IT Senior Architect - Linux & Open-Source

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced IT Architect – Linux & Open Source Infrastructure to design, evolve and govern our Linux server landscape and the broader open-source technology stack that underpins our business-critical applications. You will own the technical architecture end-to-end - from on-premises data centers to hybrid and cloud environments - and act as the technical authority for standards, security and scalability across the platform.

Beyond the OS layer, you will shape our open-source technology strategy: which tools and platforms we standardize on, how we evaluate open source vs. proprietary/commercial options and how we manage the licensing, support and community engagement that come with running open source at enterprise scale.

The IT operations are outsourced to an external service provider. This role is therefore architecture- and governance-focused rather than hands-on operational, with a strong emphasis on steering and collaborating with the outsourcing partner. You will set direction, but you will also get into the weeds of automation, hardening and performance tuning when it matters.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and maintain the target-state architecture for Linux server and desktop infrastructure (e.g. RHEL/CentOS/Oracle Linux, SUSE, Ubuntu/Debian, as applicable) across on-prem, virtualized and cloud environments

• Own the architecture and roadmap for the broader open-source infrastructure stack (automation, orchestration, observability, CI/CD, identity, data platforms)

• Define standards for OS builds, patching, hardening and lifecycle management and ensure compliance across the estate

• Architect and oversee infrastructure automation (configuration management, provisioning, CI/CD for infrastructure) to enable consistent, repeatable deployments

• Lead the evaluation and integration of virtualization and containerization platforms (e.g. oVirt, KVM, Kubernetes/OpenShift)

• Design for high availability, disaster recovery, backup and business continuity of Linux and open-source-based systems

• Own capacity planning and performance engineering for the platform

• Define and enforce security architecture in collaboration with Cyber Sec: identity and access management, system hardening (CIS benchmarks), vulnerability and patch management

• Own open-source license compliance and governance (e.g. tracking OSS licenses in use, ensuring compliant usage, managing support contracts for OSS distributions)

• Act as technical escalation point for complex incidents and problem management

• Produce architecture documentation, design decisions (ADRs) and roadmaps; present these to technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Evaluate new technologies and vendors and provide build-vs-buy / open-source-vs-commercial recommendations

• Mentor system administrators and engineers on Linux and open-source best practices

• Collaborate closely with outsourcing provider, application owner, architects, network/security teams and cloud teams to ensure end-to-end architectural coherence

Required Experience and Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience

• 7+ years of experience administering and/or architecting Linux environments, including several years in an architecture or technical lead role

• Deep expertise in at least one major enterprise Linux distribution (RHEL, SUSE) and working knowledge of others

• Broad, hands-on familiarity with the open-source infrastructure ecosystem beyond the OS itself (e.g. web/app servers, MySQL, PostgreSQL, message queues, identity providers)

• Strong hands-on experience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration management tools (e.g. Ansible, Puppet, Chef, Terraform)

• Solid understanding of open source OS in Azure cloud and containerization/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)

• Experience designing for high availability, disaster recovery and backup/restore strategies

• Strong networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, load balancing, firewalls) as they relate to Linux server environments

• Practical knowledge of Linux security hardening, patch management and compliance frameworks (CIS, ISO 27001, or similar)

• Understanding of open-source licensing models (GPL, Apache, MIT, etc.) and their implications for enterprise use

• Scripting proficiency (Bash, Python) for automation and tooling

• Experience with monitoring and observability stacks (e.g. Prometheus/Grafana, Nagios, Zabbix, ELK/Splunk)

• Experience with public cloud platforms (Azure), particularly hybrid-cloud Linux workloads

• Active contribution to or involvement with open-source projects or communities

• Exposure to enterprise storage architectures (SAN/NAS)

• Familiarity with ITIL processes and enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g. TOGAF)

• Strong architectural and analytical thinking, able to balance technical depth with pragmatic delivery

• Excellent communication skills; comfortable translating complex technical topics for non-technical stakeholders

• Ownership mentality and ability to work independently in a senior, low-supervision role

• Collaborative approach to working across infrastructure, security and application teams

• Ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions.

• Fluent in English (business level)

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