Sr. Windows Engineer - ROPS

Job Description: Senior Hypervisor \& Windows Engineer – L3

Job Title: Senior Hypervisor \& Windows Engineer – L3

Experience: 8 to 12 years

Location: Chennai (work from Office)

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced L3 Senior Hypervisor \& Windows Engineer to own the architecture, reliability, and performance of our virtualization and compute infrastructure. The ideal candidate will lead complex troubleshooting and root cause analysis across VMware vSphere/ESXi, Cisco UCS hardware, and Windows and Linux Server environments, drive platform design and standardization, and act as the final escalation point for L2 engineers, working closely with Network, Storage, and Security Architects to ensure highly available, secure, and performant compute environments.

Key Responsibilities

Virtualization \& Compute Architecture Ownership

Own end\-to\-end virtualization architecture — VMware vSphere/ESXi cluster design, vCenter topology, resource pool strategy, and multi\-site/multi\-cluster standardization.

Own Cisco UCS hardware architecture — UCS Manager/Intersight domain design, service profiles/templates, fabric interconnect configuration, and firmware/hardware lifecycle strategy.

Define and govern standards, best practices, and reference architectures for host builds, cluster sizing, capacity planning, and template/image standardization.

Lead capacity planning and long\-term scalability strategy for compute, covering host/cluster growth, blade/rack chassis expansion, and hardware refresh roadmaps.

Evaluate and recommend new virtualization technologies, hardware platforms, and hyperconverged/cloud alternatives as part of platform modernization.

Act as the final technical escalation (L3\) for complex, cross\-domain virtualization, hardware, or OS incidents and problem management.

Windows \& Linux OS Platform Ownership

Own architecture and standards for Windows Server (2012/2016/2019/2022\) and Linux (RHEL/CentOS/Ubuntu) production environments, including build standards, patch strategy, and hardening baselines.

Lead design and governance of Active Directory, DNS/DHCP, Group Policy, and enterprise identity integration across Windows environments.

Own Linux platform standards — kernel/OS patching strategy, systemd/service management, LVM/filesystem design, and configuration management (Ansible/Puppet/Chef).

Define and lead high availability strategy for Windows (Failover Clustering, NLB) and Linux (Pacemaker/Corosync, clustering) workloads.

Own backup, DR, and business continuity strategy for OS and virtualization layers, ensuring alignment with RPO/RTO requirements.

Advanced Troubleshooting \& Hardware Support

Lead root cause analysis for high\-severity/critical incidents — host/cluster outages, UCS fabric/hardware failures, storage/network path issues, and OS\-level failures.

Perform deep\-level UCS hardware troubleshooting — fabric interconnect failures, blade/chassis hardware faults, firmware compatibility issues, and service profile association failures.

Diagnose complex VMware issues — PSOD analysis, vCenter database/service failures, DRS/HA anomalies, and storage/network performance bottlenecks at scale.

Lead advanced Windows and Linux OS troubleshooting — kernel panics/BSODs, performance bottlenecks, driver/hardware conflicts, and complex AD/authentication issues.

Drive proactive problem management — identifying systemic risks, recurring incident patterns, and single points of failure across compute and OS layers.

Review and validate RCA documentation and permanent fixes proposed by L2 engineers before closure.

Security, Compliance \& Automation Leadership

Own security architecture for hypervisor, hardware management, and OS layers — RBAC, hardening baselines, CIS benchmark compliance, and privileged access integration (Vault, CyberArk).

Lead audit and regulatory compliance initiatives — patch/firmware SLAs, vulnerability remediation, and security certification processes.

Design and drive automation strategy using PowerShell/PowerCLI, Bash/Python, Ansible, and UCS/Intersight APIs for provisioning, patching, and configuration management.

Define observability strategy and own advanced monitoring/alerting frameworks (vROps, UCS Manager/Intersight monitoring, SCOM, Grafana) for predictive issue detection.

Mentor and technically guide L1/L2 engineers, conduct knowledge\-sharing sessions, and build team capability across virtualization, hardware, and OS domains.

Own and continuously improve runbooks, SOPs, architecture documentation, and DR playbooks; lead on\-call escalation rotation and major incident bridges.

Required Skills \& Qualifications

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field (or equivalent experience).

8 to 12 years of hands\-on experience in virtualization engineering (VMware vSphere/ESXi), Cisco UCS hardware administration, and Windows/Linux Server administration.

Proven experience owning virtualization and compute architecture, HA/DR design, and capacity planning for large\-scale, mission\-critical environments.

Expert\-level troubleshooting skills across ESXi hosts, vCenter, UCS fabric/hardware, and Windows and Linux operating systems.

Strong track record of leading root cause analysis and driving permanent resolution for high\-severity incidents.

Demonstrated experience mentoring engineers and acting as a technical escalation point within a 24x7 support environment.

Preferred / Good to Have

Advanced certifications such as VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP), Cisco Certified (CCNP Data Center/UCS specialization), or Microsoft/Linux equivalent expert certifications.

Experience leading data center migration, consolidation, or hardware refresh programs at scale.

Strong exposure to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and hybrid cloud compute strategy (Azure, AWS).

Experience with infrastructure automation and configuration\-as\-code (Terraform, Ansible, PowerShell DSC) at an ar