Sr. Staff Platform Operations Engineer (with OpenStack)

Business Area:

Seniority Level:

Mid-Senior level

Job Description:

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.

The Cloudera IT team is looking for a talented, motivated, and passionate Sr. Staff Platform Operations Engineer to join our Technical Operations organization. In this role, you will help design and run the internal platform that our engineers and business teams rely on every day, owning the deployment, reliability, and automated management of our Linux-based infrastructure and core IT services across on‑premise and cloud. As a technical leader and subject matter expert, you’ll combine deep Linux systems experience with infrastructure-as-code, automation, and security-first thinking to build a highly available, compliant, and scalable foundation for the company.

As a Sr. Staff Platform Operations Engineer you will:

• Architect, deploy, and provide senior-level operational support for our on-premise and cloud-based Linux infrastructure and core IT services (e.g., virtualization, baremetal, storage, DNS), ensuring high availability and reliability.
• Develop, maintain, and champion our Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and automation frameworks using tools like Terraform, Ansible, and Foreman/MaaS to manage and deploy platform services.
• Implement and automate system-level security best practices, including patching, hardening, and configuration management, ensuring compliance and resilience from the ground up.
• Build and automate deployment pipelines for IT infrastructure services (e.g., system images, configuration, platform services) using tools like GitHub/Git, Ansible, and scripting tools.
• Serve as a technical Subject Matter Expert (SME), working with IT Systems, CloudOps, Security, and Engineering teams to design and implement robust, scalable, and optimal solutions.
• Participate in a shared on-call rotation to support mission-critical IT services (with clear documentation and runbooks provided).
• Create and maintain accurate documentation for automation, operational audits, and compliance.
• Design, implement, and administer enterprise storage platforms, including Dell PowerStore and Pure Storage arrays, ensuring capacity, performance, data protection, and high availability for critical workloads.
• Mentor junior team members.

We are excited if you have (Required Qualifications):

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or 8+ years of equivalent experience in a large-scale enterprise environment.
• Solid experience managing hybrid infrastructure, with deep expertise in on-premise environments (virtualization, OpenStack, networking) and a strong understanding of core public cloud services (AWS/Azure/GCP) and containerized platforms (Kubernetes).
• Deep, expert-level Linux systems administration experience (e.g., Red Hat, Rocky, Ubuntu) and mastery of common Command Line Interface (CLI) tools and services.
• Strong hands-on skills with Python and shell scripting, used for systems automation, tooling, and integration.
• Proven experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) and version control (GitHub/Git).
• Hands-on experience administering enterprise storage arrays, ideally including Dell PowerStore and Pure Storage FlashArray (provisioning, performance tuning, upgrades, and troubleshooting).
• A security-first mindset and experience designing, building, and operating secure, automated infrastructure.
• Strong networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, firewalls), including public cloud equivalents.

You may also have:

• Certifications such as Red Hat (RHCE), Terraform, or public cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Knowledge of enterprise security principles, cryptography, PKI, and operational security practices.
• Experience operating in regulated/high-governance/compliance environments (e.g., FedRAMP, PCI, ISO27001, SOC2, etc.).
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools.
• Experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Project management experience.
• Previous experience mentoring junior team members.

This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

What you can expect from us:

• Generous PTO Policy

• Support work life balance with Unplugged Days

• Flexible WFH Policy

• Mental & Physical Wellness programs

• Phone and Internet Reimbursement program

• Access to Continued Career Development

• Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages

• Paid Volunteer Time

• Employee Resource Groups

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