VMWare Engineer; Senior IT Analyst - HYBRID

Job Description

Westat is a leader in research, data collection and analysis, technical assistance, evaluation, and communications. Our evidence-based findings help clients in government and the private sector accelerate advancements in health, education, transportation, and social and economic policy. Our dedication to improving lives through research and our approach to projects grounded in investigative curiosity, statistical and data rigor, adaptive methods, and advanced technology are why clients find exceptional value in our work.

This position is based in Bethesda, Maryland and will have a hybrid work arrangement, coming on-site 2 days per week, with Tuesdays required. The VMware and SAN Engineer role is internally referred to as a Senior IT Analyst.

• VMware
  • Architect, administer, and optimize VMware vSphere (vCenter, ESXi) environments supporting mission critical workloads.
  • Design and manage clusters using HA, DRS, vMotion, and lifecycle management best practices.
  • Lead VMware version upgrades, patching cycles, and platform standardization.
  • Support advanced VMware technologies as applicable: vSAN, NSX, Site Recovery Manager (SRM), vSphere Replication, Aria Operations (vROps).
  • Provide troubleshooting across computers, storage, network, and virtualization layers.
• Pure Storage
  • Serve as technical owner for Pure Storage Flash Array platform.
  • Design and operate enterprise storage services including LUN provisioning, snapshots, replication, data reduction, resiliency, and performance tuning.
  • Integrate Pure Storage with VMware per vendor and enterprise best practices.
  • Manage Fibre Channel and/or iSCSI connectivity, zoning, masking, and multipathing.
  • Lead storage refreshes, non-disruptive migrations, and technology roadmap planning.
• Cloud & Hybrid Infrastructure
  • Design, implement, and support hybrid cloud infrastructure leveraging Microsoft Azure and AWS.
  • Engineer secure connectivity between on prem and cloud platforms (site-to-site VPN, Express Route / Direct Connect as applicable) and identity integration with Entra .
  • Support cloud-hosted infrastructure services including IaaS virtual machines and managed storage services (Azure Managed Disks/Azure Files; AWS EBS/EFS/S3 concepts).
  • Implement cloud resource governance: landing zones, subscriptions/accounts, tagging standards, cost controls, monitoring, and capacity visibility.
  • Support hybrid DR strategies (on prem cloud and cloud cloud).
• Backup, Recovery & Disaster Recovery
  • Engineer and support backup and recovery platforms (e.g., Cohesity, Veeam) across on prem and cloud workloads.
  • Define and support RTO/RPO objectives aligned with regulatory and business requirements.
  • Execute restore tests, DR exercises, and hybrid cloud recovery scenarios.
  • Maintain DR diagrams, runbooks, and audit-ready documentation.
• Security, Compliance & Audit Support
  • Ensure infrastructure platforms comply with NIST SP 800 53 and HIPAA Security Rule.
  • Apply secure configuration and hardening standards to VMware platforms, storage systems, and cloud infrastructure resources.
  • Support audits through evidence collection, system explanations, and remediation planning.
  • Partner with Information Security on vulnerability remediation and compensating controls.
• Leadership & Collaboration
  • Act as senior technical lead and escalation point for infrastructure platforms.
  • Mentor junior engineers and provide peer technical oversight.
  • Lead infrastructure initiatives including cloud adoption, storage modernization, and compliance remediation.
  • Work with VMware, Pure Storage, Microsoft, AWS, and integration partners on roadmap planning and escalations.

• 10+ years of enterprise infrastructure engineering experience including:
• VMware vSphere engineering.
• Enterprise storage experience with Pure Storage.
• Experience supporting cloud or hybrid cloud infrastructure.
• Expertise in VMware vCenter/ESXi, clustering, lifecycle management, storage optimization, hybrid backup and DR strategies, and secure infrastructure design.
• Experience supporting regulated environments (government, research) and partnering with security and compliance teams.

• Expertise in SAN architecture…