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Systems Engineer Lead

Northwestern University
Chicago, IL, USAHybridSoftware EngineeringSenior-Level$125,220 - $153,000Posted: 34 days ago
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About the role

Department: IT Cyber Collaboration Svcs

Salary/Grade: ITS/83

Target hiring range for this position will be between $125,220 - $153,000 per year. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data

Job Summary:

This position is part of a team that provides tactical, 24/7 operational support and strategic direction for the University’s collaboration products, including email, document management tools, conferencing, and person-to-person and group messaging software across the Evanston, Chicago, and Qatar campuses.

This position determines strategic direction and provides leadership for the design, engineering, and implementation of Collaboration Services infrastructure that services and secures the distribution of Infrastructure Management Systems and Services. Provides technical supervision to and oversees the work of junior staff. Guides and advises stakeholders on best practices for implementing or enhancing the system. Works with management to design high-level systems integration. Assesses the architectural impact of projects on the overall system and makes recommendations to the manager.

To effectively support the needs of the University, this position will regularly consult with the user community and its representatives to define requirements, analyze business needs, consider current and future business implications, translate functional into technical requirements, validate solutions, and drive business process improvement efforts across Collaboration Services products.

The responsibilities of this position include vendor management, vulnerability management (application-level), application release/upgrade analysis and planning, policy coordination (e.g. db sizes, retention, archiving, compliance, etc.), patch management (application-level), application governance, security of the environment(s), and message hygiene management/administration focusing on the Collaboration Services product portfolio.

Specific Responsibilities:

Strategic Planning

Structures requirements; designs, documents, and implements data-driven solutions.

Directs/architects scalable systems that meet future growth demands

Identifies, recommends, and defines projects and activities as related to system/architectural direction and strategy.

Establishes best practices and procedures/tools, programming standards, etc.

Provides recommendations for strategic planning and system growth/future business needs.

Researches and applies state-of-the-art and peer best practices in regard to software development and systems engineering.

Directs the evaluation of new and emerging technologies.

Assists in the long-range planning of information technology systems for IT@NU.

Partners with the user community and its representatives to define requirements, analyze business needs, consider current and future business implications, translate functional into technical requirements, validate solutions, and drive business process improvement efforts across Collaboration Services products, ensuring that the solutions and process support the strategic direction of supported services.

Design & Implementation

Directs efforts and projects in the design, installation, operation, support, and maintenance of NU's distribution of Collaboration Services Infrastructure Management Systems and Services.

Administration

Directs the investigation of new technologies and strategies for Collaboration Services Infrastructure Management Systems and Services deployment and integration into the production campus.

Directs the technical analysis of software and hardware.

Writes and reviews requirements documents for evaluation of new hardware/software.

Responds to customer inquiries via phone, online, in-person, etc.

Delivers system presentation and overview

Collaborates with cross-team assets to create project timeline and assign tasks and deliverables.

Identifies resources needed for future projects

Represents project in absence of manager.

Coordinates vendor product demonstrations, setup evaluation criteria and development recommendations for purchase of new hardware/software.

Develops relationships with vendors.

Partners with internal/external staff to develop requirements for new services and applications to meet the needs of the campus community.

Develops security definitions and control processes for the operation and management of the campus Collaboration Services Infrastructure Management Systems and Services.

Leads in the maintenance and integrity of university data.

Executes data backup and recovery routines on a specified schedule or as requested.

Represents NU and presents at regional and national conferences.

Maintains awareness of evolving information technologies through professional publications, outside contacts, and ongoing professional development.

Development

Establishes timetables and priorities for task completion; monitors work plans to meet project deadlines and achieve project goals.

Utilizes requirements gathering techniques such as gap analysis, interviews, joint application development sessions, etc.; develops solutions/programs/reports, and implements technology.

Troubleshoots problems involving complex difficult issues.

Prioritize tasks across the collaboration services team.

Conducts or participates in business process review sessions to obtain and document operational and business requirements.

Develops system and services architecture(s) and sets forth design development, engineering, security and testing methodologies to be executed by engineering staff.

Performance

Provides tier 3 technical support to users as part of a periodic on-call rotation.

Consults with users to diagnose and resolve problems on multiple software or hardware platforms.

Serves as an escalation point for other engineers on the on-call rotation.

