JobsMotorola Solutions

Manager, Private Cloud Platforms

Motorola Solutions · Chicago, IL

Posted Sep 10, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 20, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

Behavioral

Tell me about a production incident on an on-premise platform that happened at 2am. How did you find the root cause and what did you change afterward?

ownership of 24/7 reliability and follow-through on postmortems, not just firefighting

Give me an example of a manual data center task you automated with Python or shell scripting. What was the process before, and what did it look like after?

proof of real automation habits versus scripting as a checkbox skill

Tell me about a time you had to lead a team through a security or compliance review of an environment. What did the audit look for and how did you prepare the team?

experience with governance and audit processes relevant to CJIS-style compliance work

Describe a time you had to be both the hands-on technical lead and the people manager on the same problem. How did you split your time and did anything suffer because of it?

realistic self-awareness about the working manager balance the role demands

Tell me about a time you had to convince engineers to adopt a new GitOps workflow or CI/CD process on-prem, like GitLab or Jenkins. What resistance did you hit and how did you get past it?

change management skill and credibility when introducing new engineering practices

Technical

Walk me through a time you had to design or troubleshoot an OpenShift or Kubernetes cluster running on bare metal, not in a public cloud. What made that harder than a cloud-hosted cluster?

whether the candidate has real on-prem container orchestration depth versus cloud-only Kubernetes experience

How would you design the network path for a highly available service across our on-prem environment, including load balancing with something like HAProxy or F5 and BGP routing?

hands-on architecture skill with the exact tools listed, not just theoretical networking knowledge

How do you approach writing Ansible or Terraform for on-premise infrastructure like VMware or bare metal, compared to writing it for a cloud provider?

whether IaC experience is cloud-only or genuinely adapted to on-prem quirks

Explain how you'd tune a Linux kernel parameter to fix a specific performance problem, like one you've actually hit in production, to someone who isn't a systems engineer.

both deep Linux mastery and the communication skill to translate it for nontechnical stakeholders

Situational

Say a customer-facing service in one of our data centers is intermittently unreachable and you suspect it's somewhere between the load balancer and the firewall. How do you narrow that down?

depth in L3/L4 networking troubleshooting under ambiguity, specifically load balancer and firewall layers

This role requires passing a CJIS-related background check and working in high-security government environments. Have you worked under similar regulatory or security constraints before, and how did that shape your day-to-day decisions?

comfort with regulated, high-security environments and willingness to accept the clearance requirement

A product manager wants a new platform feature shipped fast, but your team flags that it would compromise the storage or networking reliability goals you've committed to. How do you handle that conversation?

ability to push back on cross-functional pressure while protecting reliability commitments

If you inherited a data center environment with software-defined storage like Ceph or a legacy SAN that was starting to hit capacity limits, how would you evaluate whether to scale it or replace it?

judgment on storage architecture tradeoffs and long-term platform planning beyond immediate fixes

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The full job description

As published by Motorola Solutions.

