Senior AAP Engineer (RHV Migration and RHEL Platform Modernisation)

Location and Work Arrangement

This role is based in Wellington, New Zealand, with a hybrid working model requiring two days onsite at the office each week and the remainder working remotely.

Contract and Start Date

The position is initially offered as a contract engagement lasting at least six months, with an immediate start.

Role Overview

This senior engineering position focuses on leading the technical efforts for a multi-workstream programme involving Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) migration and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) platform modernisation. The engineer will be responsible for developing and operating automation using the Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) to support migration tasks, application cutovers, and modernisation initiatives to enhance platform adoption, improve operational consistency, and reduce technical debt.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain AAP playbooks and workflows automating RHV discovery, migration tools, and cutover activities to replace manual processes with repeatable automation.
• Administer the AAP environment including managing execution environments, credentials, role-based access control (RBAC), and Automation Hub to ensure security, auditability, and scalability of automation.
• Design and implement an automated golden RHEL image pipeline utilizing AAP, Ansible, and Red Hat Image Builder, incorporating security hardening standards such as CIS and OpenSCAP and patch management via Satellite and Insights.
• Perform audits of the RHV environment to assess hosts, guests, and dependencies, identifying high-risk workloads prior to migration.
• Automate decommissioning of RHV infrastructure as workloads migrate, including data retention and storage reclamation procedures.
• Collaborate directly with application owners to manage complex tier-1 clustered workloads, creating tailored cutover runbooks and providing real-time support during migration windows.
• Serve as the main technical liaison with Red Hat Support, managing support cases related to RHV and RHEL environments and escalating issues appropriately.
• Facilitate Community of Practice sessions and enablement activities, monitoring progress to strengthen internal AAP capabilities.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Extensive hands-on experience developing and managing automation with Ansible and Ansible Automation Platform, including playbooks, execution environments, RBAC, and Automation Hub.
• In-depth knowledge of Red Hat Virtualization and RHEL platforms, with a proven history of successful migrations to VMware production environments.
• Proficiency with migration tools such as vCenter Converter and virt-v2v, with the ability to optimize for efficiency and minimize downtime.
• Experience in automating RHEL image creation and patch lifecycle management using Ansible, Image Builder, and Red Hat Satellite or Insights.
• Familiarity with enterprise security hardening practices including firewalld configurations, CIS benchmarks, and OpenSCAP compliance.
• Experience supporting complex tier-1 clustered applications such as Oracle RAC and Pacemaker during live migration events.
• Capability to interact confidently with vendors as a liaison, managing and escalating support cases effectively.
• Excellent communication skills to translate technical infrastructure details into operational impacts and foster a Community of Practice.

Additional Information

The role is offered at a competitive daily rate with a term duration initially set for six months or more. The worksite requires a hybrid presence with two days per week onsite in Wellington, NZ. Candidates should be ready to start as soon as possible.