Infrastructure Architect

Position: Infrastructure Architect

Location: Durham, NC (Onsite)

Duration: Contract

Job Summary:

We are seeking somebody who is dynamic, engaging, confident, has strong stakeholder management skills, is self-motivated and can work independently. This position will report to the Director IT Operations in a work environment in Durham, NC. In this role, this person will apply in-depth knowledge of complex infrastructure environment, solutions development to provide with agile, integrated, secure, reliable, and business appropriate infrastructure solutions. This person will work within the Network Operations team, its SMEs senior engineers to provide key input to technical design, implementation and decision making, along with mentoring technical engineers in the Infra Team.

The role requires in depth knowledge and expertise in complex on-premises, hybrid and cloud networking and security infrastructure, specifically Dell, VMware, NetApp, Containers, Cisco networking technologies such as data centre (ACI), Wireless LAN Controllers, Cisco I.S.E & DNA Policy Centre, Cisco SD-Access security solution components as well as Palo Alto technologies such as NGFW, Panorama and Global Protect, and so on.

AREAS/RESPONIBILITY

• Defines, documents, and enforces system standards. Document Global Infra Design - a high-level description, with diagrams, of how the technologies integrate together.
• Designs are prepared as per the Site Classification. Include Site Decision Matrixes, i.e. how do we decide which Classification a site is, based on number of employees, types of applications used, or business criticality. These templates should be used repeatedly to build networks at each new site.
• Prepare a high level BOM that is used to specify the equipment for each Site Class and also the rate card for standard services.
• Innovation - Advise on future technology changes that present opportunities for a product. Improving ability to manage its technology cost, and leverage its technology investments
• Define, develop and maintain secure, reliable, and scalable Infra services that meet ongoing and evolving business requirements
• Supporting operations and the end-to-end delivery of the services through coordination and interaction with business partners
• Improve proactive management of the environment as demonstrated by continuous reductions in Incidents and the analysis and prevention of Problems and improvement of performance, availability and reliability
• Collaborating with engineers to design and implement servers, storage, containers, network etc. and mentor team members on technical issues.
• Ensure environment is monitored for resource utilization, performance, firmware etc. Report the finding to management with a plan to mitigate the potential issue
• Perform regular tests and audits. Troubleshoot issues and document the resolution
• Delegating maintenance tasks to junior engineers to help increase knowledge
• Developing status reports and sharing with management, Dealing with escalated support issues and driving to resolution
• Develop and maintain complete technical documentation. Communicate with users when needed
• Good knowledge of cloud networking technologies and containerization platforms including Azure
• Participate in the Architectural Review Board to validate designs across all areas of technology

This Job is Right for You if You Have (Minimum Requirements):

• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, information systems, or related field.
• 5 years of professional experience in infrastructure, particularly with Vmware, NetApp, Openshift, Tanzu, and other container technologies
• Experience in technologies but not limited to: VMware, Cloud, NetApp, Containers, Clustering, LAN, WAN, data center, Active Directory, SDDC, and remote access technologies and approaches
• Strong problem-solving skills with excellent written and verbal communications skills.
• Ability to work with business stakeholders to understand and define requirements for small projects and enhancements.
• Experience with cloud and network architecture, scripting, and writing protocols.
• Comfortable with computing, frameworks, hybrid cloud, and communications systems.
• Can collaborate with others and solve problems with a positive attitude.
• Experience with scalability, failover, and IaaS systems and protocols.
• MCSE and other Infra certifications
• Strong Architecture Design skills
• Strong Cloud device configuration experience
• Experience with Vmware, Azure and containerization
• Ability to work on-call or non-standard business hours as needed

Preferred Qualifications:

• Understanding of IT service management (ITSM) techniques, policies, along with establishing SLA's, KPIs and other key operational metrics.
• Requires excellent writing skills to support document project plans, procedures, policies and general staff, management and communication
• Outstanding verbal communication skills; proven ability to communicate effectively at all levels.
• Ability to deal with complex difficult problems involving multiple facets and variables in non-standardized situations.
• TOGAF trained professional.