Freelance Data Center Infrastructure Engineer Jobs in Arizona

Systems Infrastructure Engineer

Location: Remote within the Phoenix or Tucson, Arizona area, with occasional data-center visits

Type: Permanent, Full-Time

Compensation: $90,000–$130,000 annually

Position Overview

Phoenix Staff is seeking a hands-on Systems Infrastructure Engineer to support and modernize our client’s data-center and cloud infrastructure.

The immediate priority for this role is migrating the company’s existing virtualized environment from VMware ESXi to Microsoft Hyper-V. This engineer will help assess current virtual machine workloads, prepare the new environment, migrate applications and servers, and ensure the infrastructure remains stable throughout the transition.

The role is fully remote for day-to-day work. However, candidates must live within reasonable driving distance of the Phoenix or Tucson area and be available for planned data-center visits—approximately six times per year—as well as occasional visits during critical hardware failures.

Over time, the position will evolve from data-center virtualization and systems administration toward Azure infrastructure, automation, and DevOps. This is a strong opportunity for an infrastructure engineer who wants to develop deeper cloud and DevOps experience while taking ownership of a significant modernization initiative.

Key Responsibilities

Virtualization and Migration

• Support the migration of the current VMware ESXi environment to Microsoft Hyper-V.
• Assess existing virtual machines, workloads, resource requirements, and technical dependencies.
• Help design, configure, and validate the new Hyper-V environment.
• Redeploy and migrate Windows-based application and database workloads to the new infrastructure.
• Execute migrations first in staging environments and then within the live production environment.
• Test migrated systems and troubleshoot performance, connectivity, or compatibility issues.
• Document migration procedures, dependencies, configurations, and rollback plans.

Systems and Data-Center Infrastructure

• Administer and support Windows Server environments.
• Support infrastructure hosting Microsoft SQL Server workloads.
• Maintain the current data-center stack throughout the migration and modernization process.
• Install, configure, troubleshoot, and replace physical server and related data-center hardware.
• Assist with hardware provisioning, upgrades, capacity planning, and infrastructure right-sizing.
• Respond to critical infrastructure or hardware failures when physical data-center access is required.
• Maintain accurate runbooks, system inventories, infrastructure diagrams, and operating procedures.
• Help safely decommission legacy infrastructure as workloads transition to the new environment.

Azure and Future Modernization

• Deploy, maintain, and support infrastructure within Microsoft Azure.
• Assist with the gradual transition of workloads and infrastructure services to Azure.
• Collaborate with engineering teams on infrastructure and application deployment needs.
• Contribute to future automation, CI/CD, and infrastructure-as-code initiatives.
• Help improve infrastructure reliability, repeatability, and operational efficiency as the environment evolves.

Ownership and Collaboration

• Participate in technical workshops, knowledge-transfer sessions, and migration planning.
• Follow deployment instructions while applying sound technical judgment.
• Troubleshoot issues independently and escalate when appropriate.
• Coordinate with internal engineers, external partners, and data-center providers.
• Take ownership of assigned work from planning through implementation and documentation.
• Make practical decisions at the appropriate level within a small, self-sufficient team.

Required Qualifications

• Three or more years of professional systems or infrastructure engineering experience.
• Hands-on experience administering virtualized server environments.
• Strong working knowledge of VMware ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V.
• Experience migrating, redeploying, or managing virtual machine workloads.
• Hands-on experience administering Windows Server environments.
• Experience supporting infrastructure that hosts Microsoft SQL Server workloads.
• Understanding of physical server hardware, storage, compute, and data-center infrastructure.
• Experience installing, configuring, maintaining, or troubleshooting physical hardware.
• Working knowledge of networking fundamentals, including IP addressing, DNS, routing, and connectivity troubleshooting.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills across virtual and physical infrastructure.
• Ability to build clear runbooks and document systems, procedures, and technical dependencies.
• Ability to work independently, manage priorities, and complete work with limited oversight.
• High level of ownership, accountability, and sound decision-making.
• Ability to travel to Phoenix- and Tucson-area data centers approximately six times per year and during occasional critical failure events.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience migrating infrastructure from VMware ESXi to Microsoft Hyper-V.
• Experience planning or executing production virtual machine migrations.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure infrastructure and services.
• Familiarity with PowerShell or other infrastructure automation tools.
• Exposure to DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, or infrastructure as code.
• Experience with firewalls, VPNs, and network gateways.
• Familiarity with Tailscale, Ubiquiti UniFi, or similar networking technologies.
• Experience right-sizing infrastructure based on current workload requirements.
• Experience supporting colocated data-center environments.
• Microsoft Azure, Windows Server, VMware, Hyper-V, or networking certifications.
• Interest in growing from traditional infrastructure engineering into Azure and DevOps.

What Success Looks Like

First 90 Days

• Develop a clear understanding of the existing VMware environment, physical infrastructure, workloads, and dependencies.
• Participate actively in technical workshops and knowledge-transfer sessions.
• Build and improve runbooks covering deployment, migration, maintenance, and recovery procedures.
• Configure and validate systems within a staging environment.
• Follow deployment plans accurately while identifying potential issues or dependencies.
• Begin executing live migrations from the existing environment to the new Hyper-V infrastructure.
• Establish trust by demonstrating ownership, sound judgment, and consistent follow-through.

Longer Term

• Complete the migration of appropriate workloads from VMware to Hyper-V with minimal business disruption.
• Help maintain a stable, appropriately sized, and well-documented infrastructure environment.
• Take increasing ownership of Windows Server, virtualization, hardware, and Azure responsibilities.
• Support the gradual decommissioning of the legacy data-center stack.
• Contribute to Azure deployment, infrastructure automation, CI/CD, and DevOps initiatives.
• Become a trusted, self-sufficient member of the infrastructure team.