Senior Platform Engineer (Virtualization) (Onsite Role)

This position will be located in Springfield, MO and cannot be performed remotely.

About the Role

A Senior Platform Engineer will assist in all aspects of lifecycle management of enterprise virtualization platforms and core infrastructure services (from design to deployment, and through to retirement), leveraging automation and systems telemetry to maintain platform reliability, optimize capacity, and support enterprise technology initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Monitor all aspects of the virtualization platform life cycle, including host clustering, capacity planning, platform lifecycle upgrades, and storage/network integrations.
• Perform analyses to stay abreast of infrastructure and virtualization trends to ensure platform efficiency and reliability.
• Define and deliver enterprise virtualization platforms, software-defined networking, and storage environments that meet internal engineering needs by selecting the best possible approaches within established infrastructure systems.
• Deliver defined platform features, automated provisioning pipelines, and infrastructure capabilities from a designated part of the engineering program, utilizing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and automation frameworks.
• Research data from platform telemetry, monitoring tools, system logs, and incident reports to identify opportunities for infrastructure optimization, stability improvements, and platform enhancements.
• Explore virtualization bottlenecks, compute constraints, or high-availability failover issues, establishing potential causes, remediation plans, and mitigation strategies.
• Execute the deployment and maintenance plans for virtualization platform components, managing project schedules, identifying operational risks, and communicating status to IT stakeholders.
• Collect, analyze, and interpret large datasets related to virtual resource utilization, compute/memory contention, and storage I/O patterns; identify trends to uncover capacity constraints and performance improvement opportunities.
• Edit technical runbooks, disaster recovery procedures, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in line with organizational documentation guidelines.
• Work within an established project management plan to achieve platform delivery milestones and infrastructure sprint goals.
• Review the backlog of infrastructure maintenance, patching, and technical debt tasks; reprioritize work and deployment of platform resources to reduce downtime and increase system resilience.
• Provide advice, technical training, and assistance to cross-functional systems and application teams to resolve complex platform queries and ensure virtualization capabilities are properly understood and adopted.
• Demonstrate core platform capabilities, automated provisioning workflows, and self-service virtualization tooling to engineering teams to drive adoption of standardized infrastructure patterns.
• Develop own capabilities by participating in assessment and development planning activities as well as formal and informal training and coaching; gain or maintain external professional accreditations, where relevant, to improve performance and fulfill personal potential.
• Maintain an understanding of relevant virtualization technology, emerging container/hybrid platforms, external regulations, and industry best practices through ongoing education, attending conferences, and reading specialist media.

Skills

• Manages and develops all aspects of enterprise virtualization platforms to ensure high availability, scalability, and performance.
• Oversees and manages all stages of a virtualization platform's lifecycle, from initial provisioning to retirement, ensuring efficient processes, timely delivery, and adherence to quality standards.
• Plans, organizes, prioritizes, and oversees infrastructure automation and platform maintenance activities to efficiently meet objectives.
• Communicates and articulates platform architectures, virtualization trade-offs, and root-cause analyses in a clear, compelling, and tailored manner to address specific challenges or meet organizational needs.
• Analyzes and researches infrastructure conditions, capacity trends, and emerging platform technologies to develop a comprehensive understanding that benefits the organization.
• Determines and analyzes trends from telemetry and monitoring data to assist in compiling reports that support infrastructure decision-making.
• Identifies potential stakeholders across application, networking, and security teams, analyzes their expectations, and develops strategies for managing stakeholder requirements.
• Reviews and evaluates architectural standards and system requirements to develop appropriate virtualization implementation plans or deliver actions required.

Benefits

• Competitive wages and paid time off
• Stock purchase plan and 401k with employer contributions starting day one
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with optional Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Team member health and wellbeing programs
• Tuition and educational assistance programs
• Opportunities for career growth