VMWare Engineer - Inside IR35

VMWare Engineer

Rate - £525 - £550 (Daily)

Location - Manchester (Hybrid)

Duration - 4 Months (Initially)

Ir35 - Inside (Must use an umbrella company)

We are seeking a Senior VMware Engineer (Contractor) with a minimum of 5 years of hands-on experience provisioning and managing Linux and Windows virtual machines in enterprise VMware environments. This is a contract engagement supporting a higher education institution's virtual infrastructure modernisation and operational support initiatives.

The contractor will provide advanced engineering expertise across VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), VMware ESXi, VMware vSphere, and VMware NSX-T, ensuring stability, scalability, and performance of mission-critical academic and research systems.

Scope of Work

• Provision, configure, and manage Linux and Windows VMs in enterprise clusters.
• Deploy and manage workloads within VMware Cloud Foundation environments.
• Install, configure, patch, and upgrade VMware ESXi hosts.
• Administer and optimise VMware vSphere clusters, including HA, DRS, and vMotion.
• Design and manage network virtualisation using VMware NSX-T.
• Perform VM life cycle management (build, template creation, cloning, migration, decommissioning).
• Conduct performance monitoring, capacity planning, and resource optimisation.
• Support storage integration (SAN/NAS/vSAN) and ensure optimal IOPS performance.
• Implement and support backup, replication, and disaster recovery solutions.
• Provide advanced troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
• Document architecture, configurations, and operational procedures.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, security, networking, and research computing teams.

Deliverables

• Fully provisioned and optimised virtual machine environments.
• Updated and documented VMware architecture diagrams and configurations.
• Performance optimisation and capacity planning reports.
• Resolved infrastructure incidents within agreed SLAs.
• Knowledge transfer documentation and handover sessions (if required at contract completion).

Required Experience & Skills

• Minimum 5+ years of enterprise VMware engineering experience.
• Proven track record provisioning Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu, etc.) and Windows Server VMs.
• Strong hands-on expertise in VCF, ESXi, vSphere, and NSX-T.
• Experience in higher education, research institutions, or large multi-tenant environments preferred.
• Solid understanding of storage, networking, and security integration.
• Automation and Scripting skills (PowerCLI, PowerShell, Bash, Python).
• Experience with vCenter administration and cluster design.
• Strong troubleshooting and performance tuning capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• VMware certifications (VCP-DCV, VCAP).
• Experience with automation/orchestration (VMware Aria/vRealise, Ansible).
• Hybrid cloud experience (Azure, AWS, VMware Cloud).
• Experience supporting research computing or HPC workloads.
• Familiarity with ITIL-based change management processes.

Contractor Expectations

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Deliver results within defined project timelines.
• Participate in change advisory board (CAB) meetings as required.
• Provide regular status updates to project stakeholders.
• Availability for occasional after-hours maintenance windows.