Principal Private Cloud Architect

Lenovo; North Carolina; Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus and commission opportunities

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

Lenovo is seeking a Private Cloud Architect to lead the design of a next-generation OpenStack-based IaaS platform. This role emphasizes enterprise-grade scalability and AI computing support across secure private cloud environments.

Offering home-based flexibility throughout the U.S. or a hybrid model near Chicago or Raleigh, you will drive architectural patterns, system blueprints, and contribute to a highly automated cloud infrastructure.

Applicants need a degree in Computer Science or Engineering and extensive experience in cloud architecture, especially with OpenStack.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure architecture.
• 5+ years of experience specifically in OpenStack-based private cloud platforms.
• Strong expertise in designing large-scale IaaS solutions.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end architecture of the OpenStack-based private cloud.
• Lead design reviews and troubleshoot performance issues.
• Collaborate with DevOps, security, product, and ops teams.

Skills

OpenStack

Cloud Infrastructure Architecture

AI Infrastructure

Virtualization

Ansible

Terraform

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

CI/CD tools

GitOps

KVM

Ceph

Job description

We are seeking a technically deep and architecture-minded Private Cloud Architect to lead the design of our next-generation OpenStack‑based IaaS platform. This role will focus on enabling enterprise‑grade scalability, elasticity, and AI computing support across secure, multi‑tenant private cloud environments. You will work with global teams to build highly automated, interoperable, and resilient infrastructure platforms serving both general‑purpose and AI‑native workloads.

This role offers the flexibility to be home‑based anywhere in the U.S. If you're near our Chicago or Raleigh offices, we follow a friendly hybrid model with three days a week in the office – great for collaboration and connection!

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end‑to‑end architecture of the OpenStack‑based private cloud, including:
• Core Service Design – scalable deployment of Nova, Neutron, Cinder, Glance, Keystone, and Horizon across HA zones and availability domains.
• AI Infrastructure Enablement – GPU passthrough/virtualization, quota isolation, and elastic AI workload scheduling on OpenStack compute nodes.
• Multi‑Tenant Self‑Service Architecture – RBAC, project‑based quota control, automated provisioning pipelines, and extensible service catalog.
• Security Compliance Controls – integration with identity federation (e.g., LDAP, SSO), key management (Barbican), Neutron firewall policies, and audit trail systems.
• Storage Networking Architecture – software‑defined storage (Ceph, external backends), and L2/L3 overlay networking, BGP/GRE tunneling.
• Hybrid/Edge Integration – support for hybrid Kubernetes stack (e.g., Magnum, OpenShift), S3‑compatible storage federation, and cloud bursting scenarios.
• Monitoring Operational Visibility – design telemetry, metering (Ceilometer/Gnocchi), centralized logging, alerting, and visual dashboards.
• Automation CI/CD – integration of Infrastructure‑as‑Code (Terraform, Heat templates), and GitOps‑style workflows for platform rollout/updates.
• Define architectural patterns, system blueprints, and technical guardrails to ensure maintainability, resilience, and cost efficiency.
• Lead design reviews, troubleshoot performance/scalability bottlenecks, and provide high‑level guidance to engineering teams.
• Collaborate with security, DevOps, product, and data center operation teams across multiple geographies.
• Stay current with OpenStack upstream innovations, OpenInfra ecosystem projects, and hybrid cloud best practices.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure architecture, with 5+ years specifically on OpenStack‑based private cloud platforms.

Preferred Requirements

• Strong expertise in designing large‑scale IaaS solutions using Nova, Neutron, Cinder, Keystone, Heat, and related services.
• Deep understanding of virtualization (KVM, SR‑IOV), storage backends (e.g., Ceph, iSCSI, NFS), SDN concepts, and overlay networking.
• Familiarity with GPU virtualization (vGPU, passthrough), AI infrastructure needs, and integration with model serving or data platforms.
• Hands‑on experience with automation tools (Ansible, Terraform), CI/CD for infrastructure delivery, and configuration management.
• Knowledge of security and compliance frameworks relevant to private cloud operations (e.g., PCI‑DSS, ISO 27001, internal control systems).
• Proficient in system troubleshooting, capacity planning, and architecture documentation.
• Strongly preferred: experience delivering or operating OpenStack‑based platforms in mission‑critical enterprise or government scenarios.

The base salary budgeted range for this position is $250K - $280K. Individuals may also be considered for bonus and/or commission. Lenovo’s various benefits can be found on www.lenovobenefits.com.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any federal, state, or local protected class.