Contractor job VMware Specialist

Our client is looking for a VMware Specialist requiring 1-2 days per week onsite in London and occasional travel to Edinburgh with the remaining days of the week to be performed remotely. This would be an initial 10 week contract with potential of extending this to 6 months. The role has been deemed Inside IR35.

Responsibilities
* Discovery and analysis: Lead workshops, collect configuration and operational data, validate dependencies and constraints, and confirm application criticality and SLAs.
* Architecture and planning: Define target reference architectures for VCF 9.0, Dynamic Nodes, and SRDF; establish migration waves, testing, and rollback plans.
* Readiness reporting: Deliver an executive summary, detailed findings, gap analysis, remediation actions, risk register, and timelines.
* Migration strategy: Select appropriate tooling and methods; author detailed runbooks with cutover steps, validation checks, and acceptance criteria.
* Stakeholder engagement: Align with infra, network, storage, security, and application owners; coordinate change approvals and communication plans.
* Governance and documentation: Produce HLD/LLD, BOMs, standards, and operational handover materials; ensure traceability and version control.
* Required skills and experience
* Deep VMware expertise: vSphere/ESXi, VCF (SDDC Manager), NSX, vSAN and/or external storage integrations, Lifecycle Manager, and federation/DR constructs.
* Converged/hyperconverged infrastructure: Hands-on experience with VxBlock architectures and migration to Dynamic Nodes (compute-only with external storage), including network/storage connectivity and operations.
* Replication technologies: Practical expertise with RP4VM (protection groups, journals, failover) and SRDF (SRDF/S and SRDF/A design, device grouping, performance and consistency), plus cutover strategy development.
* Assessment and readiness: Proven track record delivering readiness assessments, gap analyses, remediation roadmaps, and risk/issue management for large estates.
* Runbook creation and execution planning: Ability to author precise runbooks, acceptance tests, rollback steps, and coordinate wave-based migrations.
* Networking and security: Solid understanding of VLANs/VXLAN, routing, segmentation, firewalling, certificates, and secure operations in VMware environments.
* Automation and tooling: Familiarity with host configuration automation, API/CLI toolchains, lifecycle management workflows, and observability/monitoring.
* Communication: Clear, concise written and verbal communication; strong stakeholder management and executive reporting skills.

Certifications (preferred)
* VMware: VCP-DCV required; VCAP-DCV/VCIX/VCDX preferred.
* Dell/EMC: Dell Proven Professional (storage and data center tracks) desirable.
* ITIL: Foundation or higher for change and release processes.
* Tools and technologies
* VMware Cloud Foundation, vSphere/ESXi, NSX, vSAN.
* Dell platforms commonly found in VxBlock (compute, networking, storage arrays).
* SRDF management on enterprise arrays; RP4VM administration.
* LCM tooling (SDDC Manager, vLCM), configuration/observability tools, and documentation platforms.

Deliverables:
VCF 9.0 readiness report, VxBlock-to-Dynamic Nodes migration strategy and runbooks, RP4VM-to-SRDF migration strategy and runbooks, HLD/LLD, BOM, and risk register.

KPIs and success criteria
* Completion of assessments and delivery of signed-off reports and strategies within agreed timelines.
* Clear, actionable remediation roadmap for VCF 9.0 readiness with prioritized tasks and effort.
* Migration strategy that minimizes downtime, meets RPO/RTO targets, and includes validated rollback procedures.
* Stakeholder sign-off on HLD/LLD, runbooks, and acceptance criteria; readiness for execution phase.

Security and compliance
* Adhere to customer change control, data handling, and security policies.
* Ensure designs meet compliance requirements and align with best practices for encryption, access control, and logging.
* Experience in similar role.
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
* Proactive, self-starter and ability to work within deadlines.
* Attention to detail.

Preferred Skills
* Experience working in finance or banking industry.
* Experience working on a complex storage migration programme.


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