Lead Migration Engineer

Experience: 12 to 15+ years in Linux infrastructure and data center operations, including hands-on leadership of data center migrations. The candidate has led at least one data center exit or migration to the cloud. Location: Remote (Client: US, Pacific time). 5–6 hours of daily overlap with the client’s team is required. Open to candidates in the US, Canada, Mexico, South America, India or the Philippines. Role Summary We are looking for a hands-on Lead Migration Engineer to lead the move of a large legacy Linux estate out of a VMware data center to GCP. The environment runs Perl applications and MySQL databases on Linux virtual machines, many on end-of-life CentOS, with a shared NetApp NFS file system and a Strongmail email platform. Some of it is undocumented. You will work closely with the client’s engineers to find out how the systems really work, document them, and move them application by application, some into containers and the rest as VMs. You will also lead a team of engineers in India. Key Responsibilities Lead hands-on discovery of the source estate with the client’s engineers: servers, applications, databases, scheduled jobs, network flows and every dependency on the shared file system. Document what is undocumented.Group applications into logical units (application, minimum OS version, database integration, file dependencies) and plan the migration waves.Plan and run the proof of concept and production pilot with the GCP Architect, and report go/no-go results to the client.Prepare applications for the move. Work with the developers to containerize Perl applications where they fit, redeploy and test them on the existing servers, and move the rest as VMs.Move MySQL databases as-is on VMs with their applications, with a tested backup, sync and rollback plan.Keep the shared file system working at the same paths in the target, and move scheduled jobs with their applications.Coordinate the move of the Strongmail email platform with the mail engineer.Write and own the cutover and rollback runbooks, and lead the rehearsals, weekend cutovers and hypercare.Support the decommissioning and data wipe of the source environment.Lead the offshore team day to day: set priorities, review their work, and keep risks and the schedule visible.Work closely with the client’s DevOps, DBA, security and network teams. Technical Skills We do not expect every candidate to cover all of these areas, but hands-on depth in Linux, legacy applications and data center migrations is essential. Linux: deep hands-on knowledge of the RHEL family, including end-of-life CentOS and Oracle Linux, and working knowledge of FreeBSD. Troubleshooting, performance tuning, and package and dependency management.Legacy applications: Perl 5, CPAN, Apache, cron and Make-based builds. Reading code to find hidden dependencies such as shared paths, hard-coded hosts and database endpoints.Virtualization and migration: VMware vCenter and VM migration tooling. Dependency mapping, wave planning, runbooks, rehearsals, weekend cutovers, rollback and hypercare.Storage: NFS and NetApp, including moving a shared file system without changing its paths.Databases: MySQL/Percona operations, replication, backup and restore, and moving databases with minimal downtime.Containers: Docker (building and running images for legacy applications) and working knowledge of Kubernetes (deployments, CronJobs, volumes).Networking: DNS, load balancers such as NetScaler, Cloudflare, firewall rules and IP allowlisting.Automation: Bash, Perl, Ansible and Packer; Git and GitLab CI/CD.AI-assisted engineering: AI coding assistants for code analysis and runbooks, with engineering review of every output.Leadership and communication: leading an offshore team, writing clear documentation, and working side by side with the client’s engineers. Nice to Have Google Cloud experience: Compute Engine, GKE, Filestore / Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, Migrate to Virtual Machines and Migration Center.Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect or similar certification. What Success Looks Like in the First 3 Months A dependency map and an agreed wave plan for every server in scope.A proof of concept showing a containerized application redeployed on the existing servers and running on GCP.A tested cutover and rollback runbook that the client signs off.A trusted working relationship with the client’s engineering team. Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field.