IT Systems Engineer

Watchmaker Genomics; Boulder (CO); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Time Off

Holidays

80% medical plan coverage with buy-up

Employee Assistance Program

Dental with buy-up option

Vision insurance

Life/AD&D coverage

Parental leave

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Watchmaker Genomics is hiring an IT Systems Engineer for our Boulder, CO office to design, deploy and operate IT infrastructure and cloud services. The role reports to the Director IT and focuses on security, IAM, and enterprise systems management.

The candidate will build and supervise a global service desk, maintain documentation, and drive best practices in change management, disaster recovery, and system performance.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant IT infrastructure experience, Associate or Bachelor degree in CS, or equivalent.
• Microsoft certifications (Azure Administrator, Endpoint Administrator, Security Operations Analyst) are advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and manage IT infrastructure and cloud services.
• Administer identity and access management with Entra, including MFA and conditional access.
• Build and maintain cloud and on-premises infrastructure and documentation.
• Oversee disaster recovery, backups, and system redundancy.
• Lead incident response and change management processes.

Skills

Microsoft Entra

Azure

Intune

Defender

JAMF

PowerShell

Python

Bash

Windows servers

Active Directory

Education

Bachelor or Associate in Computer Science

Tools

Microsoft Entra

Azure

Intune

Defender

JAMF

Job description

Experience: Associate required, Bachelors preferred, + 5 years relevant experience

Watchmaker Genomics is a global life science company based in Boulder, Colorado with an R&D and Production facility in Cape Town, South Africa. Our team is passionate about innovation and values collaboration, creativity, and scientific rigor.

We believe that the intersection of biology, engineering, and computer science presents exciting opportunities for developing novel technologies that promote research and improve human health. Watchmaker Genomics specializes in the design, development, and production of DNA- and RNA-modifying enzymes that enable high-growth applications in genomics, molecular diagnostics, and personalized medicine.

Position Summary

Watchmaker Genomics is inviting applications for the full-time position of IT Systems Engineer, an onsite role in our Boulder, Colorado office. This position reports to the Director IT, Boulder site for day-to-day execution and service delivery. The position will implement and maintain IT infrastructure and cloud services, change management, problem identification and resolution, and configuration management activities. Additionally, this position is expected to assist in the creation of new processes, work instructions, infrastructure documentation and knowledge base articles.

The successful candidate will thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced working environment and contribute directly to our company culture and success. This position will offer unique challenges, learning and growth including the opportunity to build and supervise a global service desk team.

Responsibilities

Core responsibilities

• System Design and Architecture: Implement complex IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, networks, and cloud services, in line with Watchmaker's global architecture standards.
• Identity and Access Management (Microsoft Entra): Administer identity, authentication and access management in Microsoft Entra, including conditional access, multi-factor authentication, and joiner/mover/leaver processes.
• Cloud Infrastructure: Build, administer, and maintain infrastructure and cloud services in line with global standards.
• Endpoint Management: Manage Windows endpoints and macOS endpoints, including enrollment, compliance, configuration baselines, and application deployment.
• Security and Cyber Security Protection: Operate security systems across endpoints and cloud workloads; monitor, triage, and respond to security alerts; execute patch and vulnerability management.
• Network Infrastructure: Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot the site network infrastructure, including switching, wireless, firewalls, and VPNs. Advanced network knowledge and hands-on network infrastructure configuration are essential for this role.
• System Administration and Maintenance: Execute or oversee the installation, configuration, and maintenance of servers, virtual environments, and enterprise applications.
• Performance Monitoring and Optimization: Monitor system performance, troubleshoot issues, and optimize infrastructure for stability, security, and efficiency.
• Automation and Scripting: Develop and use automation tools/scripts to streamline operations and system management.
• Computer Systems Validation: Perform required Computer Systems Validation actions.
• Documentation and Operational Discipline: Maintain accurate and current infrastructure documentation, work instructions and knowledge base articles; execute all changes through formal change management.
• Risk Management and Escalation: Proactively identify, communicate, and elevate risks, incidents and capacity constraints.

