VMware Cloud Architect

VMware Cloud Architect

San Francisco, CA

USC, GC

$80 PRHR C2C

Required Technical Skills

vSphere/ESXi, vCenter, vSAN, NSX (T), Aria/vRealize Suite, SRM, HCX, Tanzu/Kubernetes

Hybrid cloud (on-prem ? cloud, VMware Cloud on AWS/Azure/GCP)

Network overlays

Egress controls and cost-aware architectures

VMware ESXi & vCenter (8/9)

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)

VMware Lifecycle Manager




Preferred Qualifications

VMware certifications (VCP-DCV, VCAP, VCF Specialist)




Soft Skills

Strong communication skills

Ability to work in 24/7 critical environments

Analytical and troubleshooting mindset

Team collaboration and documentation discipline




Roles & Responsibilities

Role Overview

VMware consultant who can shape platform strategy, own end-to-end architecture, and lead complex transformations across private, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. The ideal candidate blends hands-on depth (vSphere, vSAN, NSX, Aria/vRealize, SRM, HCX, VMware Cloud on AWS/Azure/GCP, Tanzu) with consulting acumen—able to advise executives, develop roadmaps, build target-state reference architectures, and guide delivery teams from discovery through steady state.




Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Advisory

Lead assessment workshops to baseline current state (infrastructure, operations, cost, risk) and define target-state SDDC/cloud strategy

Build business cases (TCO/ROI), migration waves, and investment plans; present to senior leadership and architecture review boards

Define governance, landing zones, guardrails, and operating models for VMware platforms in enterprise contexts




Architecture & Design

Create high- and low-level designs (HLD/LLD)

Develop capacity and resilience models (HA/DR patterns, RPO/RTO)

Define security reference architectures (micro-segmentation, zero-trust, segmentation policies)



Delivery Leadership

Lead discovery, POCs, pilots, and phased migrations for data center consolidations and application modernizations

Direct cross-functional teams (network, security, storage, platform, DevOps) and coach engineers on best practices and automation

Establish Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and automation patterns (PowerCLI, Terraform, Ansible) and integrate with CI/CD where applicable




Operations, Reliability & Security

Define SRE/operational runbooks, monitoring/observability (Aria Operations/Operations for Logs), capacity, patch baselines, and lifecycle management

Implement DR/BCP with SRM (runbooks, test plans), plus backup/recovery integrations

Drive cost optimization (rightsizing, consolidation, reserved capacity planning) and license posture management

Partner with security, audit, and compliance teams on policy alignment (e.g., SOX/PCI/FFIEC/HIPAA as relevant)




Stakeholder Engagement & Pre-Sales Support

Translate technical decisions into business outcomes and risk trade-offs; create C-level decks, design packs, and decision logs

Support RFP/RFI responses, sizing, and solution estimation




Additional Requirements

Strong scripting/automation: PowerCLI (must-have); Terraform/Ansible/Python (nice-to-have)

Proven ability to produce HLD/LLD, migration plans, and executive presentations

Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and consulting skills