Infrastructure Architect (Brussels/Mechelen)

Can you lead a migration to a private cloud? We are looking for a Senior Freelance Infrastructure / Solution Architect to support a strategic private-cloud platform initiative. This is a hands-on architecture role for someone who combines strong infrastructure engineering experience with senior-level solution architecture capabilities. You will be responsible for translating business and technical requirements into robust infrastructure solutions, producing high-quality architecture documentation, evaluating technology and vendor options, and supporting governance and procurement activities.

The organisation is currently progressing through the procurement phase of a private-cloud platform, with an RFP potentially being launched in the coming weeks. The ideal candidate will therefore be comfortable operating at both technical and architectural level, while also bringing experience with vendor selection, RFPs and formal documentation. You will work closely with infrastructure, cloud, application and project stakeholders to understand the existing environment and define the future-state architecture, including the migration path from existing on-premises infrastructure towards a private-cloud platform.

Key responsibilities: Design and document end-to-end infrastructure and solution architectures, including comprehensive High-Level Designs (HLDs). Translate business, application and infrastructure requirements into scalable, secure and maintainable technical solutions. Analyse the existing infrastructure landscape and define target-state architectures for private-cloud adoption. Support the migration of on-premises infrastructure towards private-cloud environments, taking into account dependencies, availability, security and operational requirements.

Evaluate and compare different cloud, infrastructure and technology vendors, providing clear technical recommendations and trade-off analyses. Contribute to the private-cloud platform procurement and RFP process, including technical requirements, evaluation criteria and vendor responses. Review and challenge proposed technical solutions, ensuring alignment with architectural principles and organisational standards. Produce and maintain architecture documentation, diagrams, technical specifications, decision records and other governance artefacts.

Support architecture governance processes and ensure that solutions are properly documented, reviewed and approved. Work closely with infrastructure engineers and delivery teams to ensure that architectural designs are realistic, implementable and operationally sound. Provide hands-on technical input where required and remain sufficiently close to the implementation to validate architectural decisions. Collaborate with application, infrastructure, security, networking and operations teams in a complex Linux and Java-oriented environment.

Present architectural proposals and recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Profile Required experience: Senior-level experience as an Infrastructure Architect, Solution Architect, Cloud Architect or similar. Strong background in IT infrastructure and systems engineering, combined with proven architecture experience. Strong knowledge of cloud and private-cloud technologies and architectures. Proven experience designing and documenting High-Level Designs (HLDs) and target architectures. Experience working with existing/on-premises infrastructure and defining migration strategies towards private cloud.

Ability to assess different technical solutions and compare vendors and technologies based on technical, operational and business requirements. Strong understanding of infrastructure components such as Linux, virtualization, networking, storage, compute, containers and automation. Experience working in complex enterprise environments with multiple technical stakeholders. Strong documentation, communication and presentation skills. Ability to challenge existing designs and provide clear, senior-level technical recommendations.

Comfortable combining strategic architecture with hands-on technical understanding.

Strongly preferred: Previous experience with RFPs, RFIs, procurement processes or vendor selection. Experience designing or implementing private-cloud platforms. Experience with VMware, KVM, OpenStack, Kubernetes/OpenShift or comparable private-cloud technologies. Experience with Infrastructure as Code and automation, such as Terraform, Ansible, Puppet or similar. Strong Linux experience, particularly Red Hat / RHEL-based environments. Understanding of cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or equivalent technologies.

Experience with high-availability, disaster recovery and enterprise infrastructure architecture. Experience in environments involving Java applications and Linux infrastructure. Experience working across infrastructure, DevOps, security and application teams.

Technical environment: The role is expected to cover a broad infrastructure landscape, potentially including: Linux / RHEL / Ubuntu, Private & Hybrid Cloud, VMware / KVM / OpenStack, Kubernetes / OpenShift, Terraform / Ansible / Infrastructure as Code, Networking, DNS, load balancing and security, SAN / NAS / object storage, Monitoring and observability, CI/CD and automation.

Offer: Long term renewable freelance contract.

Benefits: 3 days remote.