Senior OpenShift Platform Engineer - WebSphere Modernization

Blue Pearl PTY LTD; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,900,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Pearl PTY LTD is seeking a Senior OpenShift Platform Engineer to lead modernization efforts, migrating WebSphere workloads to OpenShift within a government tax environment. You will design and operate enterprise OpenShift clusters, automate infrastructure with Terraform, and implement GitOps pipelines.

You will drive containerization, SRE practices, observability stacks, and security posture, mentoring junior engineers and aligning with government standards.

Qualifications

• Experience deploying OpenShift clusters in enterprise environments.
• Hands-on Kubernetes administration with CKA-level proficiency.
• Experience with GitOps and CI/CD tooling.
• Regulated/government sector experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate Red Hat OpenShift clusters for WAS workloads with high availability and security.
• Migrate legacy WAS apps to OpenShift-native deployments using IBM Transformation Advisor where applicable.
• Create GitOps pipelines with ArgoCD and GitHub Actions for multi-environment delivery.
• Develop IaC modules with Terraform and Ansible to provision OpenShift components.
• Operate SRE-focused platform management including performance tuning and incident response.
• Collaborate with client teams to define migration strategies and deployment standards.
• Implement observability stacks with Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos, Datadog for end-to-end monitoring.
• Enforce OpenShift security posture with RBAC, network policies, image scanning, secret mgmt.
• Coordinate with IBM delivery leads and stakeholders on modernization progress.
• Mentor junior engineers and document runbooks with best practices.

Skills

OpenShift administration

Kubernetes administration

GitOps pipelines

Terraform

Ansible

CI/CD tooling

Observability tooling

RBAC security

Government/regulatory experience

Tools

OpenShift

ArgoCD

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Terraform

Ansible

Prometheus

Grafana

Thanos

Datadog

IBM Transformation Advisor

Job description

Client is undertaking a strategic Modernization 3.0 initiative to migrate legacy WebSphere Application Server workloads onto a modern OpenShift Container Platform. We are seeking a Senior OpenShift Platform Engineer with deep Red Hat platform engineering expertise and a strong DevOps/SRE background to lead containerization and migration efforts in a mission-critical government tax environment. The ideal candidate brings hands‑on experience building and operating enterprise‑grade OpenShift clusters, automating infrastructure delivery with Terraform and GitOps tooling, and guiding application teams through container‑native transformation. This is a high‑impact engagement where your platform engineering skills will directly enable them deliver faster, more resilient processing capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, build, and operationalizing of Red Hat OpenShift clusters to host modernized WebSphere workloads, ensuring high availability, security, and compliance with government standards.
• Drive the containerization and migration of legacy WebSphere Application Server (WAS) applications to OpenShift-native deployments, leveraging tools such as IBM Transformation Advisor where applicable.
• Define and implement GitOps-based deployment pipelines using ArgoCD and GitHub Actions to automate application delivery across Our Client development, staging, and production environments.
• Author and maintain reusable Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) modules using Terraform and Ansible to provision and manage OpenShift platform components and supporting cloud infrastructure.
• Perform SRE-aligned platform operations including performance tuning, capacity planning, incident response, and software lifecycle management for OpenShift environments.
• Engage Client application and architecture teams to define container migration strategies, establish deployment standards, and support onboarding of WebSphere-based services to the OpenShift platform.
• Implement and manage observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos, Datadog) to provide end‑to‑end monitoring, alerting, and SLO/SLA visibility across modernized Our Client tax system components.
• Establish and enforce OpenShift platform security posture including RBAC, network policies, image scanning, and secrets management in alignment with Our Client and government compliance requirements.
• Collaborate with IBM delivery leads and Client stakeholders to track modernization progress, manage risks, and communicate platform health and migration milestones.
• Contribute to internal capability building by mentoring junior engineers, documenting platform run books, and sharing Red Hat OpenShift best practices within the Our Client engagement team.

Requirements

Required Skills & Experience

• Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform - cluster deployment, configuration, upgrades, and day-2 operations in enterprise environments
• Kubernetes administration with CKA-level proficiency, including workload management, Helm/Kustomize packaging, and namespace governance
• CI/CD pipeline engineering using GitOps patterns with ArgoCD, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or equivalent tooling
• Infrastructure-as-Code delivery using Terraform and Ansible across cloud or on-premise environments
• Containerization of enterprise Java applications, with an understanding of WebSphere or equivalent application server migration pathways
• Observability and monitoring platform management using Prometheus, Grafana, Thanos, or Datadog in production SRE contexts
• Cloud platform experience across at least one of IBM Cloud, AWS, or Azure including networking, storage, and identity fundamentals
• Stakeholder engagement and technical consulting skills, with experience working in regulated or government sector environments

Preferred Skills

• Hands‑on experience with IBM WebSphere Application Server modernization tools such as IBM Transformation Advisor or WebSphere Liberty migration
• Exposure to IBM Cloud Paks and OpenShift-based middleware deployments in financial services or government contexts
• Experience with Kafka or event‑driven architecture patterns supporting microservices decomposition from monolithic Java applications
• Familiarity with Our Client, South African government IT governance frameworks, or equivalent public sector compliance and procurement standards
• Scripting and automation proficiency in Python or Java to support tooling integration and platform customization
• Knowledge of VMware vSphere or on‑premise virtualization platforms relevant to hybrid cloud and lift‑and‑shift migration scenarios