RH Enterprise Linux 10 (RHEL) Architect

Kforce has a client that is seeking a RH Enterprise Linux 10 (RHEL) Architect in Raleigh, NC. Summary: We are seeking a RHEL Engineer to provide technical expertise and advisory services supporting a leading financial services customer with the deployment, hardening, and operations of RHEL10 from previous RHEL versions. In this role, you will lead the strategy, automation, and execution of RHEL in-place upgrades, ensuring a standardized, repeatable, and scalable transition for an enterprise environment. You will act as the technical lead, bridging the gap between current state architecture and a modern, automated upgrade workflow. Key Responsibilities: Strategy & Architecture Design:

• Conduct solutions design sessions to identify current upgrade pain points
• Assist the team with designing and documenting future state upgrade processes

• Orchestrate and communicate the in-place upgrade plan to relevant stakeholders
• Develop and refine automation playbooks for snapshot, upgrade, rollback, and upgrade commit tasks
• Add RHEL IPU (In-place Upgrade) Job Templates to AAP
• Execute the upgrade workflow and troubleshoot alongside Engineering teams
• Refine automation processes to support diverse system types across the infrastructure

• Develop procedures to validate application hosts before and after the in-place upgrade process
• Create and maintain a standard RHEL upgrade workflow (pre-analysis, remediation, snapshot, validation, rollback, and commit)
• Build a knowledgebase for the in-place upgrade process for internal release

• Facilitate workshops to fill technical knowledge gaps and capture upgrade dependencies
• Identify beta users and test/validate the upgrade process at scale
• Provide weekly status reports to the Project Manager to ensure transparency on project status, risks, and decision-making
• Proven experience with RHEL deployment, hardening, and operations
• Hands-on experience with Leapp for RHEL in-place upgrades
• Experience in creating technical documentation and knowledge-base assets
• Experience in managing technical scope and communicating progress to executive stakeholders
• Strong proficiency in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) and building automation workflows
• Strong troubleshooting capabilities, including coordination with vendor engineering teams
• Ability to facilitate technical workshops and lead architectural decision-making