Virtualization Engineer

Ignite IT•Suitland-Silver Hill, MD

14h

About The Position

The U.S. Department of Census is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Virtualization Engineer to join our core infrastructure team. This position is responsible for the design, implementation, and operational management of the critical virtualization platforms that support the nation's most important statistical programs. The ideal candidate will be an expert in VMware vSphere environments and possess proven proficiency in a multi-vendor ecosystem, including Microsoft Hyper-V, Oracle VM, and Red Hat Virtualization (RHV). You will manage complex, multi-cluster environments across several data centers, ensuring the high availability, security, and performance of mission-critical systems.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. Citizen.
Must be able to pass a background investigation to obtain and maintain a Public Trust security clearance.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (or 4+ additional years of equivalent experience).
7+ years of hands-on experience as a Virtualization Engineer in a large-scale enterprise or data center environment.
Expert-level (5+ years) proficiency with the VMware vSphere suite (vCenter 6.x/7.x, ESXi, DRS, HA).
Demonstrated (2+ years) professional proficiency with Microsoft Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM).
Strong (2+ years) experience with both Oracle VM (OVM) and Red Hat Virtualization (RHV).
In-depth knowledge of supporting infrastructure, including: Storage: SAN, NAS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and vSAN. Networking: TCP/IP, VLANs, virtual switching, and network security. Operating Systems: Windows Server (2016/2019/2022) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 7/8).
Proven ability to work independently and as part of a team to manage complex projects and resolve critical technical issues.

Nice To Haves

Active Public Trust clearance.
Relevant industry certifications: VMware Certified Professional - Data Center Virtualization (VCP-DCV)
Experience with scripting and automation (PowerShell, PowerCLI).
Experience working within a federal government IT environment and familiarity with federal security compliance standards (NIST 800-53, FISMA).
Experience with cloud migration and hybrid-cloud management (Azure, AWS).

Responsibilities

Design, deploy, configure, and maintain a large-scale VMware vSphere (ESXi & vCenter) infrastructure across multiple data center clusters.
Manage vSphere high-availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and vMotion configurations.
Implement and manage disaster recovery (DR) solutions using VMware SRM and vSphere Replication.
Perform capacity planning, performance monitoring, and resource optimization for all VMware clusters.
Perform analysis of alternatives to include Microsoft Hyper-V clusters, including SCVMM, Oracle VM (OVM), and Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) platforms, planning for interoperability and stability.
Serve as a senior escalation point for all virtualization-related incidents, performing root cause analysis and implementing corrective actions.
Conduct regular patching, updates, and security hardening of all hypervisor hosts and management systems in accordance with NIST and FISMA guidelines.
Collaborate with storage, networking, and application teams to provision resources and troubleshoot complex, multi-tiered application issues.
Develop and maintain comprehensive system documentation, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and infrastructure diagrams.
Automate routine tasks using scripting tools such as PowerShell, PowerCLI, or Ansible.
Participate in an on-call rotation for 24/7/365 operational support.