Director - Linux & OpenShift Virt Engineering

About the role

The Director – Linux Engineering & Operations leads the global Linux platform and operations capability at MetLife. This role oversees critical hosting services across MetLife’s enterprise, ensuring reliability, scalability, security, and resilience through Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles.

Responsibilities

• Establish a modern SRE-based operating model across all Linux and OpenShift Virtualization platforms, with defined Service Level Objectives (SLOs), error budgets, and automation-first workflows.
• Advance OpenShift Virtualization migration milestones on schedule, reducing VMware footprint while maintaining operational stability throughout the transition.
• Deliver measurable improvements in platform reliability, incident response time, and change success rates across the global Linux estate.
• Modernize how Linux and virtualization platforms are engineered and operated, elevating service reliability.
• Drive infrastructure-as-code adoption and GitOps-driven workflows across the Linux and OpenShift platforms, leveraging tools like Ansible Automation Platform, Terraform, and related orchestration frameworks.
• Establish and mature observability practices across the platform estate using modern tooling (e.g., Elastic, Prometheus/Grafana, OpenTelemetry), ensuring actionable alerting, end-to-end visibility, and data-driven capacity decisions.
• Manage hardware vendor relationships, lifecycle strategies, and procurement planning across the on-premises compute and storage footprint, contributing to vendor diversification and cost optimization initiatives.
• Develop high-performing engineering leaders and teams, fostering strong technical depth, sound engineering judgment, and a culture that balances operational discipline with innovation and customer focus.
• Cook up with senior executives and translate technical topics into business-relevant insights.
• Coordinate closely with application, middleware, database, cloud, security, and SRE teams to ensure platform capabilities align with business needs, architectural standards, and technology roadmaps.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Deep expertise in Linux platforms (e.g., RHEL) including engineering, operations, lifecycle management, and platform standardization at scale.
• Hands-on experience with OpenShift and virtualization technologies, with the ability to guide teams through design, deployment, and operationalization.
• Strong working knowledge of SRE concepts, including reliability engineering, automation, observability, incident management, and continuous improvement.
• Proven ability to operate in complex, regulated enterprise environments with strong focus on availability, security, and risk management.
• Ability to rapidly assess situations, make informed decisions, and lead with confidence during both steady-state operations and high-pressure events.

Preferred Qualifications

• 12–15+ years of experience in infrastructure engineering, operations, or platform leadership roles within large enterprise environments.
• Red Hat certifications such as RHCE, RHCA, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform specialist, or Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Virtualization (EX316).
• Experience with VMware virtualization environments, including migration planning or platform transitions to alternative virtualization technologies.
• Prior experience leading global teams across multiple regions and time zones.
• Experience with hybrid cloud strategies, particularly integrating on-premises Linux and container platforms with public cloud services (Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services).
• Familiarity with modern observability platforms and practices (Elastic, Prometheus/Grafana, OpenTelemetry) and infrastructure-as-code tooling (Ansible, Terraform, GitOps workflows).
• Experience modernizing legacy platforms while maintaining operational stability.
• Experience partnering with senior executives and translating technical topics into business-relevant insights.
• Experience managing hardware vendor relationships, lifecycle planning, and procurement strategies across enterprise compute and storage platforms.
• Strong leadership presence with a pragmatic, outcomes-driven mindset and a bias for action.
• Track record of building durable platforms and teams that scale, adapt, and continuously improve.

Location Expectation

This is a hybrid role requiring a minimum of 3 days per week in office. The expected salary range for this position is $140,000 - $180,000. This role may also be eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms.

About MetLife

MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world’s leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits, and asset management to individual and institutional customers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Our purpose is simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world at large create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by our core values - Win Together, Do the Right Thing, Deliver Impact Over Activity, and Think Ahead - we’re inspired to transform the next century in financial services. At MetLife, it’s #AllTogetherPossible. Join us!