Senior Compute/ IAAS SME (Lifecyle Management)

Gazelle Global; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 96,000 - 165,000; Part time

Job summary

Gazelle Global seeks a Senior Compute / IaaS SME in Amsterdam to own lifecycle management of enterprise compute and virtualization. You will design, deploy, upgrade and optimise Cisco UCS, VMware vSphere/VCF environments, and lead automation efforts using PowerCLI, Python and Ansible.

You will act as the senior escalation point for complex incidents, ensure security hardening and ITIL-aligned change processes, and mentor L2 teams while producing runbooks and documentation.

Qualifications

• 8-10+ years hands-on Cisco UCS/VMware experience in enterprise environments.
• Expertise in lifecycle management, firmware upgrades and hardware configurations.
• Strong automation and scripting skills with standard tooling.
• Experience delivering complex compute infrastructure deployments and upgrades.
• Ability to manage cross-functional stakeholders and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Design, deploy and optimise enterprise compute and virtualization infra.
• Lead lifecycle management, upgrades and patching with minimal downtime.
• Act as senior escalation for UCS/VMware incidents and root-cause analysis.
• Develop automation with PowerCLI, Python and Ansible; use REST APIs.
• Maintain security hardening, compliance baselines and runbooks.
• Create architecture diagrams, MOPs, test plans and rollback docs.

Skills

Cisco UCS Infrastructure

VMware Virtualisation

Automation & Scripting

Operations & Security

Infrastructure Lifecycle Management

Tools

UCS Manager

Cisco Intersight

VMware vSphere

VMware Cloud Foundation

PowerCLI

Python

Ansible

REST APIs

Git

Job description

Senior Compute / IaaS SME (Lifecycle Management)

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Start Date: 1 November 2026

Contract Duration: 6 Months

Contract Type: Contract

Rate: Competitive Hourly Rate (EUR)

Experience Required: 8-10+ Years

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Compute / Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Subject Matter Expert - Lifecycle Management (LCM) to join a large enterprise infrastructure environment in Amsterdam.

The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, deploying, upgrading, maintaining and optimising enterprise compute and virtualisation infrastructure, with a strong focus on Cisco UCS, VMware vSphere, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and infrastructure lifecycle management.

This is a hands‑on technical role requiring deep expertise in compute infrastructure, platform upgrades, automation, troubleshooting and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Infrastructure Deployment & Engineering

• Plan and implement greenfield Cisco UCS environments, including Fabric Interconnects, chassis, blades, X-Series nodes, VICs and service profiles.
• Configure and manage Cisco UCS infrastructure using UCS Manager (UCSM) and Cisco Intersight.
• Deploy, configure and standardise VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environments.
• Manage VMware ESXi, vCenter, distributed virtual switches (vDS) and enterprise storage integrations.
• Configure and optimise vSAN, iSCSI, Fibre Channel (FC) and NFS storage environments.
• Develop and maintain standardised ESXi builds, firmware bundles, host profiles and cluster configurations.
• Execute workload migrations using vMotion and Storage vMotion while minimising business disruption.
• Configure, maintain and upgrade Cisco MDS storage switches.

Lifecycle Management & Platform Upgrades

• Lead end-to-end firmware, driver, ESXi and vCenter upgrades across enterprise environments.
• Support VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF 9.0) deployment and lifecycle management.
• Validate hardware compatibility lists (HCL), firmware compatibility and software interoperability before upgrades.
• Execute rolling upgrades and infrastructure maintenance activities with minimal downtime.
• Manage VMware DRS, vMotion and admission control to maintain service continuity.
• Monitor and remediate ESXi image drift and configuration inconsistencies.
• Maintain infrastructure security patches and compliance baselines.
• Perform post-upgrade validation, health checks, performance monitoring and log analysis.

L3 Infrastructure Support & Troubleshooting

• Act as the senior technical escalation point for Cisco UCS and VMware vSphere infrastructure incidents.
• Troubleshoot complex issues involving Fabric Interconnects, VICs, storage connectivity, vDS, vSAN disk groups and ESXi hosts.
• Investigate VMware host failures, including Purple Screen of Death (PSOD) incidents.
• Conduct root-cause analysis and implement permanent corrective actions.
• Provide technical guidance and escalation support to L2 infrastructure teams.
• Improve infrastructure monitoring, alerting and operational procedures.

