Senior Compute Engineer

JOB DESCRIPTION

You have a clear vision of where your career can go. And we have the leadership to help you get there.

At CNA, we strive to create a culture in which people know they matter and are part of something important, ensuring the abilities of all employees are used to their fullest potential.

This position will play the role of the Service Owner Consultant as an individual contributor responsible for engineering, automating, and modernizing enterprise compute platforms across Linux/UNIX and Windows environments in a hybrid context (private cloud + public cloud). The role delivers platform outcomes using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and repeatable automation - creating and maintaining version-controlled Terraform and Ansible assets that enable consistent provisioning, configuration, and lifecycle operations at scale.

This position operates in a fully outsourced delivery model and works day-to-day with MSP engineers to implement changes, run upgrades, execute IaC pipelines, deliver automation, and resolve complex incidents - providing technical direction, validation, and escalation support while remaining an individual contributor.

A key expectation is to help evolve operations toward AI-enabled run-the-business, including practical use of AI Agents / agentic frameworks for triage, remediation workflows, and CMDB hygiene - implemented with appropriate controls and operational rigor.

• Work directly with MSP engineers to execute platform work: define technical requirements, review/validate changes, and ensure runbooks and automation/IaC are usable and repeatable.
• Provide escalation support for complex incidents/problems; partner with MSP on root-cause analysis and ensure preventive actions are captured (automation, standards, documentation).

• Guide engineering and operations for Linux/UNIX and Windows Server across physical and virtual footprints; ensure best practices for reliability, security, and performance.
• Define and maintain OS configuration standards, gold images, hardening alignment, patching approaches, and runbook content—implemented by MSP teams.
• Provide deep technical consultation on troubleshooting (performance, storage, networking dependencies, auth, patch failures) and validate remediation plans.

• Own technical patterns and guardrails for Terraform modules and Ansible playbooks used in production; ensure assets are reusable, parameterized, and well-documented for MSP execution.
• Perform design and code reviews of IaC delivered by MSPs; ensure state practices, idempotency, logging, validation, and rollback/restore approaches are defined and followed.
• Working with CNA’s Architecture team, define reference architectures and blueprints for provisioning and lifecycle workflows; partner with MSPs to implement via pipelines and runbooks.

• Drive automation strategy to reduce toil in provisioning, configuration, patch orchestration, compliance checks, and drift remediation; prioritize use cases with measurable operational impact.
• Establish operational safety standards for automation (input validation, least privilege, error handling, observability, and auditability) and ensure MSP adoption.
• Guide development patterns for scripting (shell, Python, Power Shell) used by MSPs; review approach and quality rather than writing most scripts personally.

• Lead the technical design and validation for lifecycle upgrades (OS and dependent components up to app readiness coordination), including validation and rollback readiness.
• Drive end-of-life/end-of-support remediation technical plans and ensure MSP execution adheres to standards and change governance.
• Guide consolidation and rationalization efforts (workload moves, decommissions) with a focus on reliability, risk reduction, and cost outcomes.

• Provide SME guidance for private cloud compute platforms and virtualization operations;…