Principal Engineer, IT Infrastructure

Principal Engineer, IT Infrastructure

Posted: 06/18/2025 Job Type: Permanent Industry: Cloud and Infrastructure

Our client, a leader in their technology sector, is actively seeking a highly experienced and strategic Principal Engineer, IT Infrastructure to join their team. As a Principal Engineer, you’ll be a key driver within the infrastructure team, responsible for critical cloud and on-premises operations. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional design and architectural skills, a deep technical background, and a collaborative mindset that perfectly aligns with the organization’s commitment to cutting-edge solutions and operational excellence.

Location & Compensation:

• Location: Hiram, Ohio (Onsite)
• Salary: USD $130,000 – $180,000 annually

What You’ll Be Doing:

As a Principal Engineer, IT Infrastructure, you will be instrumental in shaping, building, and maintaining the core technological backbone of the organization. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Compute Environment Design & Build: Leading the design and construction of resilient compute environments. This involves deep expertise in virtualization technologies such as VMware and Hyper-V, with a strong focus on optimizing server hardware and leveraging software-defined infrastructure (SDI) principles.
• Data Center & Cloud Migrations: Spearheading and executing complex migrations from existing on-premises data centers to colocation facilities and/or diverse cloud environments (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP). Your objective will be to ensure minimal disruption to critical business operations throughout these transitions.
• Hybrid Cloud Connectivity Optimization: Enabling and continuously optimizing robust hybrid cloud connectivity solutions, ensuring seamless and secure integration with key enterprise platforms like SAP, Salesforce, Azure, AWS, and GCP.
• Storage Solution Management & Optimization: Managing and optimizing critical storage solutions, including SAN (Storage Area Network), NAS (Network-Attached Storage), and hyper-converged systems (HCI). This requires ensuring these solutions consistently meet demanding performance and capacity requirements.
• Data Protection & Business Continuity: Overseeing regular data backups and rigorously testing recovery procedures to guarantee robust business continuity and data recoverability in any scenario.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborating closely with system administrators and other IT teams to ensure that infrastructure capabilities are meticulously aligned with both current operational needs and future business expansion requirements.
• Disaster Recovery Planning & Execution: Developing, maintaining, and continually refining comprehensive disaster recovery (DR) plans. This includes conducting periodic and thorough DR exercises to validate readiness and effectiveness.
• Backup Architecture Enhancement: Reviewing and proactively enhancing existing backup architectures to ensure the highest levels of data integrity, availability, and recoverability.
• Core Infrastructure SME: Serving as a definitive subject matter expert (SME) for foundational network services such as DNS (Domain Name System), DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), and critical authentication services, including Active Directory and LDAP.
• Security Integration: Integrating security best practices into every stage of infrastructure design and implementation, ensuring that security is a foundational element, not an afterthought.
• Observability & Performance Monitoring: Implementing and leveraging advanced observability tools to meticulously monitor infrastructure performance, proactively identify potential issues, and swiftly resolve them to maintain optimal operations.
• Low-Latency & High-Performance Support: Providing expert support for latency-sensitive applications, leveraging deep expertise in designing and optimizing low-latency networking and high-performance storage solutions.
• Incident Response Leadership: Participating actively in incident response efforts, providing expert-level troubleshooting and rapid resolution for complex infrastructure-related issues.
• Operational Reliability: Proactively addressing and resolving issues related to fundamental infrastructure elements such as power, cooling, physical networking, and storage to ensure continuous system reliability and uptime.
• Comprehensive Documentation & Mentorship: Maintaining detailed and accurate documentation of all infrastructure configurations and operational procedures. You will also mentor junior team members, fostering their growth and promoting a culture of knowledge sharing within the team.
• Other Duties: Performing other duties as assigned to support the evolving needs of the IT infrastructure.

Required Qualifications:

We’re seeking a highly experienced and technically profound individual with:

• Educational Background: A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a closely related field.
• Extensive IT Infrastructure Experience: A minimum of 10+ years of progressive experience in IT infrastructure management, demonstrating a strong technical background and leadership capabilities.
• Data Center Design Expertise: Proven, hands-on experience in the comprehensive design and successful implementation of robust data center infrastructure, including crucial elements like power and cooling systems.
• Core Infrastructure Expertise: Expert-level proficiency in key infrastructure domains:
  • Virtualization: Deep knowledge of VMware, Hyper-V, and Nutanix.
  • Storage: Extensive experience with SAN, NAS, and hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI).
  • Networking: Strong understanding of routing, switching, and firewalls.
• Industrial Environment Experience: A minimum of 8+ years of experience specifically within a manufacturing or industrial environment, understanding the unique demands and challenges of such settings.
• High-Performance Infrastructure: Demonstrated knowledge and practical experience in designing and implementing high-performance and low-latency infrastructure solutions.
• Storage & Backup Solutions Proficiency: Proficiency with enterprise-grade storage solutions (e.g., Pure Storage) and robust backup solutions (e.g., Veeam).
• Security Best Practices: A strong and ingrained understanding of system security best practices, integrating them into all designs and operations.
• Work Ethic & Collaboration: The proven ability to work both independently on complex tasks and collaboratively within a team environment.
• Communication Skills: Excellent analytical, written, and verbal communication skills, crucial for documentation, troubleshooting, and stakeholder engagement.
• Relevant Certifications: Possessing relevant industry certifications (e.g., VMware Certified Professional, PureStorage Certifications, Nutanix Certifications, Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert).
• On-Call & Travel: Willingness to provide 24/7 on-call support as part of a rotation, and willingness to travel up to 20% as required.

Preferred Qualifications:

While not strictly required, candidates possessing the following will be highly regarded:

• Hybrid IT Design: Experience in designing and implementing hybrid IT infrastructure solutions that seamlessly integrate on-premises resources with cloud environments.
• Hybrid Active Directory: Experience with managing and optimizing hybrid Active Directory environments (ee.g., leveraging Azure AD/Entra).
• SQL Server Management: Experience managing Microsoft SQL Server environments.
• Cloud Platform Familiarity: Familiarity with major cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, and GCP beyond basic connectivity.
• MES Understanding: A basic understanding of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and their infrastructure requirements.