Azir late game issues

So I've played a few games with Azir and I really like him . But my main concern with him is how squishy he is. Early game, you do basically no damage, and the only way to actually get damage late game is to go full AP. I've tried mixing ap with some magic resist or armor, but each game that I tried that, I fell way behind because I wasn't able to do damage. If i do go full ap, I'm incredibly squishy. Other squishy champs usually have some sort of way of staying safe when bursting. Like kat can teleport to minions, and veigar can stun people. The only escape Azir has is drifting, which isn't that great because champs can still target you. Another problem is to do damage late game it gets really awkward in team fights to use your soldiers when you have 10 people on screen and you can't see shit. Also you do have to get somewhat close to your soldiers to actually use their auto attacks, but most of the time in team fights, it's too close. Countless times I've tried to stay in the back with tanks but I still manage to get 1 shotted by everyone. Does anyone else have similar problems?