VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) L3 Operations Engineer

Title: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) L3 Operations Engineer

Location: Remote

Position type: Contract

Role Overview: The L3 VCF Operations Engineer is a subject matter expert responsible for the advanced operational management, in-depth troubleshooting, and strategic optimization of the VMware Cloud Foundation private cloud infrastructure. This role is a critical escalation point for complex technical issues, requiring deep expertise across the entire VCF stack (vSphere,

vSAN, NSX-T) and its integrations. The L3 engineer is expected to not only resolve problems but also to drive systemic improvements and mentor junior team members.

Key Responsibilities:

Advanced Troubleshooting and Incident Response:

• Serve as the final escalation point for all critical and complex VCF incidents and problems, including performance bottlenecks, networking failures, and storage integrity issues.
• Perform in-depth root cause analysis (RCA) for major incidents and outages, developing and implementing long-term solutions to prevent recurrence.
• Diagnose and resolve complex issues related to vSAN performance, vSphere resource contention, and NSX-T logical routing and firewall misconfigurations.

Platform Health and Optimization:

• Proactively monitor the VCF environment using advanced analytics tools like vRealize Operations (Aria Operations) to identify potential issues before they impact services.
• Conduct regular health checks and performance tuning of the VCF infrastructure, including optimizing host configurations, vSAN policies, and NSX-T rules.
• Manage and execute the full lifecycle of the VCF environment, including advanced patching, upgrades, and component replacements using SDDC Manager.

Architectural and Strategic Input:

• Collaborate with architecture and engineering teams to provide operational feedback and contribute to the design of new VCF deployments and expansions.
• Assess and recommend new technologies, tools, and processes to enhance the efficiency, reliability, and security of the VCF platform.
• Drive automation initiatives by developing complex scripts and workflows using PowerCLI, Python, and IaC tools like Terraform to eliminate manual tasks and reduce human error.

Security and Compliance:

• Architect and implement security policies and controls within NSX-T to ensure micro-segmentation, compliance, and threat prevention. Participate in security audits and vulnerability management, implementing remediation strategies for identified risks.
• Ensure all VCF operations adhere to regulatory and corporate compliance standards.

Mentorship and Knowledge Transfer:

• Act as a mentor and technical leader for L1 and L2 support engineers, providing guidance on best practices and complex problem-solving.
• Create and maintain detailed technical documentation, knowledge base articles, and runbooks for common and complex operational procedures.
• ead knowledge transfer sessions and training for team members to upskill the entire operations team.

Required Qualifications:

Experience:

• Minimum of 7+ years of progressive experience in IT infrastructure, with a strong focus on VMware virtualization.
• At least 3-5 years of dedicated hands-on experience with VMware Cloud
• Foundation (VCF) in a large-scale, enterprise environment.
• Proven experience in an L3 or expert-level support role, with a track record of resolving complex, production-impacting issues.

Technical Skills:

• Expert-level knowledge of the entire VCF stack: vSphere, vSAN, NSX-T, and SDDC Manager.
• Mastery of automation and scripting using PowerCLI and Python. Experience with configuration management and IaC tools like Terraform or Ansible is highly valued.
• Deep understanding of core networking concepts (L2/L3, BGP, OSPF) and security principles as they apply to a software-defined data center.
• Proficiency with enterprise-level monitoring and log analysis tools such as Aria
• Operations, Aria Logs, and Splunk.
• Experience with disaster recovery, business continuity planning, and backup solutions (e.g., Veeam, Zerto).

Certifications :

• VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) or VMware Certified
• Design Expert (VCDX) is highly preferred.
• VMware Certified Professional (VCP) in Data Center Virtualization (DCV) and
• Network Virtualization (NV) are considered minimum requirements.
• ITIL Foundation or other service management certifications are a plus.