Linux Programme Manager

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Anticipated Contract End Date/Length: October 11, 2027
Work Set Up: Hybrid (3 days per week in Sheffield office)
Clearance Required: BPSS

Our client in the Information Technology and Services industry is looking for an experienced Linux Programme Manager to lead the design, build, and operational launch of a RHEL server offering on IBM LinuxONE. The successful candidate will work across mainframe, Linux, network, storage, security, and service-management teams to define responsibilities and deliver a service application teams can consume.

The role requires strong technical project management experience combined with sufficient technical credibility across IBM LinuxONE, RHEL, infrastructure, and cross-platform delivery to challenge assumptions, resolve ownership gaps, and drive successful service launch and operational adoption.

Responsibilities

• Define the RHEL offering, including supported versions, server sizes, environments, availability tiers, and target workloads.
• Coordinate the architecture across platform capacity, virtualisation, networking, storage, security, and management tooling.
• Confirm workload readiness by validating application, middleware, and vendor support for Linux on IBM Z (s390x), without assuming x86 workloads can move unchanged.
• Establish the operating model and agree ownership for provisioning, patching, monitoring, backup, and support across each layer.
• Lead a pilot to prove provisioning, application compatibility, performance, recovery, and support processes.
• Deliver production readiness by securing operational sign-off, publishing the service catalogue, and managing initial onboarding.
• Lead the design, build, and operational launch of the RHEL server offering on IBM LinuxONE.
• Coordinate mainframe, Linux, network, storage, security, and service-management teams to define responsibilities and delivery requirements.
• Align mainframe platform practices with Linux engineering and application requirements.
• Manage infrastructure service-launch activities, including service catalogues, support models, SLAs, disaster recovery, operational acceptance, and onboarding.
• Own delivery plans, dependencies, risks, suppliers, budgets, and decisions across infrastructure teams.
• Challenge technical assumptions and resolve ownership gaps across platform and engineering teams.
• Produce and maintain an integrated delivery plan and RAID log.
• Establish and maintain agreed architecture and responsibility matrices.
• Develop capacity, licensing, and cost models.
• Define provisioning and lifecycle-management processes.
• Secure security, backup, and disaster-recovery acceptance evidence.
• Establish operational runbooks, support models, and service catalogues.
• Document pilot results and secure production go-live approval.

• Bring experience with IBM LinuxONE / IBM Z, including understanding of LPARs, IFL capacity, platform resilience, and virtualisation approaches such as z/VM or KVM.
• Demonstrate familiarity with enterprise RHEL environments, including provisioning, patching, hardening, monitoring, backup, automation, and production support.
• Possess cross-platform delivery experience aligning mainframe platform practices with Linux engineering and application requirements.
• Demonstrate experience delivering infrastructure service launches involving service catalogues, support models, SLAs, disaster recovery, operational acceptance,…