Join our Architecture Services team! The Architecture Services department is made of two technical areas: Solutions and Vendor-based presales. The Solutions Architects focus on complex architecture with knowledge ranging more broadly across one or more disciplines, whilst Vendor Architects specialise on providing expertise within specified vendors and provide a deeper level of understanding of those vendors.
Success – The Softcat Way
There is a uniqueness to Softcat – what we do, how we do it and why we do it. At the heart of our operations are our core values: Passion, Intelligence, Fun, Responsible and Community. These values are the pillars that guide our every action.
As a Datacenter vendor Architect, you will work as a member of the Architecture Services department to translate a client’s technical requirements into innovative, thoughtful, and well-designed solutions either on premise or via a public or private cloud offering. This role is focused on architecting VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9) instances and operating models for modern private cloud, covering compute, storage, networking, security, management and automation. You will act as a subject matter expert and technical design authority for VCF 9 architectures, guiding customers from discovery through design and into delivery with a clear focus on security, resilience, supportability and commercial outcomes.
Responsibilities
- Leading customer discovery to capture requirements, constraints and priorities (e.g. MoSCoW), including stakeholder workshops and options/decision papers.
- Designing and acting as technical authority for VCF 9 architectures (management/workload domains, multi-cluster and multi-site), producing and contributing to High Level Designs aligned to operating model, governance and compliance.
- Defining upgrade and migration strategies into VCF 9 (and earlier versions), covering risks, dependencies and cutover planning.
- Architecting VCF 9 networking, security and storage, including NSX-aligned designs, segmentation, vSAN architectures, and integration with physical networks and external storage where required.
- Designing for modern platform consumption on VCF 9, including Kubernetes-enabled workloads (VKS), multi-tenancy and tenant/chargeback models.
- Collaborating with cross-discipline specialists to deliver end-to-end solutions (hardware, backup/DR, observability, public cloud integrations).
Desired Qualifications
- VCF 9 Architect certification (VCP VCF 9 Architect).
- VCAP specialization aligned to VCF 9 in at least one area: Networking (NSX), Storage, or VKS.
- Earlier certifications including VCAPs (vSphere v7 or higher) are required to demonstrate depth of design and delivery capability.
- Demonstrable presales experience designing and communicating modern private cloud / hybrid platform solutions, with deep VMware architecture capability.
- Prior delivery experience (hands‑on project delivery) designing and implementing VMware Cloud Foundation environments.
- Strong architectural knowledge of the VCF 9 stack and operating model, including how vSphere, vSAN, NSX and VCF management components integrate in a supportable reference architecture.
- Ability to understand and ratify technical designs at high level, balancing customer outcomes, operational reality, security/resilience and commercial considerations.
- AVS (Azure VMware Solution) or VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) architecture experience.
- Other technology vendor experience and certifications (e.g., server, storage, networking), demonstrating you can design how hardware platforms and the VCF stack interoperate in real-world datacentre environments.
We also acknowledge that the confidence gap and imposter syndrome are real and may hinder great talent. Therefore, we encourage you to apply – we would love to hear from you!
Work in a way that works for you
We can offer the following flexible working patterns:
- Hybrid working
- Working flexible hours – flexing the times you start and finish during the day
- Flexibility around school pick up and drop offs
Working with us
Wherever you work, we want you to experience the freedom and autonomy to realise your potential. You will feel supported by a team that celebrates individuality, encourages different perspectives, and embraces every background.
Join us
To become part of the success story, please apply now.
If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we can provide support or adjustments that you may need throughout our recruitment process or any mitigating circumstance you wish for us to consider. Any information you share on your application will be treated in confidence.
You can find out more about life at Softcat and our commitments to diversity and inclusion at jobs.softcat.com/jobs/our-culture/.
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