Principal Data Center Solutions Architect

THE OPPORTUNITY

Iron Bow is seeking a Principal Data Center Solutions Architect with deep experience in enterprise data centers, server platforms, virtualization, containers, hybrid cloud, and AI infrastructure to join the CTO office's Data Center and Cloud practice. This role provides technical leadership and pre-sales support for infrastructure modernization and AI readiness initiatives. The architect will design multivendor solutions across compute, virtualization, containers, workload migration, storage, networking, data protection, and physical data center infrastructure. Key technologies include VMware vSphere and VCF, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and the broader Red Hat ecosystem, Nutanix, Nvidia/AMD/Intel GPU-accelerated systems, and Iron Bow's strategic partner technologies and services. The role focuses on infrastructure for AI training, fine-tuning, inference, and data pipelines.

HOW YOU'LL MAKE AN IMPACT

• Research and evaluate enterprise data center, hybrid cloud, and AI infrastructure technologies that address customer mission and business requirements
• Build relationships with strategic OEMs and partners across compute, virtualization, containers, storage, networking, data protection, and data center facilities
• Lead customer discovery, assessments, architecture, and solution development for data center modernization, AI readiness, consolidation, platform transitions, and workload migrations
• Architect multivendor server, virtualization, and container solutions based on VMware vSphere and VCF, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and OpenShift Container Platform, Nutanix Cloud Platform and AHV, and the supporting management and automation tools
• Develop workload placement and migration plans that consider application dependencies, data gravity, performance, accelerator needs, compatibility, pilot groups, migration waves, cutover, rollback, training, and operational handoff
• Design CPU- and GPU-based compute platforms using Cisco UCS and Intersight, Dell PowerEdge and OpenManage Enterprise, HPE ProLiant and OneView/iLO, and related NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, DPU, and interconnect technologies
• Prepare hypervisor and container environments for accelerator-backed workloads, including GPU passthrough and partitioning, device plugins and operators, scheduling, resource isolation, driver and firmware lifecycle management, observability, and security
• Integrate high-speed networking, storage, data protection, disaster recovery, observability, and security into architectures that support AI data ingestion, training, checkpointing, model repositories, and inference
• Account for rack space, high-density power, UPS and PDU capacity, air or liquid cooling, cabling, resiliency, lifecycle, and site constraints in solution designs, bills of material, and implementation plans
• Provide pre-sales support for data center, cloud, and AI infrastructure engagements, and serve as a technical point of contact for critical customer escalations and post-sales consultations
• Support RFQs, RFPs, technical proposal volumes, LOEs, bills of material, capacity assumptions, and high-level and low-level design documentation
• Develop and deliver technical proposals, whitepapers, presentations, demonstrations, workshops, reference architectures, and sales collateral
• Enable sales teams, post-sales architects, engineers, and partners through reusable architecture, lab and proof-of-concept environments, and technical mentoring
• Brief Iron Bow business units on data center, cloud, and AI infrastructure trends, platform and accelerator roadmaps, support models, licensing, and customer impact

SKILLS THAT DRIVE SUCCESS

• 15+ years of engineering or consulting experience with enterprise servers, virtualization, containers, data centers, and hybrid cloud in pre-sales and post-sales roles, including GPU-accelerated or data-intensive environments
• 15+ years of IT consulting experience supporting a diverse client base, with an emphasis on Department of War customers and complex, mission-critical environments
• Ability to architect multivendor compute, virtualization, container, storage, and networking solutions for large government and enterprise customers
• Expert-level architecture and hands-on experience with VMware vSphere and VCF, including lifecycle management, availability, networking, storage, operations, migration, and GPU-enabled virtual machines
• Strong expertise with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and the supporting Red Hat ecosystem, including RHEL, OpenShift Container Platform, KVM, Ansible Automation Platform, OpenShift Data Foundation/Ceph, Advanced Cluster Management, Migration Toolkit for Virtualization, and GPU enablement for containerized workloads
• Strong expertise with Nutanix Cloud Platform, AOS, AHV, Prism, resiliency and failure-domain design, capacity planning, lifecycle operations, Nutanix Move, and GPU-enabled virtual machines
• Experience assessing and migrating production workloads among VMware, OpenShift Virtualization, and Nutanix using discovery, dependency mapping, compatibility testing, pilots, data protection, cutover planning, rollback, and operational handoff
• Deep familiarity with Cisco UCS and Intersight; Dell PowerEdge, iDRAC, and OpenManage Enterprise; and HPE ProLiant, iLO, and OneView, including GPU-capable systems, power and thermal requirements, and firmware compatibility
• Working architecture knowledge of data center networking, including LAN/SAN and leaf-spine design, VLAN/VRF, EVPN/VXLAN, Fibre Channel, high-speed Ethernet, InfiniBand, RoCE/RDMA, and east-west traffic patterns
• Strong storage architecture experience across block, file, object, NVMe/NVMe-oF, and scale-out platforms, including performance and capacity planning for AI workloads, replication, and enterprise data protection
• Experience incorporating rack space, high-density power, UPS and PDU capacity, cooling, cabling, redundancy, floor loading, and site constraints into implementable data center designs
• Strong capacity-planning and resiliency skills across CPU, memory, GPU, storage, and network resources, including N+1 design, oversubscription, rebuild headroom, performance validation, and growth planning
• Experience with technical architecture, implementation planning, project leadership, proofs of concept, workload benchmarking, and high-level and low-level design documentation, including translating AI workload requirements into infrastructure specifications
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including executive presentations, whiteboarding, technical diagrams, proposals, spreadsheets, and slide presentations
• Strong attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple pursuits and projects, prioritize competing deadlines, validate technical assumptions, and follow through on commitments
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering, information technology, or an equivalent technical discipline required
• Relevant expert and vendor certifications are highly desired, including VCDX/VCAP/VCP, RHCA/RHCE or Red Hat OpenShift credentials, Nutanix NPX/NCM, CCIE Data Center, NetApp NCSE, and other server, storage, data protection, AI infrastructure, or cloud certifications
• Federal security clearance is highly desired

WHAT SETS YOU APART

• A record of planning and leading low-risk migrations for business- or mission-critical workloads across competing virtualization platforms, including data-intensive and accelerator-dependent applications
• Ability to explain how engineering choices affect platform roadmaps, operations, licensing, power, and cost, and to turn AI/ML, data, security, and application requirements into practical infrastructure designs
• Experience building reusable reference architectures, migration playbooks, lab and proof-of-concept environments, benchmark plans, and enablement programs

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

• Candidates muse reside in a reasonable commuting distance to the VA/MD/DC metropolitan area, with up to 33% travel required

WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT

The Iron Bow CTO office develops new ideas and brings them to market for customers and strategic OEM partners. The team includes experienced pre-sales architects and recognized thought leaders who influence products and solutions across several markets. This role will help shape Iron Bow's growing data center, hybrid cloud, and AI infrastructure practice.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS INFORMATION:

The initial base salary range for this position is $180K to $200K. In addition to base salary, this role offers a competitive on-target earnings (OTE) structure, with strong upside potential tied to performance. Our compensation plans are designed to reward success, drive growth, and recognize the impact our sales teams make in the market.

At Iron Bow, we invest in our people and their success. We offer a comprehensive benefits package that may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k) plan, paid time off, and additional wellness and financial benefits. An overview of our benefits is available on our careers page.

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