Senior Virtualization Enginer

KaylaTek is seeking a Senior Virtualization Engineer to provide operational support for VMware/Nutanix clusters supporting the Air Force District of Washington (AFDW) at Joint Base Andrews, MD. This role offers the opportunity to work with cutting-edge hyper-converged technologies, lead major migration initiatives, collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams, and directly support critical Air Force operations.

About the role

The ideal candidate will serve as a key technical leader supporting mission-critical VMware and Nutanix infrastructure environments within a highly secure setting. Responsibilities include architecting, deploying, optimizing, and maintaining virtualization platforms while ensuring maximum performance, scalability, and compliance with federal cybersecurity standards.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational support for VMware and Nutanix clusters supporting the Air Force District of Washington (AFDW).
• Design, deploy, configure, and maintain VMware/Nutanix clusters; monitor system metrics to ensure availability, scalability, and performance.
• Perform troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for complex technical issues.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for VMware and Nutanix infrastructure, including mentoring and training other engineers on platform use, maintenance, and cluster analysis.
• Maintain patches and upgrades for all hyper-converged software, applications, and underlying Nutanix and VMware hardware.
• Lead and support projects involving the migration of virtual machines and applications from legacy platforms, including VMware, to the Nutanix platform.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive virtualization documentation for system configurations, security plans, and operational procedures to support compliance audits and ensure system integrity.
• Participate in weekly Internal Design Review (IDR) and Change Control Board (CCB) meetings.
• Collaborate with engineers to monitor and maintain physical hosts, storage, network, and security infrastructure, and report issues or outages to management as needed.
• Use VMware Aria Operations (formerly vRealize Operations Manager) to monitor the vCenter environment and assess future virtualization capacity.
• Work closely with cybersecurity personnel, network engineers, and application owners to deliver secure, robust, and efficient solutions that comply with DoD mandates, including DISA STIGs and NIST SP 800-171.
• Support the on-call rotation.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree with 12+ years of related experience, or a master's degree with 10+ years of experience. Additional relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of a degree.
• Active DoD security clearance, Secret or Top Secret.
• 10+ years of infrastructure engineering experience with a strong focus on VMware and/or Nutanix environments.
• Current DoD 8140 IAT Level II certification, such as CompTIA Security+.
• Active VMware Certified Professional certification, version 6.0 or higher.
• Active Nutanix Certified Professional (NCP) or Nutanix Certified Systems Engineer (NCSE) certification.
• Verifiable experience in a DoD or defense contractor environment, with a strong understanding of operational and security requirements.
• Deep knowledge of virtualization technologies, including VMware and Nutanix.
• Strong expertise in Nutanix AOS, AHV, Prism, and Flow.
• Proficiency managing Windows Server and Linux environments.
• Hands-on experience implementing and managing systems compliant with DISA STIGs and NIST SP 800-171.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Must be a U.S. citizen.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with infrastructure automation tools such as Ansible or Terraform, and scripting languages such as Python or PowerShell.
• Strong understanding of networking fundamentals, including switching, VLANs, firewalls, and micro-segmentation.
• Experience working in air-gapped or classified network environments, such as SIPRNet.
• Experience with virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), including Omnissa.
• Knowledge of Air Force, Pentagon, and/or AFNCR environments.
• Experience working at the Pentagon, Joint Base Andrews (JBA), and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB).

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
• Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• 401(k) with company matching
• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Life and AD&D Insurance
• Paid Time Off and 11 Paid Holidays
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Professional Development Program
• Military Leave Support
• Referral bonuses

Schedule

• Day Shift with core hours: 07:30 am - 2:00 pm
• Support on-call rotation if needed

Location: Joint Base Andrews, MD