OpenShift Platform Lead

OpenShift Platform Lead

Location: Cary, NC/Clarks Summit, PA /Bridge Waters, NJ

Fulltime

Salary Range: $85,000-$120,000/Year

Job Description

The OpenShift Platform Lead is accountable for the strategy, architecture, delivery, and operational readiness of the enterprise Red Hat OpenShift platform, spanning sandbox, proof of concept, and production environments.

This role serves as the single technical authority and vendor-facing leader for OpenShift, OpenShift Virtualization, and associated ecosystem components, ensuring the platform is delivered securely, reliably, and in alignment with enterprise infrastructure, security, and operating standards.

The role bridges Linux engineering, infrastructure, storage, networking, security, and automation teams, while acting as the primary counterpart to Red Hat Solution Architects and Professional Services.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Leadership & Ownership

Own the end to end OpenShift platform lifecycle, including architecture, deployment models, scaling strategies, and Day 2 operational maturity.

Define and maintain reference architectures, cluster topology standards (control plane, workers, infra nodes), and deployment patterns.

Establish OpenShift as a strategic enterprise platform supporting both containerized workloads and OpenShift Virtualization (VMs).

Architecture & Engineering Authority

Act as the final design authority for OpenShift platform decisions, including:

Cluster design and sizing

Storage integration (e.g., ODF and enterprise storage platforms)

Networking and segmentation

High availability, resilience, and disaster recovery patterns

Ensure designs align with enterprise Linux, infrastructure, and security standards.

Avoid anti patterns (e.g., unsupported boot methods, non-resilient architecture decisions).

Vendor & Partner Leadership

Serve as the primary technical and delivery interface with Red Hat, including:

Platform architecture reviews

Proposal and roadmap validation

POC and pilot governance

Success criteria definition

Coordinate Red Hat Professional Services and specialized consultants (OpenShift, GitOps, storage, security, automation).

Drive accountable outcomes from vendors rather than tool-centric recommendations.

Delivery, POC, and Readiness Management

Lead OpenShift POC, pilot, and phased production rollout activities.

Define success criteria, entry/exit gates, and acceptance standards for each deployment phase.

Ensure operational readiness across:

Monitoring and logging

Upgrade and lifecycle management

Backup, recovery, and DR

Access, RBAC, and security controls

Operational & Day 2 Enablement

Establish Day 2 operating models for OpenShift, including:

Patch and upgrade strategy

Incident and problem management integration

Capacity planning

Platform SLOs and reliability expectations

Partner with SRE, operations, and Linux teams to ensure OpenShift can be run sustainably at scale.

Cross Functional Leadership

Coordinate across:

Linux Engineering

Infrastructure and Data Center teams

Storage and networking teams

Security and compliance stakeholders

Automation and GitOps teams

Translate platform capabilities into clear consumption models for application teams without exposing unnecessary complexity.

Risk, Governance, and Financial Awareness

Identify and manage technical, operational, and vendor risks associated with OpenShift adoption.

Ensure platform decisions support cost transparency, scalability, and long-term sustainability.

Provide leadership-facing updates on platform posture, risks, and roadmap alignment.

Required Expertise

Deep hands-on and architectural experience with Red Hat OpenShift (4.x).

Strong understanding of Kubernetes fundamentals, even when abstracted by OpenShift.

Experience integrating OpenShift with:

• Enterprise storage platforms (ODF concepts, CSI)
• Networking and load balancing
• Security platforms and enterprise IAM

Proven experience operating platforms beyond install:

• Upgrades
• Scaling
• Troubleshooting complex systemic issues

Leadership Profile

Acts as a technical executive, not just a product expert.

Comfortable making opinionated, evidence based platform decisions.

Able to challenge vendors constructively while maintaining partnership.

Communicates clearly with engineering teams, executives, and external partners.

Success Measures

OpenShift platform transitions successfully from POC to production with defined operating standards.

Clear ownership and accountability model for OpenShift exists across teams.

Red Hat engagement is outcome-driven, with measurable value delivered.

The platform is stable, supportable, and trusted by infrastructure and application teams.

Desired Skills: Linux

Diverse Lynx LLC is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive due consideration for employment without any discrimination. All applicants will be evaluated solely on the basis of their ability, competence and their proven capability to perform the functions outlined in the corresponding role. We promote and support a diverse workforce across all levels in the company.