Automation Engineer (Ansible), W2 Role, Only Locals

-or USCs

-One year contract

LOCATION:  Hybrid schedule (50% onsite) - FCPS IT HQ at Wilton Woods - 3701 Franconia Rd, Alexandria, VA 22310

Title: Mid-Level Ansible Automation Engineer / Subject Matter Expert (VMware, NetApp, OpenShift)
Location: Fairfax / Alexandria, Virginia 
Department: Infrastructure & Cloud Automation

Position Summary
We are seeking a Mid-Level Ansible Automation Engineer and technical Subject Matter Expert to design, develop, and maintain enterprise-grade automation solutions across our hybrid infrastructure. This role focuses on leveraging Ansible to automate provisioning, configuration, and management of VMware ESXi environments, NetApp storage systems, and Red Hat OpenShift container platforms, and to assist in the migration of this environment to more modern platforms.  The ideal candidate has 3–6 years of hands-on experience automating complex infrastructure, deep expertise in Ansible, with working knowledge of VMware, NetApp, and OpenShift.  A strong ability to translate operational requirements into reliable automation.

Key Responsibilities
Design, develop, test, and maintain Ansible playbooks, roles, collections, and workflows for infrastructure-as-code deployments.
Automate end-to-end provisioning and lifecycle management of VMware vSphere/ESXi hosts, clusters, virtual machines, and related components (vCenter, vSAN, NSX).
Build and maintain automation for NetApp storage platforms (ONTAP) including volume/SVM provisioning, snapshot policies, SnapMirror replication, and integration with VMware and OpenShift environments.
Develop Ansible-based automation for Red Hat OpenShift clusters, including day-2 operations, operator management, application deployment pipelines, and cluster scaling.
Create reusable automation modules and integrations between VMware, NetApp, and OpenShift (e.g., automated storage class creation, PV provisioning, backup/restore workflows).
Implement configuration management, compliance enforcement, and drift detection using Ansible.
Collaborate with Infrastructure, DevOps, and Application teams to automate repeatable processes and reduce manual toil.
Troubleshoot complex automation failures and performance issues across the technology stack.
Document automation architecture, runbooks, and operational procedures.
Mentor junior engineers and promote automation best practices across the organization.
Participate in on-call rotation for automated infrastructure support.

Required Qualifications & Experience
3–6 years of professional experience in automation engineering with a focus on Ansible (AWX/Tower or Ansible Core).
Strong working knowledge of VMware ESXi / vSphere (version 7.x/8.x), including host configuration, clustering, and automation via Ansible VMware modules.
Solid hands-on experience with NetApp ONTAP storage systems, including automation of storage provisioning, efficiency features, and integration with hypervisors/containers.
Practical experience with Red Hat OpenShift (4.x), including cluster deployment/upgrade automation, storage integration, and GitOps workflows.
Proficiency in writing clean, modular, and well-tested Ansible content (roles, collections, Jinja2 templates, custom modules).
Strong Linux/Red Hat Enterprise Linux administration skills.
Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab CI, or similar), and version-controlled infrastructure code.
Solid understanding of networking, security, and infrastructure concepts in hybrid/cloud environments.

Technical Skills (Strong Working Knowledge)
Automation: Ansible (core + collections), Ansible Tower/AWX, Molecule testing.
Virtualization: VMware vSphere, ESXi, PowerCLI (via Ansible).
Storage: NetApp ONTAP, Ansible NetApp collection, storage best practices for VMware & Kubernetes.
Containers/K8s: Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes operators, Helm, and OpenShift APIs.
Scripting: Python, Bash, YAML.
Monitoring/Logging: Integration with tools such as Prometheus, ELK, or Splunk.

Nice-to-Haves
Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation or OpenShift certifications.
VMware Certified Professional (VCP) or NetApp certifications.
Experience with Terraform or other IaC tools in conjunction with Ansible.
Knowledge of VMware Tanzu, vSphere with Tanzu, or NetApp Trident CSI.
Cloud experience (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform) and hybrid connectivity automation.
Familiarity with event-driven automation (Ansible EDA) or AAP (Ansible Automation Platform).

Personal Attributes
Strong problem-solving and analytical skills with a passion for automation and efficiency.
Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.
Self-motivated with the ability to work independently and deliver high-quality solutions.
Customer-focused mindset with a drive to improve operational reliability and speed.