Senior VCF Engineer (Operations/Cloud Builder) at SiXworks, Cheltenham, £Contractor Rate

Location

Cheltenham

Employment Type

Contractor

Work on Technology That Protects What Matters

At SiXworks, we build secure digital solutions that support Defence and National Security missions. Our teams work on complex problems where reliability, security, and speed of innovation matter.

We’re looking for a Senior VCF Engineer who enjoys solving difficult technical challenges and wants their work to have real operational impact.

What You’ll Do

As a Senior VCF Engineer, you’ll help design, build, and deliver secure digital solutions in highly secure environments. You’ll work alongside engineers, architects, and delivery specialists to develop technology that enables faster, safer decision-making for critical operations.

Your work may include:

• VCF 9.x Orchestration: Lead the end-to-end deployment of Management and Workload Domains using SDDC Manager, VCF Operations and VCF Installer (Cloud Builder).
• NSX Networking & Security: Design and implement complex virtual networking topologies, including Tier-0/Tier-1 gateways, load balancing, and Distributed Firewall (DFW) micro-segmentation policies.
• VCF Operations (previously Aria Suite) Management: Configure and tune the VCF Operations Suite for proactive operations, log insights, and automation (e.g. Aria Automation/Orchestrator).
• Storage Integration: Partner with the team to map NetApp ONTAP storage ensuring performance and path redundancy.
• Lifecycle Management (LCM): Own the patching and upgrade cycles for the entire stack (ESXi, vCenter, NSX, Aria) using VCF’s integrated LCM workflows to ensure "Continuous Compliance."
• Identity Consumption: Work with our wider high assurance system to secure authentication for all management planes.

What We’re Looking For

We value people who take ownership, think critically, and enjoy working as part of a collaborative team tackling complex challenges. You don’t need to tick every box, but we’re particularly interested in people with skills/experience in:

Essential Technical Experience:

• Expert-level knowledge of VMware VCF (v8.x/9.x), including SDDC Manager and multi-site/multi-cluster architectures.
• Deep expertise in VMware NSX, specifically focused on security-driven networking and overlay-to-underlay integration.
• Proficiency in Aria Operations, Aria Operations for Logs, and Aria Automation.
• Experience operating in UK High-Security environments (MOD, Gov, or National Infrastructure).
• VCP-VMC (VMware Certified Professional - VMware Cloud)
• VCIX-NV (VMware Certified Implementation Expert - Network Virtualization

Just as important are curiosity, strong problem solving ability, and the motivation to continuously improve how technology is designed and delivered.

About SiXworks

SiXworks is a specialist digital innovation partner delivering secure, mission-critical technology to Defence and National Security organisations. We focus on digital experimentation, secure-by-design architecture, cloud technologies, and rapid application development to help our customers move faster and stay ahead of evolving challenges.

Our team combines expertise from across technology, business, and operational backgrounds including the armed forces creating a collaborative environment where practical thinking and innovation thrive.