Senior Engineer, Infrastructure Operations (VMWare)

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values - Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy - and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description

Primary functions and essential responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and support enterprise VMware infrastructure solutions, including vSphere, vSAN, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), and associated technologies.
• Lead and support on-premises to Microsoft Azure migration initiatives, including workload assessment, migration planning, execution, optimization, and post-migration support.
• Architect and maintain hybrid cloud environments integrating on-premises datacenters with Azure services.
• Drive infrastructure modernization through automation, orchestration, and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) solutions using PowerShell, Python, Terraform, and related technologies.
• Perform lifecycle management, capacity planning, performance tuning, and operational support for VMware clusters, storage, and compute platforms.
• Monitor and analyze infrastructure health, resource utilization, and growth trends to ensure scalability and operational efficiency.
• Design, configure, and support Azure services including Virtual Machines, Azure Storage, Blob Storage, Managed Disks, Virtual Networks, Load Balancers, and Azure Backup solutions.
• Administer and troubleshoot Linux (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, SUSE) and Windows Server environments supporting mission-critical applications.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, application, and business teams to develop migration strategies, disaster recovery solutions, and cloud adoption roadmaps.
• Manage and optimize enterprise backup and recovery platforms, including Cohesity, Veeam, and Azure-native backup solutions.
• Identify operational inefficiencies and drive continuous improvement initiatives through automation and process enhancements.
• Troubleshoot complex infrastructure, virtualization, operating system, storage, network, and cloud-related performance issues.
• Work closely with vendors and technology partners to resolve infrastructure incidents and implement best practices.
• Support Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and identity integration requirements across hybrid environments.
• Maintain technical documentation, architecture diagrams, operational procedures, and disaster recovery runbooks.
• Participate in security remediation initiatives in partnership with Security Operations teams and ensure compliance with enterprise standards.
• Provide escalation support for Service Desk, Production Support, and Application teams.
• Participate in 24x7 on-call rotations and support critical infrastructure incidents as required.

Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field preferred.

• 8+ years of hands-on experience managing enterprise infrastructure platforms, including VMware virtualization technologies.
• 8+ years of experience with VMware vSphere, vCenter, vSAN, ESXi, NSX, Site Recovery Manager (SRM), and VMware Cloud technologies.
• Proven experience leading on-premises datacenter to Microsoft Azure cloud migration projects, including server, application, and infrastructure migrations.
• Strong expertise in designing and supporting hybrid cloud architectures spanning on-premises and Azure environments.
• Extensive experience with Azure Infrastructure Services (IaaS) including Virtual Machines, Networking, Storage, Monitoring, Backup, and Disaster Recovery solutions.
• Strong experience with enterprise server platforms including HPE, Dell, Cisco UCS, or equivalent hardware technologies.
• Advanced knowledge of Linux operating systems (RHEL, Ubuntu, CentOS, SUSE) including installation, administration, patching, performance tuning, and troubleshooting.
• Strong administration experience with Windows Server operating systems and Active Directory services.
• Expertise in automation and scripting using PowerShell, Python, Terraform, Ansible, or similar automation frameworks.
• Experience with infrastructure monitoring, performance optimization, capacity management, and operational reporting.
• Strong understanding of enterprise networking concepts including TCP/IP, DNS, Routing, Load Balancing, VLANs, and Firewall integrations.
• Experience with backup, recovery, and business continuity platforms such as Cohesity, Veeam, Azure Backup, and Azure Site Recovery.
• Experience with DevOps, Infrastructure-as-Code, and cloud governance best practices is preferred.

General Requirements:

• VMware certifications such as VCP, VCAP, VCIX, or VCDX preferred.
• Microsoft Azure certifications such as Azure Administrator (AZ-104), Azure Solutions Architect (AZ-305), or equivalent preferred.
• Linux certifications such as RHCSA/RHCE are highly desirable.
• ITIL certification is preferred.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills with the ability to resolve complex infrastructure issues.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including technical documentation and executive-level reporting.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and projects in a fast-paced enterprise environment.
• Strong planning, organizational, and project execution capabilities.
• Detail-oriented with a strong focus on operational excellence, customer satisfaction, and end-user experience.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across Infrastructure, Security, Cloud, Application, and Business teams.
• Ability to analyze business and technical requirements and translate them into scalable infrastructure solutions.
• Proven track record of driving technology modernization, cloud transformation, and automation initiatives.

Reporting Relationships

There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active.