confirms someone can design end-to-end Azure solutions against defined business requirements — compute, storage, networking, and identity architected together, not individual services configured in isolation. Microsoft's learning path assumes prior Azure administration experience (typically AZ-104) before attempting it.
Who typically holds it
On the calibre° roster, AZ-305 is checked for Platform Engineer, Risk Engineer, and AI/ML Engineer — roles designing infrastructure that has to run across AWS, Azure, and GCP together.
How calibre° verifies it
Status is checked against Microsoft's certification verification before roster eligibility, the same primary-source standard applied to every certification calibre° lists. Full procedure: Verification.
FAQ
Is AZ-305 an entry-level certification?
No — it's an Expert-level credential, Microsoft's higher tier, and generally assumes prior Associate-level Azure administration experience.
Does AZ-305 expire?
Yes — like other Microsoft certifications, it requires annual renewal through a free online assessment.
Why does a Platform Engineer role check Azure alongside AWS and GCP?
Because that role owns the Kubernetes and multi-cloud platform payments and banking services run on — see [Platform Engineer](/calibre/roles#platform-engineer) for the full certification set.
Specify the role. We calibrate the match.