The Role
Our client, a major global financial services organisation, is undertaking a large-scale enterprise platform modernisation programme, migrating a global VMware vSphere estate in excess of 250,000 VMs to Red Hat OpenShift.
We are seeking experienced Senior Technical Leads to take ownership of key technology domains and migration workstreams within this programme. This is a hands-on leadership role, combining deep technical expertise with strong delivery leadership. You will be accountable for driving progress, resolving complex technical challenges, and ensuring successful outcomes within your assigned area of responsibility.
A critical part of the role is the ability to engage confidently with senior engineering leaders, architects, programme stakeholders and executive sponsors - building credibility quickly and influencing decisions at all levels of the organisation.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead a defined technology domain or migration workstream
- Own technical direction, decisions and delivery outcomes within your assigned area
- Drive execution of migration and platform modernisation activities
- Coordinate effectively across engineering, architecture, operations and programme teams
- Identify and remove delivery blockers, dependencies and technical risks
- Provide technical leadership whilst remaining hands-on when required
- Represent your workstream within governance, technical review and leadership forums
- Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and communicate progress, challenges and recommendations effectively
- Ensure alignment to organisational standards, governance requirements and strategic objectives
Essential Experience & Skills
- Deep technical expertise and hands-on experience with VMware vSphere (v8) in enterprise-scale virtualisation environments
- Deep technical expertise and hands-on experience with Red Hat OpenShift (latest version) and container platform technologies
- Experience leading technology migration or platform modernisation workstreams at scale
- Proven ability to engage credibly with senior technical, architecture and executive stakeholders
- Experience driving delivery within large, complex enterprise environments
- Strong technical judgement, decision-making and problem-solving skills
- Ability to operate independently with minimal supervision
- A track record of owning outcomes and delivering results, rather than acting solely in an advisory capacity
Desirable Skills & Experience
- Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies
- Platform engineering practices
- Enterprise compute platforms and x86 infrastructure
- Enterprise networking technologies and architecture
- Storage platforms and data services
- Infrastructure architecture across compute, storage and networking domains
- Large-scale migration factory or transformation programmes
- Operational resilience and regulated environments
- Financial services sector experience
Candidate Profile
You are likely to be a Senior Technical Architect, Technical Lead, Principal Consultant or Engineering Lead who is:
Equally comfortable working at strategic and technical depths
Able to engage "toe-to-toe" with senior engineering leaders, architects and executives
Technically credible enough to lead experienced engineering teams and challenge constructively where required
Pragmatic, delivery-focused and outcome-oriented
Comfortable operating in ambiguity and navigating complex stakeholder landscapes
Willing to remain hands-on when necessary to achieve programme objectives
Location: London or Sheffield (UK) - Hybrid, approx. 2-3 days per week onsite
Contract Type: Contract, initial term to October 2027 (potential for extension)
Start Date: ASAP
Rate: Excellent day rate - dependent on experience
Positions Available: 3, with potential for further roles as the programme scales