Maintenance and Business Continuity

• Disaster Recovery Planning: Design and implement disaster recovery (DR) plans, ensuring critical systems and data can be restored in case of failure or outage.
• Backup Management: Oversee regular backups of data, systems, and configurations, ensuring that backups are complete, secure, and recoverable.
• System Redundancy: Implement and maintain redundancy for key systems (e.g., servers, storage, network components).
• Disaster Recovery Testing: Conduct regular DR testing and simulations to validate the effectiveness of recovery plans, ensuring systems can be restored according to recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives.
• Incident Response: Lead response efforts during major system outages or disasters, coordinating recovery activities, and communicating status updates to stakeholders.
• Documentation and Updates: Maintain detailed documentation of continuity and recovery procedures.

Troubleshooting

• System Diagnosis: Identify, analyze, and resolve issues related to servers, networks, storage, and applications.
• Root Cause Analysis: Investigate recurring problems to determine the underlying causes and implement long-term solutions.
• Performance Issues: Troubleshoot slow or underperforming systems by analyzing resource usage (CPU, memory, disk) and resolving bottlenecks.
• Network and Connectivity Issues: Diagnose and resolve network outages, latency, or connectivity problems across local and wide-area networks (LAN/WAN).
• Security and Access Problems: Address security issues like unauthorized access, malware, or firewall misconfigurations, ensuring system integrity and protection.

Monitor and Maintain

• Performance Monitoring: Continuously track the performance of servers, networks, and storage systems to identify and resolve bottlenecks.
• System Health Checks: Regularly assess the status of hardware, software, and virtual environments to ensure they are running optimally.
• Security Monitoring: Monitor for security threats, vulnerabilities, and unusual activities, intrusion detection systems and security information and event management.
• Incident and Alert Management: Respond to system alerts, outages, and incidents promptly, ensuring minimal downtime and quick recovery.
• Capacity Planning: Monitor resource usage (CPU, memory, storage) and forecast future needs to ensure system scalability and reliability.
• Cloud Based Solutions Monitoring: Monitoring, maintenance, reviews, and troubleshooting

Skills and Requirements

• Experience designing, implementing, and managing complex IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, virtualization, and cloud services (Microsoft Azure)
• Proven, hands-on experience configuring and administering the Microsoft cloud platform: Entra, Azure, Intune, and Defender
• macOS endpoint management via JAMF
• Advanced network knowledge and hands-on network infrastructure configuration
• Proficiency in managing and administering Windows servers, including Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and other core services;
• Experience with automation tools and scripting languages (e.g., PowerShell, Python, Bash) for automating system administration tasks and managing large-scale environments;

Qualifications and Education:

• 5+ years with an Associate or Bachelor degree in Computer Science, or equivalent qualification from a recognized tertiary institution, or another relevant Information Technology discipline;
• Microsoft role-based certifications (e.g., Azure Administrator Associate, Endpoint Administrator Associate, Security Operations Analyst) and JAMF certifications are advantageous.

Compensation

The base compensation for the IT Systems Engineer role starts at $80,000-110,000 + bonus + equity; actual pay will be adjusted based on skills and experience. Employees are eligible for Flexible Time Off, Holidays, employer covers 75% of base medical plan with buy-up options, EAP (employee assistance program), employer paid dental with a buy-up option, employer paid vision, employer paid $25,000 life/AD&D policy, paid parental leave, and a 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% match.

Watchmaker Genomics is committed to being an equal opportunity employer and creating a culturally diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability status, age, or veteran status or any other characteristics as protected by applicable law.

All applicants will be asked if currently eligible to work in the United States of America; and if now or in the future will require visa sponsorship to continue working in the United States.

This position may be subject to pre-employment checks, including driving history check, drug screening and a background check for any convictions directly related to its duties and responsibilities. All pre-employment checks will comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.