Staff Systems Engineer (Infrastructure Automation & Virtualization)

What You'll Do

• Design and maintain infrastructure-as-code (IaC) solutions using Terraform and Ansible to automate provisioning, configuration, and lifecycle management of compute, storage, and networking resources across multi-environment deployments.
• Write and maintain Python and Bash automation scripts that reduce manual operational overhead, integrate tooling across the stack, and support CI/CD pipeline functionality.
• Build and manage CI/CD pipelines in GitHub Actions or equivalent tooling to automate infrastructure deployments, enforce policy-as-code, and streamline testing and validation workflows.
• Administer and optimise virtualization platforms including Nutanix (AHV, Prism, AOS), KVM, and VMware vSphere/ESXi - ensuring performance, availability, and capacity targets are consistently met.
• Support hybrid cloud operations across AWS and/or Azure, integrating on-premises infrastructure with cloud services using automation-first practices and GitOps workflows.
• Contribute to infrastructure design discussions, providing well-reasoned input on architecture decisions related to automation, virtualization, HCI, and cloud integration.
• Monitor infrastructure health using observability tooling (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog), respond to incidents, and lead root-cause analysis and remediation efforts.
• Develop and maintain clear documentation for automation frameworks, runbooks, and infrastructure standards to ensure operational consistency and effective knowledge sharing.
• Participate in security and compliance reviews, applying hardening practices and policy-as-code principles across infrastructure pipelines.
• Mentor junior engineers through pair programming, code review, and knowledge transfer - helping grow team capability and reinforce an automation-first culture.
• Job Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent professional experience. 5–8 years of experience in infrastructure engineering with a strong emphasis on automation and infrastructure-as-code.
• Expert-level proficiency in Terraform: writing modular, reusable HCL configurations for multi-environment deployments.
• Solid hands-on experience with Ansible for configuration management, idempotent playbook development, and role-based automation.
• Proficiency in Python for automation scripting, tooling development, and API integration; Bash scripting for operational tasks.
• Production-level experience with at least two of the following virtualization platforms: Nutanix (AHV/Prism/AOS), KVM/QEMU, or VMware vSphere/ESXi.
• Familiarity with CI/CD platforms (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins) and GitOps workflows for infrastructure automation.
• Foundational networking knowledge: VLANs, routing, DNS, load balancing, and firewall rules in virtualized environments.
• Experience with GitHub or GitHub Enterprise for version control, branching strategies, and pull-request-based workflows.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of producing clear technical documentation, runbooks, and architecture diagrams.
• Additional Skills/Preferences: Working knowledge of AWS or Azure, including compute, networking, IAM, and hybrid connectivity (VPN, Direct Connect, or ExpressRoute).
• Experience with policy-as-code frameworks such as Open Policy Agent (OPA) or Sentinel.
• Familiarity with container orchestration platforms (Kubernetes, Helm) in infrastructure contexts.
• Exposure to infrastructure security tooling and compliance frameworks (CIS Benchmarks, NIST, SOC 2).
• Contributions to open-source infrastructure tooling or internal developer platforms.
• Check what we can offer you: Competitive salary 25 days holiday per year Private Medical and Dental plans, Income Protection and Life Insurance Group Personal Pension Plan Cycle to work scheme and gym subsidy 5 days paid time to volunteer to give back to our communities Employee Stock Purchase Plan The opportunity to work for a Great Place to Work© & Fortune 100 organization Cadence is committed to equal employment opportunity and employment equity throughout all levels of the organization.
• We strive to attract a qualified and diverse candidate pool and encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
• We’re doing work that matters.
• Help us solve what others can’t.