Cloud & Hosting Architect/Engineer - Digital Platforms & Cloud (Hicksville)

About us

National Grid is hiring for a Cloud and Hosting Architect for our Infrastructure and Operations department in Waltham, Massachusetts USA.

Every day we deliver safe and secure energy to homes, communities, and businesses. We are there when people need us the most. We connect people to the energy they need for the lives they live. The pace of change in society and our industry is accelerating and our expertise and track record puts us in an unparalleled position to shape the sustainable future of our industry.

To be successful we must anticipate the needs of our customers, reducing the cost of energy delivery today and pioneering the flexible energy systems of tomorrow. This requires us to deliver on our promises and always look for new opportunities to grow, both ourselves and our business.

Problem(s) to Solve

The Cloud Architect/Engineer is a key piece to the success of Infrastructure and Operations. The person is this role will be tasked with driving innovation and modernization within National Grid’s cloud environment(s). The Cloud Architect/Engineer needs to have a deep understanding of public and private cloud environments and be comfortable working within these environments. They will be primarily focused on building infrastructure as code helping our engineers deploy and release faster and self-service.

Responsibilities

• Be hands on with the code. 
• Maintain an up-to-date understanding of the main technology base, and a general understanding of the other technology bases which together form the overall technical direction.
• Influence program and change management.
• Define the vision and build the plan to implement. 
• Orchestrate, automate and optimize servers, storage, virtualization, high-availability, backup and disaster recovery.
• Manage infrastructure technology on a global level.
• Deliver on complex situations or problems without guidance or supervision.
• Demonstrate the application of National Grid values in all interactions with colleagues, partners and stakeholders
   

Must Haves

(These are out of the box skills we’re seeking that will help someone make an impact quickly. It’s okay if you don’t check off all the boxes. We like to talk to interesting people, so don’t be shy, if interested, apply.)

• Experience of project and program delivery, with responsibility of scope management. 
• Must have significant experience with Managed Service Providers (MSP) specifically, must have the technical understanding necessary to hold your own with vendors/providers. 
• Experience with working in an on-shore/off-shore based model 
• Proficient in methods and techniques for structured reviews, including reviews of non-functional requirements, technical documents, test plans, business cases and other key deliverables.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills at colleagues, partners / vendors & project sponsors.
• Scripting Experience: Not all, but some mix of the following as far as scripting is concerned:  Terraform, Python, Powershell, Shell Scripting
• Experience with CI/CD tooling (github/gitactions, JFrog, Jenkins, etc.)
• Hands on with RHEL7+
• Hands on with Windows Server 2012+
• Experience with Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, IPAM
• Kubernetes Experience (OpenShift, AKS, etc.)
• Understanding of networking (OSI Model, Designing Topologies, Routing Protocols)
• Experience working in an agile environment
• Prior experience in implementation of hybrid cloud virtual data center utilizing both public and private clouds.
• Azure experience using Logic App, Application Gateway, Static Web App, Postgres Flex, SQL PaaS, ASR, Traffic Manager.
• Extensive knowledge of DNS (Split DNS, Conditional Forwarders, Private Endpoints)
• Azure network experience around UDR’s, VNet’s

Nice to haves & will you extra points...

• AWS and/or GCP
• Keeps abreast with developments in the IT industry and utility space.
• Demonstrable knowledge of the IT and utility marketplace & trends.
• Experience with Palo Alto firewalls is a plus.

Experience & Education

• Educated to degree level in a relevant discipline or, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills
• Exceptional leadership communication, partnership building and executive presence.