Linux Program Manager

Location:

Sheffield, 3 days onsite Duration: 11/10/2027, contract inside IR35
Role

Description:

Lead the design, build and operational launch of a RHEL server offering on IBM LinuxONE. Work with the mainframe, Linux, network, storage, security and service-management teams to define responsibilities and deliver a service application teams can consume.
Essential experience
IBM LinuxONE / IBM Z:
Understanding of LPARs, IFL capacity, platform resilience and the chosen virtualisation approach—such as z/VM or KVM.
Enterprise RHEL:
Familiarity with provisioning, patching, hardening, monitoring, backup, automation and production support.
Cross-platform delivery:
Experience aligning mainframe platform practices with Linux engineering and application requirements.
Infrastructure service launches:
Delivery of service catalogues, support models, SLAs, disaster recovery, operational acceptance and onboarding.
Technical project management:
Ownership of plans, dependencies, risks, suppliers, budgets and decisions across infrastructure teams.
They do not need to be the deepest engineer in both technologies, but must be technically credible enough to challenge assumptions and resolve ownership gaps.
Key responsibilities
Define the offering:
Supported RHEL versions, server sizes, environments, availability tiers and target workloads.
Coordinate the architecture:
Platform capacity, virtualisation, networking, storage, security and management tooling.
Confirm workload readiness:
Validate application, middleware and vendor support for Linux on IBM Z (s390x)—do not assume x86 workloads can move unchanged.
Establish the operating model:
Agree who provisions, patches, monitors, backs up and supports each layer.
Lead a pilot:
Prove provisioning, application compatibility, performance, recovery and support processes.
Deliver production readiness:
Secure operational sign-off, publish the service catalogue and manage initial onboarding.
Expected deliverables
Integrated delivery plan and RAID log.
Agreed architecture and responsibility matrix.
Capacity, licensing and cost model.
Provisioning and lifecycle-management processes.
Security, backup and disaster-recovery acceptance evidence.
Operational runbooks, support model and service catalogue.
Pilot results and production go-live approval.