Entry Level Infrastructure Automation Engineer Jobs

INTRODUCTION

Seeking an experienced Infrastructure Automation Engineer for a focused 90-day engagement. The contractor will work within a mature, production VMware environment (5+ years in production, managing approximately 300TB of VM data across 1,500-2,000 on-premises VMs) to secure provisioning automation, ensure every workload is updated to meet our internal management policies for security and data integrity. The contractor will work closely with the internal infrastructure team and team leader throughout the engagement — proactively raising questions, flagging risks, as well as self-reviewing their work for key dependencies and edge cases before implementation. All code will be maintained in GitLab with regular check-ins, following standard software development practices. The opportunity will also collaborate on a VMware-to-Proxmox migration effort to ensure that initial.

LOCATION

Atlanta, GA, partially Remote

COMPENSATION

$79/hr.

ENVIRONMENT CONTEXT

• VM Platform: On-premises VMware (existing Aria Automation environment, 5+ years production and vCenter-managed deployments)
• VM Count: 1,500-2,000 VMs
• VM Data Volume: 300TB
• OS Types: Windows, Linux, and macOS (Intel-based)
• Provisioning: Mix of manual and CI-driven Aria workflows for provisioning and deprovisioning
• Secret Management: 1Password Vaults
• Migration Target: Proxmox VE (on-premises)
• Migration Preference: Live migration or coordinated outage windows with end-users

PRIMARY DELIVERABLES

• Aria Automation templates that provision VMs and self-register with AWS SSM and SentinelOne across Windows, Linux, and macOS
• GitLab CI pipelines to develop, test, validate, and deploy provisioning templates and migration script code.
• Security team collaboration — define and validate exclusions, token handling, and a documented exclusions process and technical implementation.
• VMware-to-Proxmox migration toolkit — robust, repeatable scripts and pipelines to migrate 1,500-2,000 on-premises VMs with SSM and SentinelOne registration to a proxmox-based environment.
• Proxmox platform readiness — collaborate on capacity planning input, environment validation, and migration tools and scripts.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Provisioning & Templates

• Extend existing production Aria Automation environment with new virtual machine templates for SSM and SentinelOne self-registration
• Build reusable, parameterized templates across Aria Automation, Terraform, and Ansible
• Support for all three OS types: Windows, Linux, and macOS (Intel-based)
• Integrate with existing CI-driven provisioning and deprovisioning workflows already in place
• Treat the existing production environment with care — validate all changes in non-production before any production promotion. Attention to detail and clear team communication of possible clear assessment of production impact is imperative.

AWS SSM Integration

• Automate SSM Agent installation and registration as part of every provisioning workflow
• Configure hybrid activation codes for all on-premises (non-EC2) targets across all OS types
• Validate SSM registration before marking provisioning complete

SentinelOne Integration

• Automate SentinelOne agent installation and silent deployment for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• Develop hands-off integration with SentinelOne so that any defined exclusions are in place at SentinelOne installation time.
• Confirm agent check-in as a provisioning completion gate.

Security Team Collaboration

• Work directly with the internal Security group to define and validate required exclusion sets.
• Work directly with internal security group to define system integration for up-front exclusions activation process.
• Collaborate with Security to develop and document a formal exclusions process — covering what exclusions are permissible, how they are requested, reviewed, and approved.

GitLab & CI/CD Pipeline Development

• Maintain all code in GitLab with regular, meaningful check-ins, pull requests and regular reviews with team.
• Follow generally accepted software development practices: branching strategies, merge requests, commit hygiene, and code review
• Build and maintain GitLab CI pipelines for linting, validation, testing, and deployment of provisioning and migration code
• Implement pipeline stages for Dev, Staging, and Production promotion with appropriate approval gates
• Use Artifactory to store and retrieve binary dependencies.
• Organize repositories clearly so the internal team can understand, maintain, and extend the work after the engagement ends.

VMware-to-Proxmox Migration

• Work with the infrastructure team to inventory all 1,500-2,000 VMs — workload types, OS, network topology, storage layout, and VMware-specific dependencies (VMware Tools features, VMXNET3, paravirtual SCSI, VMware-specific drivers, etc.)
• Self-review all VMs and migration candidates for VMware-specific dependencies — proactively identify anything that may not translate cleanly to Proxmox and raise findings with the team leader before proceeding
• Coordinate with the infrastructure team on Proxmox capacity planning — advise on node count, storage sizing for 300TB of VM data, and network configuration
• Design and develop a migration script toolkit (Bash, Python, PowerShell, and/or Ansible) to automate export from VMware and import/conversion to Proxmox-compatible formats using tools such as virt-v2v and qemu-img
• Automate post-migration configuration: network interface remapping, storage attachment, and VM hardware profile alignment
• Integrate SSM Agent and SentinelOne re-registration into the post-migration workflow so migrated VMs are immediately managed and protected on Proxmox
• Implement pre- and post-migration validation checks — confirming VM boot, network connectivity, SSM registration, and SentinelOne check-in before marking a migration complete
• Prefer live migration where feasible; where downtime is unavoidable, coordinate directly with end-users to agree on outage windows before proceeding
• Support a phased migration approach: non-production and lower-risk workloads first, then production with change management gates
• Consult freely and proactively with the team leader throughout — ask questions early, flag concerns immediately, and do not proceed with uncertain migrations without alignment
• Deliver a migration runbook covering prerequisites, execution steps, rollback procedures, and known edge cases

Proxmox Platform Readiness

• Advise the infrastructure team on capacity requirements based on current VMware inventory and 500TB data volume
• Assist with validation of Proxmox-based self-service provisioning system. Develop and run test scripts and terraform and cloud-init templates for testing.
• Prototype VM provisioning using Terraform (Proxmox provider) and Ansible
• Validate Proxmox networking, storage, and resource configuration against workload requirements

