Red Hat Infrastructure Architect

Benefits: Competitive salary Location Remote Experience Level Senior/Principal Level (8 or more years of experience) Role Overview The Senior Consultant – VMware to Red Hat OpenStack/OpenShift Virtualization Migration architects and leads the technical transition from legacy VMware environments to modern Red Hat platforms. This is a highly technical, hands-on staff augmentation role designed for a seasoned infrastructure professional who has successfully directed production-grade platform migrations within enterprise environments. The consultant evaluates target architectures (including Red Hat OpenStack Services on OpenShift - RHOSO - and OpenShift Virtualization), designs target-state network and storage architectures, develops migration runbooks, and leads execution waves while collaborating with executive leadership to manage risk and license cost avoidance. Key Responsibilities Platform Evaluation & Architecture Design • Lead a thorough platform evaluation between Red Hat OpenStack Services on OpenShift (RHOSO) and OpenShift Virtualization, providing strategic recommendations based on workload profiles and infrastructure goals. • Design the target-state infrastructure architecture, including advanced networking (Neutron/OVN or OpenShift SDN), storage systems (Ceph/Cinder or CSI-backed storage), multi-tenancy models, and high-availability control planes. • Collaborate with network security teams to integrate segmentation, firewalling, and compliance policies into the modern target environment. Migration Strategy & Hands-On Execution • Own the end-to-end migration strategy and sequencing, including pilot workload selection, wave planning, fallback procedures, and cutover windows. • Execute migrations using Red Hat's migration tooling, such as the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) or the Ansible-based OpenStack VMware migration toolkit. • Troubleshoot and resolve critical migration blockers for complex enterprise workloads (including custom network routing, storage dependencies, and legacy application constraints). Operations, Governance, & Leadership • Establish Day 2 operational guidelines, covering patch management, automated backups, disaster recovery (DR), capacity management, and system monitoring. • Mentor and direct supporting engineering teams tasked with executing migration waves. • Author detailed technical documentation, migration runbooks, and knowledge transfer plans to enable internal teams to operate the platform post-engagement. • Interface directly with enterprise leadership to present progress, technical risks, budget considerations, and licensing tradeoffs, including VMware license cost avoidance. Required Qualifications • 8 or more years of professional experience in infrastructure or virtualization engineering, with 3 or more years of hands-on experience utilizing Red Hat OpenStack Platform, RHOSO, and/or OpenShift Virtualization. • Demonstrated experience leading at least one large-scale VMware-to-Red Hat migration in a production enterprise environment (such as telecommunications, internet service providers, or highly regulated industries). • Deep technical expertise in OpenStack core services, including Nova, Neutron, Cinder, Keystone, and Glance. • Strong Kubernetes and OpenShift fundamentals, including experience with OpenShift operators. • In-depth knowledge of Software-Defined Networking (SDN), including OVN, Neutron networking, and VLAN/overlay network design. • Proven experience with storage architectures, including Ceph, Cinder-backed storage, or equivalent enterprise CSI-backed storage. • Hands-on experience deploying and configuring Red Hat's migration tooling, such as the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) or Ansible-based migration playbooks. • Strong Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system administration and Ansible automation capabilities. • Proven ability to design high-availability (HA) control planes and resilient architectures for mission-critical infrastructure. • Excellent stakeholder communication skills with experience presenting technical findings, risk analyses, and project statuses to executive leadership. Preferred Qualifications • Advanced certifications, such as Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) or equivalent credentials. • Professional experience supporting telecommunications, internet service provider (ISP), or network operations environments. • Prior experience managing VMware license cost-avoidance business cases and licensing models. • Familiarity with GPU or accelerator virtualization (such as NVIDIA or AMD frameworks) for AI and high-performance workloads. • Experience integrating modern virtualization platforms with existing enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) and security frameworks. Core Skills & Attributes • Polished professional with exceptional advisory and consulting capabilities to guide senior leadership through strategic choices. • Outstanding analytical and problem-solving skills to systematically troubleshoot and resolve complex technical blockers. • Collaborative team player with the leadership capability to mentor and coordinate distributed engineering teams. • High degree of operational accountability, with a self-motivated approach to managing and delivering complex infrastructure deliverables. This is a remote position. Established in 2004, Smart Tech Skills is a top technology and professional services firm specializing in innovative technologies. Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, the company effectively addresses clients’ technology needs nationwide, making advanced technology management easier.