Data Center Architect - Remote -Contract

Role : Data Center Architect
Location : Remote
Contract

Job Description Data Center Architect
Tower
Datacenter & Cloud Infrastructure
Sub Tower
Datacenter Architecture & Engineering

Role Purpose
The Data Center Architect is responsible for end to end architecture, design, and governance of enterprise data centre environments. The role ensures that data centre infrastructure is secure, scalable, resilient, and cost effective, supporting on prem, co location, hybrid, and private cloud operating models while aligning with business, delivery, and compliance requirements.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture & Design

• Own the data centre reference architecture covering compute, storage, network, power, cooling, and facility design.
• Develop and maintain HLDs, LLDs, architecture standards, and design patterns.
• Review and approve data centre designs for technical feasibility, scalability, and compliance.
• Act as the final architecture authority for data centre related decisions.

Infrastructure Domains

• Compute architecture including physical servers, blade systems, and virtualisation platforms.
• Storage architecture across SAN, NAS, object storage, backup, and replication.
• Data centre networking including core, fabric, segmentation, and security zoning.
• Facilities architecture covering rack layouts, cabling, UPS, power distribution, cooling, and fire suppression.

Availability, Capacity & Resilience

• Lead capacity planning for space, power, cooling, compute, and storage.
• Design high availability (HA), disaster recovery (DR), backup, and business continuity solutions to meet SLA, RTO, and RPO targets.
• Support DC modernisation, consolidation, and migration programmes.

Security, Compliance & Governance

• Ensure physical and logical security architecture, including access controls and monitoring.
• Align data centre designs with internal governance, audit, and regulatory requirements.
• Define and maintain data centre standards, policies, and operating procedures.

Technology Enablement & Optimisation

• Evaluate and recommend new technologies (software defined DC, automation, green DC initiatives).
• Drive engineering optimisation initiatives focused on efficiency, cost, and sustainability.
• Support integration with cloud, automation, and monitoring platforms.

Stakeholder & Vendor Engagement

• Collaborate with Network, Security, Storage, Cloud, and Operations teams.
• Act as technical SPOC for OEMs, system integrators, facility vendors, and service partners.
• Provide architecture inputs for RFPs, solution proposals, and client engagements.

Required Skills & Competencies

Technical Skills

• Strong expertise in data centre architecture and enterprise infrastructure design.
• Virtualisation platforms (VMware / KVM / equivalent).
• Storage technologies, backup, DR, and replication.
• Data centre networking concepts (fabric, L2/L3, segmentation, security).
• Power, cooling, space planning, and environmental management.
• Automation, monitoring, and DCIM tools (good to have).

Behavioural & Functional Skills

• Architecture governance and strategic thinking.
• Strong documentation and stakeholder communication skills.
• Ability to justify design trade offs, risks, and cost models to leadership.
• Mentoring and technical leadership capability.

Experience & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent.
• 15 20+ years of infrastructure experience with senior level data centre exposure.
• Experience working in enterprise or managed services environments.

Architecture or technology certifications (VMware, Cloud, DC, PMP) preferred