Documentation & Handoff

• Deliver runbooks for all provisioning templates, CI pipelines, and migration workflows
• Document integration architecture, secret/credential management with existing internal controls.
• Deliver the Security-approved exclusions process as a standalone document
• Deliver the migration script toolkit with inline documentation and a standalone operations guide.
• Conduct a knowledge transfer session with the internal infrastructure team before engagement close

REQUIRED SKILLS

Area Requirement

• Aria Automation: Hands-on experience with production VMware Aria / vRealize Automation 8.x environments; Cloud Assembly, ABX or vRO
• Terraform: Proficient with HCL, modules, state management; vSphere, AWS, and Proxmox providers
• Ansible: Experience writing playbooks and roles for OS configuration, agent deployment, and migration tasks
• AWS SSM: Hands-on with SSM Agent deployment, hybrid activations for on-premises targets, and IAM configuration
• SentinelOne: Experience with agent deployment across Windows, Linux, and macOS; Management Console API
• Proxmox: Familiarity with Proxmox VE administration, VM/template management, storage, and networking
• VMware Migration: Experience exporting VMware VMs and converting to KVM/QEMU-compatible formats
• Migration Tooling: Familiarity with virt-v2v, qemu-img, or equivalent VMware-to-KVM conversion tooling
• macOS Automation: Experience automating agent deployment and configuration on Intel-based macOS
• GitLab: Comfortable with GitLab repo management, branching, merge requests, and regular check-in discipline
• GitLab CI: Proficient building .gitlab-ci.yml pipelines with multi-stage, multi-environment deployments
• Artifactory: Familiarity with JFrog Artifactory for artifact storage and pipeline integration
• Secret Management: Experience integrating with 1Password Vaults for secret retrieval in scripts and pipelines
• Scripting: Proficient in Bash, Python, and/or PowerShell
• Collaboration: Proactive communicator — comfortable asking questions, raising risks early, and working closely with a team leader and infrastructure team
• Security Collaboration: Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with Security teams on exclusion processes and token governance

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience with Packer for building Proxmox or VMware VM templates
• Familiarity with HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager
• Prior work in security-conscious environments (SOC 2, FedRAMP, etc.)
• Experience with large-scale VMware-to-KVM or VMware-to-Proxmox migrations
• Experience with GitLab Environments and deployment tracking
• Experience integrating provisioning or migration workflows with ITSM tools (e.g., ServiceNow)

ROUGH MILESTONES

1. Environment access; review of existing Aria Automation setup and CI workflows; full VM inventory and VMware dependency assessment begins; initial Security team meeting; GitLab repo and Artifactory structure established
2. Aria Automation templates with SSM + SentinelOne registration working in non-prod for Windows and Linux; first Security review checkpoint; GitLab CI pipeline validating templates
3. macOS (Intel) provisioning integration complete; Terraform and Ansible equivalents with full GitLab CI pipeline promotion workflow
4. Exclusions process documented and approved by Security; all token handling via 1Password validated; artifacts managed through Artifactory
5. Proxmox capacity planning complete; Proxmox environment validated as migration target; migration script toolkit v1 complete; non-production migration runs executed and validated
6. Migration scripts hardened with error handling, rollback, and post-migration validation; production migration pipeline ready with change management gates
7. All documentation and runbooks delivered; Proxmox platform readiness report; migration runbook finalized; knowledge transfer completed

KEY CONSTRAINTS

• Availability during US business hours (west coast) with reliable overlap for team meetings and Security review sessions
• All code must be in GitLab with regular, meaningful check-ins.
• All exclusions must be reviewed and approved by the internal Security team before implementation
• Agent installers and dependencies must be sourced through Artifactory — not pulled directly from the internet during pipeline runs
• Live migration is preferred — downtime migrations require prior coordination and agreement with affected end-users
• Contractor must proactively self-review for VMware-specific dependencies and consult with the team leader before proceeding with any uncertain migration
• Production migrations must follow internal change management processes with documented rollback procedures
• All work product is owned by the organization upon engagement close

WORKING STYLE EXPECTATIONS

• Ask early, ask often — the team leader is available and expects the contractor to raise questions and concerns proactively rather than making assumptions.
• Self-sufficient enough to identify and research VMware-specific edge cases independently, but collaborative enough to validate findings with the team before acting. Recommendations and thoughts are welcome to discuss to make final decisions in a clear and open communication environment.
• Treat the production environments (5 years, 300TB, 1,500-2,000 VMs) with appropriate care — no production changes without validation and team alignment.
• Code should be written as if the internal team will maintain it after the engagement ends — readable, documented, and well-organized.

Russell Tobin offers eligible employee’s comprehensive healthcare coverage (medical, dental, and vision plans), supplemental coverage (accident insurance, critical illness insurance and hospital indemnity), 401(k)-retirement savings, life & disability insurance, an employee assistance program, legal support, auto, home insurance, pet insurance and employee discounts with preferred vendors.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Russell Tobin is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of the race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, reproductive health decision making, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Fair Chance Employment

Russell Tobin is a Fair Chance employer. We consider all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable state and local Fair Chance laws and ordinances, including, the California Fair Chance Act and all applicable local Fair Chance ordinances.

Accommodations

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, or to perform the essential functions of this role, please contact us.

Only applicable for San Francisco Candidates: Under the San Francisco Lactation in the Workplace Ordinance, we will provide written notice of lactation accommodation rights, and this notice will automatically be given upon hiring, any inquiry of parental leave or lactation accommodation.