Solution Architect - Data Center Infrastructure

JOB DESCRIPTION

Solution Architect - Data Center Infrastructure | Professional Managed Services

Company: Zindagi Technologies
Location: Connaught Place, New Delhi
Work Mode: Work from Office
Initial Work Arrangement: 5 Days WFO for the first 4-6 months
Function: Professional Services Managed Services
Role: Solution Architect

About Zindagi Technologies

Founded in 2017 by Abhijit Singh Anand, Zindagi Technologies operates exclusively in the Indian market, delivering specialized technology infrastructure, professional services, managed services, and cybersecurity solutions.

The companys philosophy is inspired by the principle that the fundamental purpose of a business should be to make peoples lives easier.

Zindagi Technologies works on complex, large-scale technology infrastructure projects where engineering quality, technical depth, execution excellence, and continuous learning are highly valued.

The company has contributed technical expertise to several significant national projects and critical infrastructure initiatives, including:

• New Parliament
• Noida International Airport
• Prime Ministers Office and Residence
• Executive Enclave
• Central Vista

The organization operates in technically demanding environments where reliability, security, precision, and deep infrastructure expertise are critical.

About the Business

Zindagi Technologies operates across multiple technology-focused business verticals.

1. Professional Services

The Professional Services business focuses on the technical planning, architecture, design, implementation, and integration of large-scale on-premise data center environments.

The team is involved primarily in:

Planning Setup

• Technical planning
• Infrastructure architecture
• Solution design
• Data center planning
• Technology selection
• Integration planning

- Implementation Integration

• Infrastructure stacking
• Power-on
• Configuration
• Integration
• Infrastructure commissioning
• Technical validation

Zindagi Technologies frequently operates as a technical partner to large system integrators, supporting complex projects where the system integrator may own the primary hardware and licensing contracts.

2. Managed Services

The Managed Services business focuses on Day 2 operations after infrastructure goes live.

The objective is to provide ongoing management, operational support, monitoring, maintenance, optimization, and availability of critical data center infrastructure while creating recurring revenue for the business.

3. Cyber Range

Following the 2022 cyberattack at AIIMS, Zindagi Technologies was commissioned by the government to develop Indias first Cyber Range.

The Cyber Range creates a digital twin of IT infrastructure, enabling organizations to simulate cyber threats, test defensive capabilities, identify vulnerabilities, and strengthen cybersecurity preparedness.

The initiative reflects Zindagi Technologies ability to undertake technically complex and nationally significant technology programs.

Role Overview

Zindagi Technologies is looking for an experienced and technically strong Solution Architect - Data Center Infrastructure to join its Professional Services and Managed Services business.

This is not a purely conceptual or high-level architecture role.

The ideal candidate must combine:

Architectural Breadth + Technical Depth + Hands-on Infrastructure Understanding

The individual will be responsible for understanding complex customer requirements and project RFPs, translating them into technically sound solutions, and stitching together the complete infrastructure stack across multiple technology domains.

The Solution Architect must be capable of looking at the entire data center ecosystem, understanding how individual components interact, and developing an end-to-end solution covering compute, virtualization, storage, backup, network, firewalls, operating systems, and related infrastructure components.

At the same time, the candidate must possess deep hands-on expertise in server virtualization, particularly across:

• VMware
• Windows
• Linux

The ideal candidate will have significant experience working with on-premise data centers, particularly within government, national security, critical infrastructure, or similarly sensitive environments.

Key Responsibilities

1. Solution Architecture

• Design comprehensive end-to-end infrastructure solutions based on customer requirements and project RFPs.
• Analyze technical requirements, specifications, scope of work, compliance requirements, and solution expectations contained within RFPs.
• Translate business and technical requirements into practical infrastructure architectures.
• Develop solutions covering the complete data center technology stack.
• Ensure that different infrastructure components are technically compatible and properly integrated.
• Create technically robust, scalable, secure, supportable, and commercially viable infrastructure solutions.
• Evaluate multiple technology options and recommend the most appropriate architecture.
• Identify technical dependencies, risks, constraints, and integration requirements.
• Ensure proposed solutions are aligned with customer requirements and project objectives.

2. Data Center Infrastructure Architecture

Provide broad architectural expertise across:

Compute

• Physical servers
• Server architecture
• CPU and memory sizing
• Compute capacity planning
• High availability
• Server consolidation
• Infrastructure sizing
• Performance considerations

Virtualization

Deep expertise is mandatory in server virtualization, particularly:

• VMware
• VMware virtualization architecture
• Virtual machine infrastructure
• Hypervisor environments
• Virtualization sizing
• Virtual infrastructure design
• High availability
• Resource allocation
• Virtual machine lifecycle considerations
• Virtualization integration with storage, compute, backup, and networking

Operating Systems

Strong technical understanding of:

• Windows Server
• Linux
• Server operating system architecture
• OS integration within virtualized environments
• Infrastructure-level troubleshooting
• OS and virtualization dependencies

Storage

• Enterprise storage architecture
• Storage sizing
• Capacity planning
• Performance requirements
• Storage connectivity
• Storage integration with virtualization
• High availability and redundancy
• Data protection considerations

Backup

• Enterprise backup architecture
• Backup infrastructure
• Backup sizing
• Backup policies
• Backup integration with virtualized environments
• Recovery requirements
• Disaster recovery considerations
• Data protection architecture

Network / Firewalls

• Data center networking
• Network architecture
• Network segmentation
• Firewall architecture
• Security zones
• Connectivity requirements
• Network integration with compute, storage, and virtualization
• High availability and redundancy
• Security requirements for critical infrastructure

3. RFP / Bid Solutioning

A major responsibility of this position will be supporting technical bidding and RFP responses.