Company Overview At Motorola Solutions, we believe that everything starts with our people. We’re a global close-knit community, united by the relentless pursuit to help keep people safer everywhere. We build and connect technologies to help protect people, property and places. Our solutions foster the collaboration that’s critical for safer communities, safer schools, safer hospitals, safer businesses, and ultimately, safer nations. Connect with a career that matters, and help us build a safer future. Department Overview The Core Platform and Services, Infrastructure team is responsible for the development and operations of critical cloud and on-premise infrastructure and platform services, in support of Motorola Solutions' public and hybrid cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions for public safety customers. This team is part of Motorola Solutions’ Software Enterprise division, which offers secure, reliable and efficient team communications, workflow and operational intelligence solutions for mission critical public safety and enterprise markets throughout the world. Job Description The On-Premise Infrastructure Engineering team is responsible for: • Design and implementation of local continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines within dedicated on-premise environments. • Development and operation of common platform services—centered on RedHat OpenShift and Kubernetes —that are leveraged by our software solutions. • Physical and Virtual Infrastructure: Managing the full stack, including Networking, Storage, and Compute , to ensure the reliability and security of environments where our services run. • Monitoring and support for these internal platform services to ensure 24/7 availability for our customers. As a Manager, Platform Engineering on this team, you will be a hands-on leader responsible for developing services, tools, and processes that support our engineering teams. We are looking for a technical lead who is motivated by automation and infrastructure-as-code , but possesses the deep foundational knowledge required to manage bare-metal and virtualized on-premise stacks . You will be working on a results-oriented team where you are expected to lead by example—balancing people management with active technical contribution. Your efforts will help shape the engineering culture and best practices across Motorola Solutions’ Software Enterprise organization. Responsibilities will include: • Technical Leadership: Act as a hands-on guide for the team, participating in architectural design and troubleshooting complex infrastructure issues. • On-Premise Operations: Lead the deployment and maintenance of RedHat OpenShift and Kubernetes clusters in private data center environments. • Infrastructure Design: Direct the implementation of L3/L4 networking (load balancers/firewalls) and software-defined storage solutions. • Reliability & Performance: Define and meet strict scalability, availability, and security goals for local environments. • Collaboration: Rapidly build and evolve major platform features in collaboration with Product Management and other engineering stakeholders. • Governance: Assist in reviews and audits conducted at various points in the software life cycle to ensure compliance and security. Qualifications: • Hands-on Expertise: Deep technical knowledge of Linux Administration and container orchestration (Kubernetes/OpenShift) is mandatory. • Experience: Bachelor's degree with 5+ years of experience in Network Engineering , Platform Engineering , or Systems Architecture . • Networking/Storage: Proven experience with Layer 3/4 Networking design, firewall management, and on-premise storage protocols. • Automation Skills: Solid coding and scripting skills (Python, Shell) to automate data center operations. • Agility: Ability to work in a fast-paced, evolving, and agile environment with a strong level of curiosity. • Strong level of curiosity and interest to learn • Excellent communications skills and the ability to present complex topics to nontechnical audiences • Self motivated and able to maintain focus in a pressured environment Primary Skills (Must-Have Hands-On Knowledge) These are the core competencies the Manager will use daily to lead the team and troubleshoot the environment. • Container Orchestration: Expertise in RedHat OpenShift (OCP) and upstream Kubernetes cluster design, deployment, and management in a non-cloud environment. • Linux Mastery: Advanced Linux Administration (RHEL preferred), including performance tuning, kernel parameters, and system security. • On-Prem Networking: Deep understanding of Layer 3/4 Networking , including BGP, Load Balancing (NGINX, HAProxy, or F5), and Firewall management. • Automation & Scripting: Proficiency in Python and Shell scripting to automate manual data center tasks and infrastructure provisioning. • Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Experience with Ansible or Terraform (specifically for on-premise providers like VMware or Bare Metal). • Version Control & CI/CD: Git/GitOps workflows and managing on-premise CI/CD instances (e.g., GitLab or Jenkins). Nice-to-Have Skills (Preferred) These skills will help the candidate excel but are not strictly required for the initial "hands-on" technical baseline. • Storage Engineering: Experience with Software Defined Storage (SDS) such as Ceph , Rook , or traditional SAN/NAS (NetApp/Dell EMC). • Virtualization: Deep experience with VMware vSphere or KVM hypervisors. • Identity Management: Integration with Active Directory , LDAP, and SSSD for centralized authentication. • Observability: Implementing on-premise monitoring stacks using Prometheus, Grafana , and ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana). • Certifications: * Certified Kubernetes Administrator ( CKA ), Red Hat Certified Engineer ( RHCE ) or Architect ( RHCA ) • Security: Experience with air-gapped environments and hardening standards (CIS Benchmarks/STIGs). This position is subject to working in high security areas governed by the US Department of Justice's "Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy" and therefore requires successfully passing a more stringent fingerprint background check administered by Motorola Solutions Inc. customers. Target Base Salary Range: $150,000 - $170,000 USD Consistent with Motorola Solutions values and applicable law, we provide the following information to promote pay transparency and equity. Pay within this range varies and depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. The actual offer will be based on the individual candidate. #LI-RS1 Basic Requirements Bachelor's degree with 5+ years of experience in Network Engineering, Platform Engineering, or Systems Architecture with strong expertise in Container Orchestration, Advanced Linux Administration, On-Prem Networking, Automation & Scripting, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Version Control & CI/CD. Must be able to obtain background clearance as required by government customer. Travel Requirements Under 10% Relocation Provided None Position Type Experienced Referral Payment Plan Yes Our U.S. Benefits include: • Incentive Bonus Plans • Medical, Dental, Vision benefits • 401K with Company Match • 10 Paid Holidays • Generous Paid Time Off Packages • Employee Stock Purchase Plan • Paid Parental & Family Leave • and more! EEO Statement Motorola Solutions is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally-protected characteristic.  We are proud of our people-first and community-focused culture, empowering every Motorolan to be their most authentic self and to do their best work to deliver on the promise of a safer world. If you’d like to join our team but feel that you don’t quite meet all of the preferred skills, we’d still love to hear why you think you’d be a great addition to our team. We’re committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruiting experience for candidates with disabilities, or other physical or mental health conditions. To request an accommodation, please complete this  Reasonable Accommodations Form  so we can assist you.

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