Automation & Infrastructure Tooling

• Develop and maintain infrastructure automation using PowerCLI, Python and Ansible.
• Automate server provisioning, platform upgrades, compliance checks and infrastructure health monitoring.
• Integrate automation solutions with Cisco Intersight APIs and VMware vCenter REST APIs.
• Maintain Infrastructure-as-Code configurations and scripts using Git.
• Develop standardised automation frameworks for repeatable infrastructure deployments.
• Produce automated infrastructure reports, dashboards and compliance assessments.

Security, Compliance & Governance

• Implement secure VMware ESXi and Cisco UCS configuration standards.
• Manage certificate configurations, role-based access control and ESXi lockdown policies.
• Ensure infrastructure patching aligns with organisational security requirements.
• Maintain compliance with VMware hardening guidelines and Cisco UCS security best practices.
• Follow ITIL processes for incident, problem and change management.
• Support change management activities using ServiceNow or similar ITSM platforms.

Documentation & Knowledge Transfer

• Develop comprehensive technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, runbooks and operational procedures.
• Prepare implementation plans, Methods of Procedure (MOPs), test plans and rollback documentation.
• Maintain accurate infrastructure asset inventories and lifecycle roadmaps.
• Contribute to infrastructure design standards and reference architectures.
• Deliver technical workshops and knowledge‑transfer sessions.
• Mentor junior engineers and L2 infrastructure support teams.

Required Technical Skills

Cisco UCS Infrastructure

• Strong hands‑on experience with Cisco UCS B-Series, C-Series and X-Series infrastructure.
• Expertise in Cisco Fabric Interconnects (63xx/64xx/65xx).
• Experience with Cisco UCS M5/M6 blades and X-Series M8 systems.
• Advanced knowledge of VICs, service profiles, policies and resource pools.
• Strong experience with Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco Intersight.

VMware Virtualisation & Cloud

• Extensive experience with VMware vSphere, ESXi and vCenter.
• Hands‑on expertise in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), including lifecycle management and upgrades.
• Strong knowledge of VMware vSAN, distributed virtual switches and host profiles.
• Experience with vMotion, Storage vMotion, DRS and HA.
• Understanding of VMware NSX, SRM and HCX integration.

Storage & Networking

• Experience with enterprise storage technologies, including SAN, NAS, iSCSI, FC and NFS.
• Knowledge of Cisco MDS storage switches and firmware upgrades.
• Understanding of VLANs, LACP, MTU, network redundancy and multipathing.
• Ability to troubleshoot storage connectivity and compute networking issues.

Automation & Scripting

• PowerCLI
• Python
• Ansible
• REST APIs
• Infrastructure-as-Code
• Git version control

Operations & Security

• Infrastructure lifecycle management (LCM)
• Firmware and driver upgrades
• Hardware compatibility validation
• L3 incident resolution and root‑cause analysis
• Security patching and infrastructure hardening
• ITIL, change management and ServiceNow

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 8-10+ years of hands‑on experience working with Cisco UCS and VMware vSphere in large enterprise environments.
• Proven experience delivering enterprise compute infrastructure deployments and upgrades.
• Strong expertise in Cisco UCS lifecycle management, firmware upgrades and hardware configurations.
• Demonstrated experience managing VMware ESXi, vCenter and VCF environments.
• Experience supporting mission‑critical infrastructure with strict availability and performance requirements.
• Strong troubleshooting capabilities across compute, virtualisation, networking and storage.
• Experience developing infrastructure automation using scripting and configuration management tools.
• Ability to independently manage complex infrastructure changes and technical escalations.
• Strong documentation, stakeholder communication and knowledge‑transfer skills.

Desirable Skills

• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 experience.
• Cisco UCS X-Series infrastructure implementation experience.
• Experience with Cisco Intersight automation and API integrations.
• VMware NSX, SRM or HCX knowledge.
• Experience designing repeatable infrastructure deployment frameworks.
• Enterprise infrastructure transformation or data centre modernisation experience.
• Relevant Cisco or VMware certifications.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a highly experienced Cisco UCS and VMware Infrastructure Engineer / SME with a strong background in lifecycle management, enterprise virtualisation and infrastructure automation.

They should be comfortable leading complex platform deployments, performing large‑scale firmware and hypervisor upgrades, resolving critical L3 incidents and working independently within enterprise infrastructure environments.

Core Technologies: Cisco UCS | Cisco Intersight | VMware vSphere | VMware Cloud Foundation | ESXi | vCenter | vSAN | Cisco MDS | PowerCLI | Python | Ansible | Infrastructure Lifecycle Management