Messaging & Collaboration Engineer

American Public Education, Inc. (APEI); United States; On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

American Public Education, Inc. is seeking a Messaging and Collaboration Engineer to design, support, and optimize the platforms employees use to communicate and collaborate.

This role engineers secure, scalable, and reliable services for email, calendaring, chat, meetings, and file collaboration; resolves complex technical issues; and delivers enhancements, integrations, automation, and lifecycle initiatives that improve the employee experience and business value of collaboration services.

Qualifications

• Three or more years of experience engineering, administering, or supporting enterprise messaging and collaboration services.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online in a managed enterprise environment.
• Knowledge of Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, email routing, DNS, authentication, and access management.
• Experience designing or implementing platform enhancements, migrations, or integrations.
• Understanding of security/compliance concepts like retention, auditing, eDiscovery, DLP, and information protection.
• Ability to use PowerShell or another scripting language for administration, reporting, and automation.
• Strong ability to translate business and technical requirements into secure designs and implementation plans.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Engineer, administer, and support enterprise messaging and collaboration platforms (Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business).
• Design secure, scalable service configurations and platform enhancements aligned with security and compliance.
• Troubleshoot complex issues including mail flow, calendars, chats, and file sharing.
• Manage service configurations, mailboxes, groups, and retention settings.
• Maintain security controls, including access policies and eDiscovery in partnership with security/compliance teams.
• Monitor health, performance, and incidents; drive root-cause analysis and preventive improvements.
• Plan platform updates, migrations, pilots, and adoption initiatives with testing and change control.
• Develop PowerShell automation and reporting to improve accuracy and efficiency.
• Create architecture diagrams, procedures, and knowledge articles.
• Collaborate with identity, security, network, and vendor teams on cross-functional projects.
• Provide clear technical guidance and communicate issues and resolutions to stakeholders.
• Evaluate capability adoption and licensing to improve collaboration ROI.

Skills

PowerShell scripting

Customer service

Documentation

Problem-solving

Collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in information technology

Relevant Microsoft certifications

Tools

Microsoft 365

Exchange Online

Microsoft Teams

SharePoint Online

OneDrive for Business

PowerShell

Job description

American Public Education, Inc.

The Messaging and Collaboration Engineer designs, supports, and improves the platforms employees use to communicate and work together. This role engineers secure, scalable, and reliable services for email, calendaring, chat, meetings, and file collaboration; resolves complex technical issues; and delivers enhancements, integrations, automation, and lifecycle initiatives that improve the employee experience and business value of collaboration services.

Messaging and Collaboration Engineer

American Public Education, Inc. The Messaging and Collaboration Engineer designs, supports, and improves the platforms employees use to communicate and work together. This role engineers secure, scalable, and reliable services for email, calendaring, chat, meetings, and file collaboration; resolves complex technical issues; and delivers enhancements, integrations, automation, and lifecycle initiatives that improve the employee experience and business value of collaboration services.

Responsibilities

• Engineer, administer, and support enterprise messaging and collaboration platforms, including Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.
• Design and implement secure, scalable service configurations, technical standards, and platform enhancements aligned with business, security, compliance, and operational requirements.
• Troubleshoot complex and escalated issues involving mail flow, calendars, meetings, chat, file sharing, permissions, federation, client connectivity, and service integrations.
• Manage and improve service configurations for users, groups, mailboxes, distribution lists, shared mailboxes, retention settings, external collaboration, and related platform capabilities.
• Engineer and maintain security and compliance controls, including access policies, retention, auditing, message protection, information protection, and eDiscovery capabilities in partnership with Security and Legal or Compliance teams.
• Monitor service health, capacity, performance, and availability; lead technical investigation of incidents and recurring problems; and implement corrective and preventive improvements.
• Plan and execute platform updates, migrations, integrations, tenant changes, pilots, and adoption initiatives with appropriate testing, change control, communication, and rollback planning.
• Develop reusable PowerShell automation and reporting to improve administrative accuracy, consistency, visibility, and efficiency.
• Create and maintain architecture diagrams, technical standards, operating procedures, configuration documentation, knowledge articles, and support guidance.
• Partner with identity, security, network, endpoint, service desk, application, and vendor teams to deliver reliable services and cross-functional projects.
• Provide clear technical guidance and communicate service issues, risks, changes, and resolutions to employees, technical teams, and stakeholders.
• Evaluate platform capabilities, usage and adoption of trends, support data, and licensing considerations to recommend improvements that increase collaboration effectiveness and return on investment.

Requirements

• Three or more years of experience engineering, administering, or supporting enterprise messaging and collaboration services.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online in a managed enterprise environment, including mail flow, recipient management, service configuration, and troubleshooting.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, email routing, DNS records, authentication, identity, and access management.
• Experience designing or implementing collaboration platform enhancements, migrations, integrations, or significant production changes.
• Working knowledge of security and compliance concepts such as retention, eDiscovery, auditing, data loss prevention, information protection, external sharing, and privileged access.
• Experience troubleshooting complex service issues, performing root cause analysis, and managing changes in a production environment.
• Ability to use PowerShell or another scripting language for administration, reporting, and automation.
• Ability to translate business and technical requirements into secure, supportable platform designs and implementation plans.
• Strong customer service, communication, documentation, prioritization, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work effectively across technical and business teams.
• Preferred: experience with Microsoft Purview, Exchange hybrid environments, Microsoft Entra ID, third-party messaging gateways, email authentication technologies, and collaboration integrations.
• Preferred: experience with service monitoring, Microsoft 365 usage reporting, adoption analysis, or license optimization.

Education/Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, or a related field preferred; equivalent combination of education and relevant experience considered.
• Relevant Microsoft messaging, collaboration, security, or cloud certification preferred.

Competencies

• Collaborates: Builds and maintains effective partnerships with team members and stakeholders, working collaboratively to achieve shared goals and resolve challenges effectively.
• Communicates Effectively: Delivers clear, concise, and tailored communications through various modes (e.g., written, verbal, and visual) to meet the unique needs of diverse audiences.
• Customer Focus: Cultivates strong relationships with internal and external customers by actively listening to their needs and providing timely, customer-centric solutions.
• Demonstrates Self-Awareness: Regularly seeks and incorporates feedback from peers, leaders, and stakeholders to understand and address personal strengths and areas for growth.
• Ensures Accountability: Consistently meets deadlines and delivers on commitments, ensuring work quality and aligning with organizational standards.
• Innovation & Improvement: Encourages forward-thinking solutions, process improvements, and a culture of learning to enhance efficiency and team effectiveness.

About Us

Online, on campus and in the workplace, we provide higher education and training to our country’s heroes – military service members, veterans, nurses, government employees, and motivated professionals that want to make a difference. American Public Education, Inc. educates service-minded students, ranging from the military, public service, federal agencies, and nursing communities, through American Public University System (APUS), Hondros College of Nursing (HCON), and Rasmussen University.

It is the policy of American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) to afford equal opportunity to all qualified persons. We treat all qualified individuals equally as to their recruitment, hiring, assignments, advancements, compensation, and all other terms and conditions of employment. American Public Education, Inc. does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical, mental, or sensory disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you are a resident of a state with designated pay transparency requirements and this role is available remotely, you may be eligible to receive additional information about the compensation and benefits for this role, which we will provide upon request.