Automation Architect

Contract: Automation Architect
Start Date: ASAP
Duration: 6 months
Location: Remote - UK
Rate: circa £550 - £590 per day outside of IR35
Reference: 20059
This role is for a highly skilled and experienced
Automation Architect
responsible for the end-to-end delivery of
on-premise private cloud infrastructure automation
solutions. The ideal person will bridge the gap between architectural design, process analysis, and hands-on implementation, ensuring that infrastructure is provisioned and managed efficiently via
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
principles utilizing a robust
CI/CD pipeline
orchestrated by
Git runner
technology. This automation will specifically target the deployment and management of environments hosting
Containers
(e.g., Kubernetes, OpenShift) and traditional
Virtual Machines (VMs)
.

Responsibilities
Strategy and Analysis

• Architectural Design:
  Design and document the target state architecture for
  private cloud
  infrastructure automation, ensuring scalability, security, and maintainability for both
  VM-based and containerized platforms
  .
• Feasibility Analysis:
  Analyze and evaluate available on-premise automation technologies, tools, and platforms (e.g.
  OpenStack, Ansible, Terraform, configuration management tools
  ) to determine the optimal approach for implementing IaC and CI/CD within the private data center.
• Process Flow Definition:
  Create detailed
  process flow diagrams
  and technical specifications outlining the complete lifecycle of private cloud infrastructure deployment and teardown through the automated pipeline.
• Tooling Selection:
  Recommend and justify the specific tools and technologies required for the CI/CD pipeline, Git runner orchestration, and IaC implementation targeting the private cloud environment.

Development Guidance and Enablement

• Technical Leadership:
  Provide
  expert guidance and mentorship
  to development and infrastructure teams on best practices for IaC, CI/CD methodology, and Git runner configuration, specifically tailored for
  on-premise automation
  .
• Platform Expertise:
  Guide development of IaC modules for provisioning and configuring resources required to host
  Containers (e.g., provisioning host OS, networking for clusters)
  and stand-alone
  Virtual Machines
  .
• Standardization:
  Define and enforce coding standards, security policies, and deployment patterns for all automated infrastructure deployments in the private cloud.
• Code Review:
  Participate in code reviews to ensure quality, efficiency, adherence to design specifications, and proper integration with the automation ecosystem.

Delivery and Quality Assurance

• End-to-End Accountability:
  Maintain full accountability for the delivery and successful functioning of the developed on-premise automation solutions.
• Quality Assurance (QA) Testing:
  Design, implement, and execute comprehensive
  QA test cases
  and scripts to validate the functionality and idempotency of the automation outcome (e.g., successful deployment of a VM, correct configuration of a Container host)
  before
  release to client teams.
• UAT Participation:
  Actively participate in the
  User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
  phase with client teams, gathering feedback on functionality, usability, and identifying defects or areas for improvement related to the automated provisioning of
  Container and VM infrastructure
  .
• Defect Management:
  Triage, track, and manage all issues and enhancement requests arising from QA and UAT, ensuring their timely resolution.
• Documentation:
  Ensure all architectural designs, process flows, test results, and operational runbooks for the private cloud automation are accurately documented and maintained.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Experience:
  Proven experience (5+ years preferred) in a similar role focused on
  on-premise infrastructure, DevOps, or automation engineering
  .
• Must haves - Private cloud experience, Greenfield automation, Ansible/terraform, Gitlab, CI/CD
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
  Deep expertise with at least one major IaC tool (e.g.,
  Terraform, Ansible
  ) for provisioning and configuration management, including integration with
  private cloud APIs
  (e.g., OpenShift, OpenStack).
• Private Cloud/Virtualization:
  Strong expertise in virtualization technologies and platforms and managing the underlying infrastructure for
  Virtual Machines and Container hosts
  .
• Container Infrastructure:
  Solid understanding of the infrastructure requirements for hosting and managing
  Container orchestration platforms (e.g., Kubernetes, OpenShift)
  .
• CI/CD:
  Extensive knowledge and practical experience designing and implementing end-to-end CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions) and configuring
  Git runners
  for private cloud deployments.
• Scripting:
  Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash, PowerShell) for developing automation glue logic and utility scripts.
• Analytical Skills:
  Excellent ability to analyze complex technical problems, map out process flows (e.g., using
  BPMN
  or flow charts), and propose clear, actionable solutions.
• Communication:
  Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, capable of presenting technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Networking People (UK) is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.