Distributed Systems Architect: Bare-Metal and High-Scale

Tanqeeb; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Analog builds industrial intelligence infrastructure for the physical world, delivering high-throughput data pipelines, real-time analytics, and edge-to-cloud connectivity. This on-site, full-time role focuses on open-source alternatives, multi-node Kafka/Redpanda and PostgreSQL clusters, and kernel-level tuning to support petabyte-scale workloads in air-gapped environments.

The candidate will craft precise blueprints and runbooks for Terraform and Ansible, validate hardware specs, and ensure

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing and operating distributed infrastructure at TB to PB scale.
• Expertise in Kafka/Redpanda clustering and operational lifecycle.
• Deep Linux systems engineering including kernel networking and storage fabrics.
• Experience deploying HA databases with Patroni, Pacemaker, or equivalents.
• Proven ability to produce implementation-ready blueprints and runbooks.

Responsibilities

• Map open-source equivalents for Azure PaaS components and document migration risks.
• Design multi-node clusters with rack-aware replication and quorum topologies.
• Tune Linux kernel parameters and I/O for petabyte-scale workloads.
• Create reproducible benchmark harnesses and DevOps automation playbooks.
• Develop parameterized reference architectures for single/multi-rack topologies.

Skills

Distributed infra design

Kafka/Redpanda clustering

Linux systems engineering

HA databases with Patroni/Pacemaker

Ceph/MinIO storage

DevOps automation (Terraform, Ansible)

Air-gapped security & compliance

Tools

Patroni

Pacemaker

Ceph

MinIO

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

What You’ll Do

Open-Source Infrastructure Mapping

• Map Analog’s Azure PaaS components to open-source equivalents: Event Hub to Kafka/Redpanda, IoT Hub to EMQX, ADX to ClickHouse or Apache Druid, and Blob Storage to Ceph/MinIO
• Produce side-by-side equivalence assessments documenting feature gaps, operational differences, and migration risk for each component transition
• Validate client hardware specifications and assess compliance with air-gap security requirements prior to each deployment

Cluster and Topology Design

• Design multi-node clustering, rack-aware replication, and quorum topologies for bare-metal Kafka/Redpanda and PostgreSQL (Patroni) clusters
• Design resilience protocols for hardware and network switch failures in physically isolated or air-gapped client environments
• Architect RocksDB state backend tuning for stateful Apache Flink workloads, including compaction strategy, block cache sizing, and write-ahead log configuration

Linux and Hardware Optimization

• Tune Linux kernel parameters, NUMA bindings, network ring buffers, and NVMe I/O scheduler configurations to eliminate hardware bottlenecks under petabyte-scale write workloads
• Define CPU affinity, IRQ balancing, and huge page configurations for latency-sensitive broker and database processes
• Author reproducible benchmark harnesses to validate configuration changes against client hardware before production rollout

Blueprints and DevOps Enablement

• Deliver precise, implementation-ready configuration blueprints and runbooks for Terraform and Ansible automation, documents the DevOps team can execute without architectural interpretation
• Maintain a library of parameterized reference architectures covering single-rack, multi-rack, and geographically distributed bare-metal topologies
• Conduct pre-deployment reviews of client hardware specs and provide go/no-go assessments with remediation guidance

What You’ll Bring

• 10+ years architecting and operating distributed infrastructure at TB to PB scale in production environments
• Expert-level Kafka or Redpanda clustering: partitioning strategy, ISR tuning, consumer group management, compaction policies, and operational lifecycle at scale
• Deep Linux systems engineering: kernel networking subsystems (TCP buffer tuning, interrupt coalescing), storage fabrics, and NUMA-aware process binding
• Proven track record deploying HA database clusters without cloud load balancers: Patroni, Pacemaker, or equivalent in production
• Experience deploying software-defined storage (Ceph, MinIO) on physical hardware in production, including CRUSH maps, erasure coding, and performance tuning
• Ability to produce implementation-ready blueprints and runbooks; your output must be directly actionable by a DevOps automation team without architectural interpretation

About Analog

Analog builds industrial intelligence infrastructure for the physical world. We deliver high-throughput data pipelines, real-time analytics, and edge-to-cloud connectivity for mission-critical environments where cloud dependency is not an option. Our clients operate in regulated, air-gapped, and physically demanding settings and they depend on us to get the infrastructure right from day one.

This is a full-time, on-site role.