Senior Virtualization Engineer (9077)

Richmond, VA

$45–$55 Per Hour
Instant Apply

1 day ago

Job Description

Senior Virtualization Engineer Location: Richmond, VA
Work Model: Hybrid 3 days onsite
Employment Type: 6-month contract with potential for ongoing renewals
Schedule: Standard EST business hours; occasional after-hours support may be required
Travel: Rare local travel
Target Pay Rate: $45-$55

This is a W2 position we are not able to consider C2C or 1099 arrangements
No sponsorship. Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S. without employer sponsorship, now or in the future.

About the Role We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Virtualization Engineer to support and advance a statewide public-sector organizations enterprise virtualization environment. This role plays a key part in ensuring the reliability, performance, and security of critical systems and infrastructure. The engineer will report to the Manager of the Systems and Operations Management team and collaborate closely with technical staff to design, implement, and maintain virtualization solutions that meet organizational needs. Top Must-Haves

Strong proficiency with ESXi, vCenter Server, and virtual networking concepts
Experience with VMware clustering, HA/DRS, snapshots, templates, and VM lifecycle management

Responsibilities

Design, deploy, and maintain VMware vSphere environments, including ESXi hosts and vCenter Server
Perform capacity planning, performance tuning, and resource optimization across virtual infrastructure
Manage virtual networking (vSwitches, distributed switches) and storage configurations (VMFS, NFS, vSAN)
Implement and maintain high availability, fault tolerance, clustering, and disaster recovery solutions
Oversee patching, upgrades, and lifecycle management for VMware components and related hardware
Troubleshoot complex issues across compute, storage, and networking layers
Create and enforce VM standards, policies, templates, and provisioning strategies
Monitor infrastructure health and automate administrative tasks where possible
Ensure security compliance by managing roles, permissions, certificates, and VMware hardening
Collaborate with systems, network, and security teams on cross-functional infrastructure initiatives
Document architecture, configurations, procedures, and change management activities
Provide advanced support for production issues and mentor junior team members

Required Qualifications

8+ years of hands-on experience administering VMware vSphere environments and Windows Server
Bachelors degree in Computer Science, IT, or a related field (equivalent technical certification accepted)
Strong proficiency with ESXi, vCenter Server, and virtual networking concepts
Experience with VMware clustering, HA/DRS, snapshots, templates, and VM lifecycle management
Solid understanding of storage technologies such as SAN, NAS, iSCSI, NFS, and/or vSAN
Working knowledge of networking as it applies to virtualization: VLANs, trunking, LACP, jumbo frames, and segmentation
Familiarity with Windows and/or Linux server administration in enterprise environments
Experience with Ansible, PowerCLI, Terraform, or similar tools for automation
Working knowledge of backup and disaster recovery solutions for virtual environments
Understanding of security best practices, RBAC, certificates, and VMware hardening guidelines
Hands-on experience with enterprise server hardware (Dell, Cisco UCS, HPE, etc.)
Some data center experience, or the willingness to learn
Strong documentation, communication, and change management skills

Preferred Qualifications

12+ years of hands-on VMware vSphere and Windows Server administration
Masters degree in Computer Science, IT, or a related field
Deep experience designing, scaling, and optimizing enterprise VMware environments
Strong understanding of virtual networking (vDS, VLANs, LACP) and storage performance
Background in infrastructure architecture, capacity planning, and performance engineering
Demonstrated ability to lead infrastructure projects and mentor other engineers
Infrastructure automation pipelines (GitOps, CI/CD-driven configuration, infrastructure-as-code)
VMware Certified Professional (VCP) or equivalent real-world experience; additional certs such as VCIX/VCAP, MCSA/MCSE, RHCSA/RHCE, or storage certifications
Hands-on Linux administration (RHEL, SUSE, Alma, etc.)
Experience with other virtualization platforms (OpenShift, Hyper-V, Proxmox, etc.)
Out-of-band management tools such as iDRAC, iLO, CIMC, or XClarity
2+ years of data center experience
Provisioning, hardening, patching, and lifecycle management of Windows Server
Active Directory server functions (domain joins, OU placement, Group Policy) and core Windows roles (DNS, DHCP, file/print, IIS, RDS, certificate services)
Automating and standardizing server builds with templates, unattended installs, and configuration management
Backup, recovery, and snapshot strategies for Windows and other servers

Numbers & Facts

Location	Richmond, VA
Salary	$45–$55 Per Hour

Skills

Administrative Skillsunmatched
Ansibleunmatched
Automationunmatched
Best Practicesunmatched
Build Managementunmatched
Capacity and Performance Managementunmatched
Change Managementunmatched
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)unmatched
Communication Skillsunmatched
Computer Scienceunmatched
Configuration Managementunmatched
Continuous Deployment/Deliveryunmatched
Continuous Integrationunmatched
Cross-Functionalunmatched
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)unmatched
DNS (Domain Name System)unmatched
Data Recoveryunmatched
Dell Hardwareunmatched
Directory Server Softwareunmatched
Disaster Recoveryunmatched
Documentationunmatched
Hardware Componentsunmatched
Hardware Virtualizationunmatched
High Availabilityunmatched
Identify Issuesunmatched
Leadershipunmatched
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)unmatched
Linux Administrationunmatched
Linux Operating Systemunmatched
MCSA - Microsoft Certified Systems Administratorunmatched
MCSE - Microsoft Certified Systems Engineerunmatched
Maintain Complianceunmatched
Mentoringunmatched
Microsoft Active Directoryunmatched
Microsoft Hyper-Vunmatched
Microsoft IIS Web Server (Internet Information Services)unmatched
Microsoft Windows NT Group Policyunmatched
Microsoft Windows Operating Systemunmatched
Microsoft Windows Serverunmatched
Microsoft Windows System Administrationunmatched
NFS (Network File System)unmatched
Network Administration/Managementunmatched
Network Attached Storage (NAS)unmatched
Network Operations Centerunmatched
Network Securityunmatched
Operations Managementunmatched
Performance Engineeringunmatched
Performance Tuning/Optimizationunmatched
Production Supportunmatched
Red Hat Linux Operating Systemunmatched
Security Complianceunmatched
Server Hardwareunmatched
Software Patchesunmatched
Storage Area Network (SAN)unmatched
SuSE Linuxunmatched
System Operationsunmatched
Systems Administration/Managementunmatched
Technical/Engineering Designunmatched
VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)unmatched
VMWareunmatched
VMWare Certificationsunmatched
VMWare Certified Professional (VCP)unmatched
VMWare ESX/ESXiunmatched
VMWare vCenterunmatched
VMWare vSphereunmatched
Virtual Machine (VM)unmatched
Virtualizationunmatched
iSCSIunmatched

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