Supervises

Provides work direction and/or supervises staff such as team members, subordinates, contractors, vendors, students, etc.

Champions utilization of best practices and standards, and ensures compliance with IT/University policies.

Recommends staff hires/termination; conducts performance evaluations for supervised team members.

Coaches and mentors staff.

Manages projects ensuring timelines and deliverables are met and meet expectations.

Miscellaneous

Performs other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications: (Education, experience, and any other certifications or clearances)

Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in a major such as computer science, information technology, or related; OR appropriate combination of education and experience.

7 years’ experience implementation of complex CI Infrastructure Management Software Systems and Services.

Active Directory Design, Administration

Box Collaborative Storage

Cisco routers and switches

GoogleAppEngine

identity management/provisioning

information security

LDAP

Mac OS X Operating System

Microsoft Exchange

Microsoft Lync

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook)

Microsoft SharePoint

Nagios

Oracle and Oracle RAC

Puppet/Chef/Ansible

Server hardware

Service Orienteted Architecture (SOA)

Skype

SQL/MySQL/Postgres

Storage hardware

Tomcat

VMware vSphere

Windows Operating System

Azure

Microsoft Hyper-V

Power Systems

Office 365

HTML 5

Java

JavaScript

Microsoft PowerShell

Perl

PHP

Python

Shell Scripting

critical thinking

business intelligence application design

Decision Making

Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise Directory Services

Judgment

Metadata Creation And Management

Problem Solving

Read & Interpret Architectural Drawings

Read & Interpret Construction Drawings

Read & Interpret Mechanical Drawings

Read & Interpret Technical Drawings

Troubleshooting

Use-Case Analysis

Budgeting

Agile Environment

Code Documentation

Collaboration And Teamwork

Cost/Benefit Analysis

Evaluate Resources

Facilitate Collaboration

Functional Documentation

Iterative & Incremental Development

Organizational Skills

Planning

Workflow Development & Documentation

Write Proposals And Project Charters

Minimum Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities.)

Written and verbal communication

Conceptual ability

Dependability

Decision making

Initiative

Innovation/Creativity

Meets deadlines

Effective written and verbal communication skills

Crisis Management

Preferred Qualifications: (Education and experience)

Advanced degree in Computer Science or Information Technology.

Ability to use judgement in interpreting and adapting policies, precedents and work directions for appropriateness to specific tasks or problems.

Ability to maintain composure and work effectively in a high pressure setting

Energy and enthusiasm for this type of work, along with a clear desire to continue to develop and grown in knowledge and experience.

Direct experience providing a secure networking environment(both wired and wireless)

Advanced knowledge and experience with quality of service across enterprise networks, Voice over IP, and high availability networking environments.

Preferred Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities)

Problem solving

Quality/compliance with process/procedures

Results driven

Strategic thinking

Independent/Self driven work

Team building

Visionary Leadership

Benefits:

At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful and competitive benefits. The available benefits package for this position will include health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance; paid vacation and holidays; paid medical/sick and parental leave; tuition benefits for the employee and dependents; pre-tax and flex spending accounts for commuting and dependent care; generous retirement savings options; and wellness programs.

For a comprehensive overview of available benefits, including eligibility details, visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/index.html to learn more.

Work-Life and Wellness:

Northwestern offers comprehensive programs and services to help you and your family navigate life’s challenges and opportunities and adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles.

We support flexible work arrangements where possible and programs to help you locate and pay for quality, affordable childcare and senior/adult care. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/work-life/index.html to learn more.

Professional Growth & Development:

Northwestern supports employee career development in all circumstances whether your workspace is on campus or at home. If you’re interested in developing your professional potential or continuing your formal education, we offer a variety of tools and resources. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/learning/index.html to learn more.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics, including disability and veteran status. View Northwestern’s non-discrimination statement. Job applicants who wish to request an accommodation in the application or hiring process should contact the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance. View additional information on the accommodations process.

Minimum requirements

  • Bachelor's degree in computer science, IT, or related field, or equivalent experience.
  • Minimum 7 years’ experience with complex CI Infrastructure Management Software Systems and Services.
  • Proficiency in Active Directory, Cisco networking, Microsoft Exchange, VMware, scripting languages, and security management.

This listing was parsed by AI and may not be complete. Check the official posting on Northwestern University's site for the most accurate information.

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