Senior Linux Engineer – Legacy Linux Migration
Posted Today by Ikuto
Negotiable
Undetermined
Undetermined
United Kingdom
Summary: The Senior Linux Engineer will lead the migration of a legacy Linux environment to a modern virtual/cloud platform, focusing on complex recovery and migration tasks. This role requires deep technical expertise in legacy systems, particularly RHEL/CentOS 5, and involves planning and executing physical-to-virtual migrations. The engineer will troubleshoot various issues related to kernel, drivers, and storage while collaborating with internal cloud teams. The position offers significant ownership and the opportunity to stabilize and modernize critical workloads.
Key Responsibilities:
- Assessing legacy RHEL 5 / kernel 2.6 systems
- Planning and executing P2V migrations
- Troubleshooting boot failures, kernel panics, and storage driver issues
- Managing initrd rebuilds and legacy driver integration
- Selecting appropriate virtual hardware (SCSI, NIC types, etc.)
- Advising on upgrade vs rebuild strategy
- Working alongside internal Azure/cloud teams
Key Skills:
- Strong experience with legacy Linux distributions (RHEL/CentOS 5 or 6)
- Hands-on P2V / VMware migration experience
- Deep understanding of kernel modules and drivers
- Knowledge of initrd / boot process
- Storage controller compatibility
- Network driver behaviour in virtual environments
- Comfortable working without vendor support
- Experience modernising legacy estates
- Bonus: Experience upgrading from RHEL 5/6 to 7/8+
- Exposure to Azure (though not essential)
- Disaster recovery or infrastructure rescue experience
Salary (Rate): undetermined
City: undetermined
Country: United Kingdom
Working Arrangements: undetermined
IR35 Status: undetermined
Seniority Level: undetermined
Industry: IT
Senior Linux Engineer – Legacy Linux Migration
We’re supporting a business undertaking the migration of a highly legacy Linux environment to a modern virtual/cloud platform. This is not a greenfield cloud-native build. This is a technically complex legacy recovery and migration project involving:
- RHEL / CentOS 5 era systems
- Linux kernel 2.6.x
- Physical-to-virtual (P2V) considerations
- Driver, initrd and boot-level troubleshooting
- VMware virtual hardware compatibility
- Planning for modernisation / OS upgrade
The Context
The environment includes a physical server estate dating back to the late 2000s. The goal is to safely virtualise and/or migrate workloads to a modern platform (Azure will be used internally for infrastructure). A direct “lift and shift” is unlikely to succeed without deep kernel-level intervention and structured migration planning. We need someone who understands what can go wrong — and how to fix it.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Assessing legacy RHEL 5 / kernel 2.6 systems
- Planning and executing P2V migrations
- Troubleshooting boot failures, kernel panics and storage driver issues
- Managing initrd rebuilds and legacy driver integration
- Selecting appropriate virtual hardware (SCSI, NIC types, etc.)
- Advising on upgrade vs rebuild strategy
- Working alongside internal Azure/cloud teams
What We’re Looking For
- Strong experience with legacy Linux distributions (RHEL/CentOS 5 or 6)
- Hands-on P2V / VMware migration experience
- Deep understanding of:
- Kernel modules and drivers
- initrd / boot process
- Storage controller compatibility
- Network driver behaviour in virtual environments
- Comfortable working without vendor support
- Experience modernising legacy estates
- Bonus: Experience upgrading from RHEL 5/6 to 7/8+
- Exposure to Azure (though not essential)
- Disaster recovery or infrastructure rescue experience
This Role Would Suit Someone Who:
- Has inherited “that one ancient box no one wants to touch”
- Has solved kernel panics at 3am
- Understands why old drivers break when virtualised
- Can balance short-term stability with long-term modernisation
Why This Is Interesting
- A technically challenging legacy rescue project
- High ownership and autonomy
- Clear impact — stabilise and future-proof a critical workload