Middleware Administrator- Irvine, CA

We are looking for a Middleware Administrator to be a critical driver of enterprise application migration and replatforming programs. You are a hands-on middleware expert who understands how Java applications run across complex application server environments and can keep business-critical systems stable during high-pressure migration windows.

You thrive in environments where application availability, configuration accuracy, performance, and coordination across multiple teams are essential. You will play a key role in assessing current middleware platforms, migrating applications and configurations from source environments to target environments, and ensuring applications are fully operational after migration to an OpenStack-based infrastructure.

What You'll Do

Lead Middleware Migration Activities: Support the migration of Java-based enterprise applications from one data center to another, ensuring application servers, configurations, dependencies, and runtime environments are properly transitioned.

Install and Configure Application Servers: Install, configure, administer, and support IBM WebSphere Application Server and JBoss environments, including application deployments, JVM settings, clusters, nodes, profiles, data sources, security settings, and related middleware components.

Support Java Application Platforms: Work closely with application teams to understand Java application architecture, runtime requirements, dependencies, and integration points to ensure successful migration and post-migration stability.

Perform Current-State Assessment: Analyze existing application and middleware architecture, document source environment configurations, and identify requirements for replatforming applications into the target OpenStack-based environment.

Migrate Middleware Configurations: Translate and migrate configurations from current source environments to target environments, ensuring consistency across application server settings, connection pools, JVM parameters, certificates, security configurations, and environment-specific variables.

Tune Performance and Stability: Perform application server performance tuning, JVM tuning, monitoring, troubleshooting, and capacity-related analysis to ensure applications run reliably before, during, and after migration.

Validate Application Availability: Conduct smoke testing, health checks, log reviews, and post-cutover validation to confirm that applications are up and running successfully in the target environment.

Coordinate Across Teams: Collaborate with multiple application, infrastructure, database, security, network, and project teams to plan migrations, resolve issues, and communicate technical status clearly.

Support Production Cutovers: Provide hands-on support during production migration windows, including after-hours and weekend work as required for application cutovers, validation, troubleshooting, and rollback support.

Troubleshoot Complex Issues: Act as an escalation point for middleware-related incidents, including deployment failures, application startup issues, connectivity problems, JVM errors, performance degradation, and configuration mismatches.

Do you have experience in WebSphere?, Professional Experience: 10+ years of enterprise middleware administration experience supporting large-scale Java application environments, with strong exposure to data center migration or application replatforming initiatives.

IBM WebSphere Expertise: Deep hands-on experience installing, configuring, administering, troubleshooting, and tuning IBM WebSphere Application Server in enterprise environments.

JBoss Expertise: Strong experience supporting JBoss application server environments, including deployments, configuration management, performance tuning, and troubleshooting.

Java Application Knowledge: Solid understanding of Java application runtime behavior, JVM configuration, application deployments, logs, connection pools, certificates, and integration dependencies.

Migration Experience: Proven experience migrating applications and middleware platforms between data centers, including current-state discovery, configuration capture, migration planning, cutover execution, and post-migration validation.

Architecture Understanding: Ability to understand current application architecture and support replatforming efforts into an OpenStack-based target environment.

Configuration Management: Experience migrating middleware configurations from source environments to target platforms while ensuring application compatibility, security, and operational stability.

Performance Tuning: Strong knowledge of JVM tuning, thread pools, heap sizing, garbage collection, connection pool tuning, application server monitoring, and log-based troubleshooting.

Collaboration and Communication: Ability to work effectively with multiple application teams, infrastructure teams, and stakeholders while providing clear technical updates during complex migration activities.

Flexibility: Willingness to support production cutovers during evenings, nights, and weekends as required.

Bonus Points (Nice-to-Haves)

Additional Middleware Platforms: Experience with Oracle WebLogic, Apache Tomcat, and Microsoft IIS.

Cloud and Virtualization Exposure: Experience supporting applications in private cloud or OpenStack-based environments.

Automation and Scripting: Experience with shell scripting, Python, Ansible, or other automation tools used for middleware configuration, deployment, monitoring, or migration support.

Enterprise Operations: Familiarity with monitoring tools, incident management processes, change management, release management, and production support procedures