We are seeking multiple Virtualization Engineers for a prominent German agency working with a major German client. This is a long-term, fully remote freelancing/contracting opportunity.
Quick Overview:
- Contract Type: Freelance/Contract
- Start Date: ASAP
- Location: 100% Remote
- Duration: Long-term (12+ months)
- Work Hours: Full-time (part-time also possible)
- Language: English (German not required)
- Working Hours: German business hours
Position Details:
This role is part of the infrastructure team, which provides data center services via a software layer to other product lines within the program. The virtualization engineer will be part of the compute and storage engineering team, responsible for building, automating, and maintaining compute and storage environments according to the design by the lead architect and core infrastructure team.
The primary goal is to automate the infrastructure environment, ensuring that all steps after the physical installation are automated. The engineer will follow an agile framework to document requirements and implementation steps in user stories, estimate the effort required, and carry out the implementation and testing according to project standards.
The engineer will also help resolve open questions and missing information, and actively work with teams across the project. As the project is in the start-up phase, the engineer should be comfortable with taking on tasks beyond core responsibilities and fostering communication across different teams.
Key Responsibilities:
- Virtualization Engineering: Transfer designs into the infrastructure environment, ensuring thorough testing and documentation. The future virtualization technology stack will be based on KVM and Kubernetes/Rancher, with VMware knowledge being a plus for supporting the existing stack.
- Automation: Write and validate automated deployments, with proficiency in CI/CD pipelines for maintaining and troubleshooting the build of new environments.
- Continuous Improvement: Regularly assess and update the infrastructure environment to keep it in line with the latest standards and security requirements. Proactively inform team leads and architects about necessary patches and configuration changes.
- Collaboration: Clearly communicate technical requirements and work well with cross-functional teams.
- Self-Organization: Prioritize tasks based on complexity and report on progress, risks, and delays.
- Process Integration: Follow structured processes for successful collaboration and documentation.
Required Skills & Experience:
- Minimum of 5 years of recent experience as a virtualization engineer, with expertise in the full lifecycle of on-premise installation, operation, backup, recovery, and decommissioning.
- Strong communication skills for discussing ideas, designs, and documentation, including technical diagrams.
- Proficiency in problem-solving across various layers of the infrastructure.
- Basic network knowledge for collaboration with network teams.
Must-Have Skills:
- Virtualization
Technologies:
- KVM on Ubuntu Linux (installation, maintenance, decommissioning)
- Kubernetes/Rancher
- VMware vSphere (installation, maintenance, usage)
- Automation:
- Experience with automation tools like Ansible, Terraform
- Scripting skills in Python or Bash
- Integration and Cluster
Knowledge:
- Integration of KVM/vSphere/Kubernetes/Rancher with observability solutions
- Large-scale and distributed cluster knowledge
- Familiarity with Linux systems and basic compute hardware
Nice-to-Have Skills:
- RHEL, LDAP, OIDC, OAUTH, PKI/Certificates, HashiCorp Vault
- Security Compliance, CIS Hardening
- NetApp, Ceph
- Web Servers (Apache, Nginx)
- Git, GitLab, Jira, Confluence, Miro
Interested?
Please send us your updated CV (if you haven’t already) along with your earliest availability. Additionally, include a self-assessment (0-10 scale, with 10 being expert level) in the following areas:
- KVM on Ubuntu Linux
- KVM lifecycle (install, maintain, decommission)
- Kubernetes/Rancher
- Infrastructure automation (e.g., Ansible, Terraform)
- Scripting (e.g., Python, Bash)
- VMware vSphere ESXi/vCenter
- Integration of KVM/vSphere/Kubernetes/Rancher
- Linux Systems & Distributed Clusters
- Optional skills as listed above
We look forward to your response!