The candidate will:

• Study and interpret RFPs and technical specifications.
• Understand customer requirements and compliance criteria.
• Map requirements to appropriate technology solutions.
• Design complete infrastructure architectures.
• Develop technical solution approaches.
• Identify required OEM technologies and components.
• Coordinate with OEMs and technology partners.
• Obtain technical inputs, configurations, specifications, and solution details from OEMs.
• Validate proposed configurations.
• Ensure technical compliance with RFP requirements.
• Support preparation of technical proposals.
• Identify gaps between customer requirements and proposed solutions.
• Participate in technical discussions with customers, system integrators, OEMs, and internal teams.
• Support clarification and negotiation of technical requirements.
• Ensure the final proposed architecture is technically executable.

4. OEM Coordination

The candidate will be required to work closely with OEMs and technology partners.

Responsibilities include:

• Coordinating with OEM technical teams.
• Understanding OEM technology capabilities.
• Obtaining appropriate configurations and technical specifications.
• Validating OEM recommendations.
• Building integrated multi-OEM solutions.
• Ensuring compatibility between different infrastructure components.
• Supporting technical bidding activities.
• Working with OEMs during solution design and delivery.
• Resolving technical dependencies and integration issues.
• Supporting the delivery team with OEM-level technical coordination.

5. Professional Services / Implementation Support

The Solution Architect may also be involved in the technical lifecycle

This includes:

• Infrastructure planning
• Technical architecture
• Solution design
• Capacity planning
• Technology selection
• Integration planning
• Implementation planning
• Infrastructure deployment
• Server stacking
• Power-on activities
• Configuration
• Virtualization deployment
• Infrastructure integration
• Technical validation
• Testing and commissioning
• Handover to operational teams

The candidate should therefore understand not only how to design a solution but also how that solution will actually be implemented and operated.

6. Managed Services / Day 2 Understanding

The candidate should have a strong understanding of how infrastructure operates after go-live.

This includes understanding:

• Infrastructure operations
• Monitoring
• Availability
• Incident management
• Capacity management
• Performance management
• Backup operations
• Virtualization operations
• Infrastructure maintenance
• Troubleshooting
• Service continuity
• Operational support requirements

The Solution Architect should be able to design solutions that are not only technically correct but also operationally manageable and supportable.

7. Government Critical Infrastructure Experience

This is one of the most important requirements for the position.

The candidate must have meaningful experience working with:

• On-premise data centers
• Government data centers
• National security infrastructure
• Critical infrastructure
• Government technology projects
• Large-scale enterprise infrastructure environments

Experience with highly regulated, security-sensitive, or mission-critical environments will be highly relevant.

The candidate should understand the additional requirements associated with:

• Security
• Reliability
• Availability
• Compliance
• Redundancy
• Business continuity
• Operational resilience
• Controlled infrastructure environments

Critical Requirement

Candidates whose primary experience is public cloud architecture will not be considered a strong fit for this position.

Public Cloud - Explicitly NOT the Primary Focus

This role is not focused on public cloud architecture.

Experience primarily centered around:

• AWS
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud / GCP

does not substitute for the required on-premise data center infrastructure experience.

Candidates with cloud exposure may be considered if they have strong and demonstrable on-premise data center architecture and virtualization experience, but cloud expertise alone is not sufficient.

Required Technical Expertise

Mandatory Technical Areas

The ideal candidate should demonstrate strong capability across:

Technology / Domain

Requirement

Data Center Infrastructure

Mandatory

On-Premise Data Centers

Mandatory

Government Data Centers

Strongly Preferred / Critical

National Security / Critical Infrastructure

Strongly Preferred

Server Virtualization

Mandatory

VMware

Mandatory / Deep Expertise

Windows Server

Mandatory

Linux

Mandatory

Compute

Strong

Storage

Strong

Backup

Strong

Network

Strong

Firewalls

Strong

RFP Solutioning

Mandatory

End-to-End Architecture

Mandatory

OEM Coordination

Mandatory

Technical Bidding

Strong

Professional Services

Strong

Managed Services

Strong

Public Cloud

Not the primary focus

Candidate Profile

We are looking for a candidate who can demonstrate both breadth and depth.

Breadth

The candidate should understand the complete infrastructure stack:

Compute Virtualization Operating Systems Storage Backup Network Firewall Integration Operations

The candidate must be capable of stitching these components together into a complete solution.

Depth

The candidate must have deep technical expertise in:

Server Virtualization

particularly:

• VMware
• Windows
• Linux

The expectation is for someone who understands the technical nuts and bolts rather than someone who operates only at a conceptual or presentation level.

Ideal Candidate Characteristics

The ideal candidate will be:

• Technically curious
• Hands-on
• Solution-oriented
• Detail-oriented
• Strong in infrastructure architecture
• Comfortable with complex RFPs
• Comfortable working with OEMs
• Strong in technical documentation
• Strong in problem solving
• Comfortable working in mission-critical environments
• Willing to learn new technologies
• Focused on technical quality
• Comfortable working closely with technical leadership
• Capable of working under tight project timelines
• Able to communicate effectively with technical and business stakeholders

Cultural Fit - "Drive" Matters

Technical capability alone is not sufficient.

Zindagi Technologies is specifically looking for professionals who are driven by:

• Quality of work
• Technical excellence
• Learning
• Challenging projects
• Problem solving
• Building technically strong solutions
• Professional growth

The company strongly prefers candidates who are motivated by the opportunity to work on meaningful and technically challenging projects, rather than candidates whose primary motivation is simply compensation or frequent salary increases.

The successful candidate should demonstrate genuine technical curiosity and a desire to continuously learn.

Work Location Work Arrangement

Location: Connaught Place, New Delhi

Work From Office Requirement

The role requires:

5 days per week from office

for at least the initial 4-6 months.