Freelance Infrastructure Architect (On-Prem)

Are you ready to take the lead as an Infrastructure Architect? Join an innovative team and help shape the future of enterprise data centers! In this pivotal role, you'll define cutting-edge data center strategies and create robust multi-site architectures that enable seamless business growth and operational continuity. Your expertise will drive initiatives in compute platforms, storage architectures, and hybrid cloud integration, ensuring that they remain at the forefront of technology. As a key player in this organization, you'll not only architect scalable and resilient infrastructures but also lead transformational projects that modernize their technology landscape. With opportunities to engage in strategic vendor partnerships and provide technical leadership across teams, you'll play an essential role in guiding infrastructure evolution. If you're passionate about pushing boundaries and delivering exceptional results in a fast-paced environment, we want to hear from you!

What will you do as an infrastructure architect?

Data Center Strategy & Architecture:

• Define data center strategies, multi-site architecture blueprints, and consolidation roadmaps.
• Design scalable infrastructure for business growth and operational continuity.
• Establish standards for physical layout, power, cooling, and environmental controls.
• Develop colocation strategies and geographic distribution models for disaster recovery.
• Lead data center migrations, refresh cycles, and technology modernization efforts.

Compute Platform & Virtualization:

• Architect enterprise virtualization platforms with high-availability and performance management.
• Design compute infrastructure for mission-critical applications and services.
• Define hypervisor selection criteria and virtual machine governance standards.
• Establish server standards and optimize resource allocation models.

Storage Architecture & Data Management:

• Design enterprise storage architectures with tiered strategies for performance.
• Define capacity planning and lifecycle management frameworks for data management.
• Implement data protection mechanisms aligned with business continuity goals.
• Optimize performance metrics through tiering and caching strategies.

Network Infrastructure & Connectivity:

• Design resilient networking architectures with redundancy and failover mechanisms.
• Architect WAN and SD-WAN solutions for distributed environments.
• Define network segmentation strategies for enhanced security and performance.
• Standardize governance for foundational network services.

Hybrid Cloud Integration & Multi-Cloud Connectivity:

• Design hybrid infrastructures that integrate on-premies with public cloud platforms.
• Establish secure cloud connectivity models and hybrid networking patterns.
• Define workload placement strategies based on various considerations.
• Architect hybrid identity management integrated with cloud platforms.

Backup, Recovery & Business Continuity:

• Architect backup and recovery solutions with defined RPO and RTO objectives.
• Design disaster recovery architectures with failover models.
• Implement recovery strategies for critical workloads across hybrid environments.

Capacity Planning & Performance Management:

• Establish capacity management frameworks with forecasting models.
• Define performance baselines and service-level metrics for infrastructure.
• Implement continuous optimization and monitoring strategies for workloads.

Security Architecture & Compliance:

• Embed security principles and establish hardening standards.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements across environments.
• Conduct risk assessments and security reviews.

Infrastructure Automation & Orchestration:

• Design automation frameworks using infrastructure-as-code (IaC) practices.
• Define deployment patterns and establish automated workflows and response procedures.

Architecture Governance & Standards:

• Chair architecture review forums and maintain architecture repositories.
• Define architectural principles and manage technical debt.

Vendor Management & Strategic Partnerships:

• Lead vendor evaluations and technology assessments.
• Define vendor performance metrics and governance frameworks.

Technical Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Provide technical leadership to engineering teams and translate business requirements into strategies.
• Lead architecture forums and cross-functional design reviews.

• Proven experience in multi-site data center architecture and consolidation.
• Strong background in enterprise virtualization and software-defined infrastructure.
• Knowledge of tiered storage solutions and data lifecycle governance.
• Familiarity with data center networking and WAN/SD-WAN connectivity.
• Experience in backup solutions and disaster recovery planning.
• Ability to design and implement effective business continuity strategies.
• Proficient in integration with major public cloud providers.
• Understanding of hybrid connectivity and secure integration patterns.
• Experience in hybrid identity and access management solutions.
• Ability to develop multi-cloud governance and workload placement strategies.

Nice assignment in Amsterdam until December 2026, for 36 hours per week. For this assignment, you can either work as a freelancer or to be employed on a contract via us. When applying, let us know your preference and salary indication.

How we'll proceed. Within four working days we will let you know if you qualify for the position. We will schedule an introductory interview, either digitally or in-person. During this interview we will inform you as fully as possible about the vacancy, the company and the following steps in the procedure. After consulting with you, we will introduce you to our client and then continue to guide you through the application process. The Independent Recruiters Group has a large team of specialized recruiters. Each recruiter has a strong focus on their own area of expertise. This makes them the ideal sparring partner for both the candidate and the client.