Senior Staff Consulting Architect

Job description

Role Overview Nutanix is seeking a Sr. Staff Consulting Architect - Cloud Native to provide senior technical leadership in the architecture, design, and transformation of enterprise Kubernetes and cloud-native platforms based on the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), across virtualized, bare-metal, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. The role is intended for a highly experienced cloud-native architect who can operate as a trusted technical advisor to senior customer stakeholders , lead complex and strategic platform transformation initiatives, and define scalable architecture standards across large and distributed environments. The Sr. Staff Consulting Architect will combine deep hands-on expertise in Kubernetes, virtualization, platform engineering, automation, and cloud-native technologies with strong consulting, architecture governance, and technical leadership capabilities. The role will also be responsible for developing reference architectures, reusable delivery patterns, technical assets, and enablement programs , while mentoring Staff and Consulting Architects and raising the overall cloud-native capability of the consulting organization. Hands-on expertise in Kubernetes, virtualization, platform engineering, CI/CD, GitOps, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is mandatory. Key Responsibilities 1. Enterprise Architecture Strategic Advisory - Provide end-to-end architecture leadership for complex enterprise Kubernetes and cloud-native transformation programs. - Define strategic platform architectures spanning: - Nutanix AHV - VMware vSphere - Bare metal - Public cloud platforms including AWS and Azure - Hybrid and multi-cloud environments - Edge and distributed infrastructure - Lead architecture strategy for large-scale and multi-cluster Kubernetes environments. - Translate business, application, infrastructure, security, and operational requirements into scalable and resilient cloud-native architectures. - Define target-state architectures and multi-phase transformation roadmaps covering platform adoption, application modernization, migration, automation, and operations. - Advise customer executives, enterprise architects, infrastructure leaders, platform engineering teams, and DevOps organizations on cloud-native adoption strategies. - Establish architecture principles, standards, and technology selection criteria for enterprise Kubernetes platforms. - Provide technical leadership for complex architectural decisions, trade-offs, and escalations. 2. Advanced Kubernetes Platform Architecture - Architect enterprise NKP platforms at scale, including: - Multi-cluster and fleet architectures - Multi-tenancy and workload isolation - High availability and disaster recovery - Cluster lifecycle management - Platform scalability and capacity planning - Security and governance - Define advanced Kubernetes networking, storage, ingress/egress, and load-balancing architectures. - Design virtualization-aware Kubernetes platforms considering: - Compute and resource allocation - NUMA and CPU topology - Storage performance - Network architecture - Failure domains - Cluster density - Performance optimization - Define architecture patterns for GPU-enabled and AI/ML workloads where applicable. - Architect integration between Kubernetes and enterprise services including: - DNS - LDAP/Active Directory - PKI and certificate management - Load balancers - Backup and disaster recovery - Enterprise monitoring and logging - Establish architecture patterns for platform standardization across multiple business units, data centers, and geographies. 3. Complex Transformation Delivery Leadership - Provide technical leadership for high-value and technically complex customer engagements from Day-0 architecture through Day-2 operations . - Lead architecture workshops, technical discovery sessions, design reviews, and transformation planning. - Provide technical oversight for: - Platform deployment - Cluster onboarding - Application migration - Application modernization - Platform integration - Operational transformation - Guide teams through complex implementation and troubleshooting scenarios spanning: - Kubernetes - Hypervisors - Networking - Storage - Security - Automation - CI/CD - Act as the senior technical escalation point for critical architecture and delivery challenges. - Ensure architectural decisions are translated into practical, supportable, and repeatable implementation patterns. - Review and provide technical governance for solution designs produced by Staff and Consulting Architects. 4. Automation, GitOps Platform Engineering - Define enterprise automation strategies for Kubernetes and infrastructure platforms. - Establish standardized GitOps and CI/CD operating models using technologies such as: - GitHub Actions - GitLab CI - Jenkins - Argo CD - Tekton - Flux CD - Design Infrastructure as Code frameworks using: - Terraform - Ansible - Define automation patterns integrating: - NKP APIs - Kubernetes APIs - Nutanix APIs - VMware APIs - AWS/Azure APIs - Drive adoption of platform engineering principles , self-service infrastructure, and developer experience (DevEx) practices. - Establish reusable automation frameworks and reference implementations that can be adopted across customer engagements. - Promote secure, compliant, version-controlled, and auditable platform delivery practices. 5. Security, Governance, Resilience Operations - Define enterprise security architecture across infrastructure, Kubernetes, and application platform layers. - Establish security and governance models covering: - RBAC - Network policies - Pod Security Standards - Secrets and certificate management - Policy-as-Code - Workload isolation - Multi-tenancy - Design policy and governance frameworks using OPA/Gatekeeper or equivalent technologies. - Define enterprise approaches for