SENIOR SYSTEM ENGINEER

NADIA GLOBAL; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 120,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology firm in Abu Dhabi is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to manage their on-premise and hybrid Microsoft infrastructure. The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of experience in enterprise roles, demonstrating strong capabilities in lifecycle management and vendor negotiations. Responsibilities include designing architecture, managing vendors, and ensuring security compliance. This role requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in enterprise infrastructure roles required.
• Hands-on experience with on-prem / hybrid Microsoft platforms.
• Proven ownership of lifecycle management in multi-site environments.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end lifecycle of enterprise’s infrastructure.
• Manage vendor relationships and contract negotiations.
• Design architecture for Windows Server and Active Directory.

Skills

Windows Server

Active Directory

Cisco Networking

VMware vSphere

Ansible

PowerShell

Backup strategies

Security Compliance

Education

Bachelor’s in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

VMware vCenter

SQL

FortiGate

Splunk

Job description

Overview

Title: Senior Systems Engineer – Core Infrastructure (On-Prem & Hybrid)

Seniority: + years hands-on, 3 + years in a tech-lead or architect capacity

Experience

+ years in enterprise infrastructure roles; proven ownership of at least two full lifecycles (from design to steady-state) of multi-site environments.

Education

Bachelor’s in computer science, Engineering, or equivalent work experience.

Mission: Own the end-to-end lifecycle—acquisition, design, operation, optimization, and governance—of the enterprise’s on-prem / hybrid Microsoft platforms and the surrounding network, storage, virtualization, security, and data-protection layers.

Responsibilities

Acquisition & Vendor Management Multi-year infrastructure roadmap; RFPs & PoCs; TCO / ROI models; contract negotiation across Microsoft EA / CSP, VMware, Cisco / Aruba, NetApp / Dell EMC, Palo Alto / Fortinet, Veeam / Commvault, etc.

Architecture & Design HLD / LLD for Windows Server, Active Directory, Exchange, SQL; Layer-2 / 3 campus & data-center networks; SAN / NAS fabrics (FC, iSCSI, NVMe-oF); vSphere & Hyper-V clusters; backup, immutable archives, and off-site DR run-books, etc.

Implementation & Operations ×7 support of servers, hypervisors, network, storage, security stacks; ITIL-aligned incident / change / config; scripted build & patch pipelines (PowerShell, Ansible); documentation & run-book, etc.

Optimization & Governance Capacity planning, performance tuning, cost-per-VM / TB reduction; security baseline compliance (CIS, ISO ); quarterly DR tests; KPI dashboards for uptime, MTTR, backup success, automation coverage, etc.

Must-Have Depth

• Microsoft : Windows Server 9-5, AD DS, Group Policy, DNS / DHCP, Exchange 9 / 5, SQL AOAG, WSUS / SUP.
• Virtualization : VMware vSphere 8 (vCenter, DRS, vMotion, vSAN), Hyper-V 2 / 5.
• Networking : L2 / L3 switching & routing (Cisco / Aruba), VLAN, QoS, VPN, NAC (.1X), firewall policy (Palo Alto / FortiGate).
• Storage : Tiered SAN (Dell PowerStore, NetApp ONTAP), NAS / Samba / NFS, snapshot & replication strategies.
• Backup & Archival : Veeam v, Commvault, LTO-9 tape / WORM storage, air-gapped copies, annual restore drills.
• Security & Compliance : IPS / IDS, AD CS / PKI, patch orchestration, vulnerability remediation, SIEM integration (Splunk / ELK).
• Automation & IaC : PowerShell 7, Desired State Configuration, Ansible, REST APIs.
• Monitoring & Observability : SCOM, vRealize Ops, SolarWinds, syslog / netflow analysers.