The Role
Designs, deploys, upgrades, and maintains enterprise Cisco UCS and VMware infrastructure. Leads lifecycle management across compute, virtualization, storage, networking, firmware, and security; performs migrations, compatibility validation, patching, troubleshooting, and compliance remediation. Automates infrastructure builds and health checks using PowerCLI, Python, Ansible, APIs, and Git. Produces technical documentation, executes maintenance and rollback procedures, and collaborates with infrastructure, networking, storage, security, and operations teams.
Summary Generated by Built In
As a Compute / IaaS SME – Lifecycle Management, you will
- Design, deploy, and configure greenfield Cisco UCS domains, including Fabric Interconnects, chassis, blade servers, X-Series nodes, VICs, service profiles, pools, and policies using UCS Manager and Cisco Intersight.
- Build, standardize, and upgrade VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environments, including ESXi, vCenter, vSphere Distributed Switches (vDS), vSAN, and enterprise storage solutions.
- Create and maintain standardized ESXi golden images, driver and firmware bundles, custom ISOs, host profiles, and cluster configuration baselines.
- Execute workload migrations using vMotion and Storage vMotion, coordinating with Site Recovery Manager (SRM) or HCX where applicable.
- Configure and upgrade Cisco MDS storage switches and manage firmware lifecycle activities.
- Lead firmware, driver, ESXi, vCenter, and VMware Cloud Foundation upgrades while ensuring compatibility, availability, and business continuity.
- Validate hardware compatibility and interoperability across firmware, drivers, ESXi, vCenter, vSAN, and NSX before executing changes.
- Perform rolling upgrades, cluster compliance remediation, security patching, post-upgrade validation, and performance checks.
- Automate infrastructure builds, upgrades, health checks, and compliance reporting using PowerCLI, Python, Ansible, and REST APIs.
- Maintain Infrastructure-as-Code configurations and version-controlled infrastructure baselines using Git.
- Enforce infrastructure security standards, vulnerability remediation, access controls, certificate management, and ITIL-based change, incident, and problem management.
- Prepare technical documentation, including as-built documents, runbooks, method of procedure (MOP), test plans, rollback procedures, and architecture diagrams.
What You Bring to the Table
- 6–8 years of hands-on experience with Cisco UCS and VMware vSphere in large enterprise environments.
- Strong expertise in Cisco UCS architecture, including Fabric Interconnects (63xx/64xx/65xx series), B-Series M5/M6 blade servers, X-Series M8 systems, VICs, service profiles, pools, and policies.
- Practical experience with Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco Intersight for infrastructure deployment, configuration, and lifecycle management.
- Deep knowledge of VMware vSphere, ESXi, vCenter, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), and cluster administration.
- Experience with vSAN, iSCSI, Fibre Channel (FC), NFS storage, multipathing, and enterprise storage connectivity.
- Strong understanding of VLANs, vSphere Distributed Switches, LACP, MTU, and virtualized infrastructure networking.
- Experience managing ESXi images, firmware and driver compatibility, host profiles, cluster configurations, and infrastructure upgrades.
- Hands-on experience with vMotion, Storage vMotion, and workload migration with minimal service disruption.
- Experience configuring and upgrading Cisco MDS storage switches.
- Strong troubleshooting skills across UCS fabrics, VICs, boot issues, PCI passthrough, vDS, vSAN disk groups, and ESXi PSOD incidents.
- Knowledge of infrastructure security, VMware hardening guidelines, CVE patching, role-based access control, and audit compliance.
You should possess the ability to
- Lead end-to-end infrastructure deployment, upgrades, and lifecycle management activities independently.
- Validate hardware and software compatibility and assess risks before implementing infrastructure changes.
- Plan and execute maintenance windows, rolling upgrades, migrations, and rollback procedures while maintaining business continuity.
- Automate repetitive infrastructure tasks using PowerCLI, Python, Ansible, Cisco Intersight APIs, and vCenter REST APIs.
- Develop and maintain reusable infrastructure configurations, golden builds, compliance scripts, and operational dashboards.
- Produce clear technical documentation, operational procedures, and architecture diagrams.
- Collaborate effectively with infrastructure, networking, storage, security, and operations teams.
What we bring to the table
- An opportunity to work on enterprise-scale Cisco UCS and VMware infrastructure.
- Exposure to advanced virtualization platforms, VMware Cloud Foundation, and infrastructure lifecycle management.
- Opportunities to contribute to infrastructure automation, standardization, and operational excellence.
- A collaborative technical environment focused on reliability, security, and continuous improvement.
Let’s Connect
Want to discuss this opportunity in more detail? Feel free to reach out.
Recruiter: Giftson Paul Davidson
Phone: +31 20 369 0609 ; Extn : 151
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giftsonpauldavidson/
Skills Required
- 6-8 years of hands-on experience with Cisco UCS and VMware vSphere in large enterprise environments
- Expertise in Cisco UCS architecture, including Fabric Interconnects, blade servers, X-Series systems, VICs, service profiles, pools, and policies
- Experience with Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco Intersight
- Deep knowledge of VMware vSphere, ESXi, vCenter, VMware Cloud Foundation, and cluster administration
- Experience with vSAN, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS, multipathing, and enterprise storage connectivity
- Understanding of VLANs, vSphere Distributed Switches, LACP, MTU, and virtualized infrastructure networking
- Experience managing ESXi images, firmware and driver compatibility, host profiles, cluster configurations, and infrastructure upgrades
- Hands-on experience with vMotion, Storage vMotion, and workload migration with minimal service disruption
- Experience configuring and upgrading Cisco MDS storage switches
- Strong troubleshooting skills across UCS fabrics, VICs, boot issues, PCI passthrough, vDS, vSAN disk groups, and ESXi PSOD incidents
- Knowledge of infrastructure security, VMware hardening guidelines, CVE patching, role-based access control, and audit compliance
- Ability to lead infrastructure deployment, upgrades, and lifecycle management independently
- Ability to automate infrastructure tasks using PowerCLI, Python, Ansible, Cisco Intersight APIs, and vCenter REST APIs
- Ability to develop reusable infrastructure configurations, golden builds, compliance scripts, and operational dashboards
- Ability to produce technical documentation, operational procedures, and architecture diagrams
- Ability to collaborate with infrastructure, networking, storage, security, and operations teams
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The Company
What We Do
STAFIDE is a Netherlands-based niche technology talent consulting company operating across Europe. It helps organizations identify, recruit, and deploy technology professionals in areas including cybersecurity, cloud engineering, software development, data analytics, ERP, infrastructure, and digital transformation. Its services include recruitment, workforce engagement, secondment, onboarding support, workforce deployment, and workforce analytics that support technology hiring and expansion.
