Principal Data Center, Cloud Engineering Lead

TISTA Science and Technology Corporation

. Lead development and refresh of a ten-year data center and hybrid-cloud estate strategy .

Posted 11/3/2026full-timeUnited StatesSeniorWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates extensive expertise in data center engineering and hybrid-cloud architecture, with a strong focus on developing and executing multi-year strategies, automation, and infrastructure optimization. Proven ability to lead complex engineering initiatives, mentor teams, and communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Data Center EngineeringHybrid-Cloud ArchitectureInfrastructure AutomationTechnical LeadershipAI Infrastructure Assessment

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Infrastructure EngineeringRack ElevationsPower-Path RedundancyCapacity PlanningData Center AssessmentsWorkload PlacementVirtualizationBackup and RecoveryCloud Platform ExpertiseTechnical Writing

Soft Skills

MentoringCommunicationCollaborationProblem-SolvingLeadership

Tools & Technologies

AnsibleTerraformPythonPowerShellInfrastructure-as-CodeDCIMCMDB

Certifications & Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in EngineeringComputer ScienceInformation TechnologyTier 4 / High Risk Clearance

Industry Keywords

Data Center StrategyHybrid ConnectivityAI-Enabled OperationsCapacity ReleaseCost Validation

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AirflowAnsibleCloudPythonTerraform

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead development and refresh of a ten-year data center and hybrid-cloud estate strategy
Translate long-term direction into a rolling three-year roadmap, annual priorities, and executable engineering work packages
Conduct onsite walkthroughs and reconcile rack elevations, equipment, power connections, cabling, labels, network paths, environmental readings, and asset records
Evaluate rack density, power paths, PDUs, airflow, containment, cooling constraints, clearances, and maintenance access
Develop integrated compute, storage, network, virtualization, container, backup, and recovery designs across data centers and cloud
Determine whether workloads should remain, consolidate, refresh, migrate, modernize, or retire
Produce reference architectures, placement recommendations, migration waves, and supportable designs
Assess AI training, fine-tuning, and inference infrastructure requirements, including GPU capacity, power, cooling, networking, storage throughput, data locality, and resiliency
Lead automation roadmaps for bare-metal, virtual, and cloud provisioning, configuration and firmware lifecycle, patching, integration, inventory, backup onboarding, and decommissioning
Develop and review reusable infrastructure-as-code modules, scripts, and orchestration workflows with version control, testing, policy checks, controlled credentials, and rollback
Evaluate AI-assisted operations use cases such as anomaly detection, capacity forecasting, predictive maintenance, incident correlation, and assisted diagnostics
Own technical quality of assessments, designs, and implementation packages; direct and review thermal/CFD studies and establish integration, capacity, performance, failover, recovery, and acceptance tests
Maintain rack layouts, drawings, cable and power schedules, dependency maps, lifecycle records, and DCIM/CMDB relationships
Work with FinOps and the Business Office on total cost, cost of inaction, utilization, capacity release, and benefit validation
Lead multidisciplinary engineers, mentor staff, facilitate design reviews, and build reusable patterns through the Automation and Engineering Center of Excellence
Coordinate with application, cloud, security, facilities, and infrastructure providers
Brief VA leaders on alternatives, costs, risks, dependencies, and decisions
Deliver estate strategies, modernization roadmaps, assessment packages, AI-readiness assessments, reference architectures, tested automation, migration and rollback plans, validation reports, and current support documentation

Requirements

What you’ll need

15+ years of progressively responsible infrastructure engineering experience, including 8+ years in data center engineering/architecture and 5+ years leading complex engineering or modernization initiatives; periods may overlap
Demonstrated responsibility across physical infrastructure and hybrid-cloud environments
Recent, personally performed data center assessments and practical command of rack elevations, power-path redundancy, PDUs, airflow/cooling, cabling, connectivity, equipment placement, capacity, and as-built validation
Ability to read and challenge electrical single-line, mechanical, network, and rack documentation with appropriate specialists
Evidence of authoring a multi-year infrastructure or data center strategy and translating it into implemented changes
Direct technical leadership of consolidation, migration, refresh, resilience, or decommissioning work, with clear personal contribution and results
Substantial experience with at least one major cloud platform and enterprise compute, storage, networking, virtualization, and backup/recovery
Ability to assess workload placement, hybrid connectivity, resilience, capacity, and lifecycle tradeoffs
Hands-on ability to develop or review infrastructure automation, APIs, source-controlled configurations, tests, and recovery logic
Experience with Ansible, Terraform, Python, PowerShell, or comparable tools; expertise in every listed tool is not required
Demonstrated ability to reason through AI infrastructure requirements and safely evaluate AI-enabled operational improvements
Ability to conduct required onsite assessments and travel to designated facilities under applicable safety and access procedures
Ability to satisfy Government background-investigation, suitability, training, and system-access requirements
Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, information technology, or related discipline, or an allowable equivalent combination of education and experience
Strong technical writing and ability to defend designs with engineers and explain investment choices to executive leaders
Must be able to obtain and maintain personnel suitability, credentials, system access, and training required per a Tier 4 / High Risk clearance

Benefits

Comp & perks

Above Industry Healthcare Benefits
Remote Working Options
Paid Time Off
Training/Certification opportunities
Healthcare Savings Account & Flexible Savings Account
Paid Life Insurance
Short-term & Long-term Disability
401K Match
Tuition Reimbursement
Employee Assistance Program
Paid Holidays
Military Leave