IT Support Lead

Cognizant; Mississauga; On-site; CAD 64,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an IT Infrastructure Support Lead to drive day-to-day operations across EUC, servers, AD, Microsoft 365, and networking. You will coordinate with vendors, lead incident response, and ensure high availability for business-critical systems in Mississauga, onsite five days a week.

The role emphasizes leadership, vendor management, and participation in DR/BCP planning while guiding teams through complex change and projects.

Qualifications

• Must have strong IT infrastructure management experience across servers, storage, network, cloud and end-user computing.
• Proven ability to lead incident resolution, drive improvements and ensure high availability.
• Experience with ITIL processes and governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily IT infrastructure operations across server, storage, network, cloud, end-user computing, collaboration platforms, and security services.
• Ensure availability, reliability, and performance of critical infrastructure components.
• Manage infrastructure support activities to meet SLAs and operational KPIs.
• Coordinate support across multiple technology towers and service providers.
• Provide leadership during critical incidents and major outage situations.
• Oversee desktop, laptop, mobile device, printer, and collaboration tool support operations.
• Lead deployment, patching, imaging, software distribution, and asset lifecycle management activities.
• Manage support for Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint environments.
• Support the development and testing of Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity Plans (BCP).
• Oversee Windows and Linux server environments.
• Coordinate server provisioning, patch management, upgrades, and decommissioning activities.
• Manage Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and identity management services.
• Ensure infrastructure is maintained according to security and compliance requirements.
• Support LAN, WAN, Wi‑Fi, VPN, firewalls, load balancers, and network security devices.
• Manage datacenter operations, including racks, cabling, power, environmental monitoring, and equipment installations.
• Lead Incident, Problem, Change, and Request Management processes.
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective action planning.
• Participate in CAB (Change Advisory Board) reviews.
• Develop and maintain service reports, dashboards, and executive status updates.
• Ensure compliance with ITIL best practices.
• Lead infrastructure support engineers and onsite support teams.
• Provide technical guidance, mentoring, and performance coaching.
• Manage resource planning, workload balancing, and skill development.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of infrastructure personnel.
• Manage relationships with infrastructure vendors and service providers.
• Coordinate hardware procurement and service delivery activities.
• Coordinate infrastructure recovery exercises.

Skills

Windows Server Administration

Active Directory & Group Policy

DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP Networking

Microsoft 365 Administration

Azure Active Directory (Entra ID)

VMware / Hyper‑V

Storage & Backup Technologies

Tools

SCCM / MECM

Microsoft Intune

JAMF

Windows 10/11 Administration

Device Lifecycle Management

ServiceNow

Job description

As an IT Infrastructure Support Lead you will make an impact by leading the day-to-day operations, support, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the organization’s IT infrastructure. This role acts as the primary operational lead for End User Computing (EUC), Server Infrastructure, Active Directory, Microsoft 365, Networking, Cloud Services, Security Operations, Datacenter Services, and Service Management processes.

The position requires strong technical expertise combined with leadership capabilities to manage support teams, drive incident resolution, coordinate with vendors and technical tower leads, and ensure high availability of business-critical systems. The Infrastructure Support Lead will also play a key role in infrastructure transformation initiatives

In this role, you will own the following:

Infrastructure Operations Management

• Lead daily IT infrastructure operations across server, storage, network, cloud, end-user computing, collaboration platforms, and security services.
• Ensure availability, reliability, and performance of critical infrastructure components.
• Manage infrastructure support activities to meet agreed SLAs and operational KPIs.
• Coordinate support across multiple technology towers and service providers.
• Provide leadership during critical incidents and major outage situations.
• Oversee desktop, laptop, mobile device, printer, and collaboration tool support operations.
• Lead deployment, patching, imaging, software distribution, and asset lifecycle management activities.
• Manage support for Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint environments.
• Support the development and testing of Disaster Recovery (DR) and Business Continuity Plans (BCP).

• Oversee Windows and Linux server environments.
• Coordinate server provisioning, patch management, upgrades, and decommissioning activities.
• Manage Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and identity management services.
• Ensure infrastructure is maintained according to security and compliance requirements.

• support for LAN, WAN, Wi‑Fi, VPN, firewalls, load balancers, and network security devices.
• Manage datacenter operations, including racks, cabling, power, environmental monitoring, and equipment installations.

Service Management & Governance

• Lead Incident, Problem, Change, and Request Management processes.
• Drive root cause analysis and corrective action planning.
• Participate in CAB (Change Advisory Board) reviews.
• Develop and maintain service reports, dashboards, and executive status updates.
• Ensure compliance with ITIL best practices.

Team Leadership

• Lead infrastructure support engineers and onsite support teams.
• Provide technical guidance, mentoring, and performance coaching.
• Manage resource planning, workload balancing, and skill development.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of infrastructure personnel.

Vendor & Stakeholder Management

• Manage relationships with infrastructure vendors and service providers.
• Coordinate hardware procurement and service delivery activities.

• Coordinate infrastructure recovery exercises.

Work model

At Cognizant, we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible, and we are here to support a healthy work‑life balance though our various wellbeing programs. Based on this role’s business requirements, this is an onsite position requiring 5 days a week in a client or Cognizant office in Mississauga, ON.

The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting. This may change based on the project you’re engaged in, as well as business and client requirements. Rest assured; we will always be clear about role expectations.

What you need to have to be considered

• Windows Server Administration
• Active Directory & Group Policy
• DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP Networking
• Microsoft 365 Administration
• Azure Active Directory (Entra ID)
• VMware / Hyper‑V
• Storage & Backup Technologies

• SCCM / MECM
• Microsoft Intune
• JAMF
• Windows 10/11 Administration
• Device Lifecycle Management

• ServiceNow

Total compensation

We regularly assess market data to ensure we offer a competitive compensation package for our associates. The base salary for this position ranges between $64000 to $74500 per year. Where the successful candidate may fall within the range depends on relevant education, work and/or management experience and other business-related and job-necessary qualifications. This position is also eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual performance-based bonus, as well as benefits that support your physical, mental and financial wellbeing.