Systems Engineer - Windows

The salary range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Position Summary

Reporting to the Manager, Operations Support, The Systems Engineer - Windows is a team member supporting and maintaining Western Governors University's server infrastructure. The Systems Engineer - Windows role manages, supports, and proactively ensures the availability of WGU's server infrastructure in WGU's data center facilities and cloud environments, supporting Windows servers 2016 - 2022 and maintaining security and operational standards.

This role provides proactive engineering support to all Windows servers by maintaining all monitoring, alerting, and security standards. This role must remain on-call for after-hours critical Server or Infrastructure alerts, as defined in WGU policy, on a rotating cadence with other team members.

This Role will collaborate with other engineers and support staff to address challenges and plan projects throughout the year. In addition, they will assist in creating knowledge base articles and needed ITIL documentation in alignment with WGU goals and objectives.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Data Backups, Archives, & Disaster Recovery

• Monitor and ensure that all Windows Server systems are consistently backed up and restore systems if needed.
• Work with the Backup and Disaster Recovery Team to complete tests of any DR or restoration procedures.

Data Storage

• Assist in supporting the storage arrays utilized for virtualization with vSphere.
• Assist in accommodating and implementing storage needs for any Windows systems.

Data Center

• Work with the Data Center team to ensure adequate server infrastructure space, power, and connectivity.
• Work with the team and vendors to schedule and perform necessary maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting of supporting server systems. Allow for a flexible work schedule to accommodate disruptive maintenance events.
• Help to create & maintain documentation of all relevant processes and protocols.
• Help to build and manage monitoring systems for relevant technologies, including storage systems, server health & status, and physical infrastructure.

Servers & VMs

• Implement and maintain Windows deployment templates.
• Assist teams with configuration changes, troubleshooting, and improving system stability.
• Deploy and support Windows systems utilizing Terraform, whether on-prem or cloud environments.
• Help maintain Operational and Security standards on all Windows systems and any supporting infrastructure.
• Support Monthly patch deployment and testing to Windows Systems.
• Support Active Directory Domain Services including:
  • Domain Controller Roles
  • Active Directory Schema
  • Domain Trust Relationships
  • Group Policy
  • DNS and DHCP

General

• Provide feedback to the leadership team to improve existing solutions to meet the needs of WGU.
• Provide documentation support for designs, implementations, configurations, and knowledge base articles relative to enterprise backup solutions.
• Provide documentation for change and implementation requests following ITIL principles and WGU policy.
• Support and maintain the University's Managed File Transfer solution powered by Go Anywhere.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Windows Server 2012 - 2022 deployment, administration, and maintenance.
• vSphere 7.0+ administration and maintenance.
• High level of communication and ability to collaborate across teams
• Ability to balance security and server integrity while meeting the need.

• Experience managing users, groups, OUs, and policies utilizing Active Directory and Azure AD.
• Must have the ability to diagnose and remedy serious server-related problems and failures promptly and effectively
• Experience working in mission-critical environments, including participation in a 24/7 on-call.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• The position requires a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline (equivalent experience will be considered) and a minimum of 2 years of hands-on experience in a production, business environment
• Experience managing Windows Enterprise Servers, including provisioning and configuring supporting systems
• Experience in managing and deploying through vSphere
• Knowledge of managing Active Directory and supporting systems
• Experience with Windows Powershell commands and scripting
• Experience maintaining and deploying security standards, policies, and packages.
• Knowledge of information security practices within Higher Education Organizations
• Knowledge of ITILv3 and Service Management principles
• Knowledge of VMWare, TCP/IP networking, and cloud storage
• Experience working with confidential, secure data and following cybersecurity and privacy principles
• Must be able to work collaboratively with other system administrators, system engineers, and network engineers in a team environment.
• Experience with Active Directory Certificate Authority.
• Experience with GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer Solution.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills, strong interpersonal skills with a positive attitude, the ability to articulate thoughts and ideas, and a passion for seeing them come to fruition

Preferred Qualifications:

• Certifications are helpful but not required.

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As an equal opportunity employer, WGU recognizes that our strength lies in our people. We are committed to diversity.