Platform Engineer

Colorado College Careers; Colorado; On-site; USD 76,000 - 93,000; Full time

Job summary

Colorado College is seeking a Platform Engineer to provide technical leadership for enterprise infrastructure, spanning private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. You will design, deploy, and support scalable systems with strong emphasis on reliability, security, and disaster recovery.

You will develop automation, lead infrastructure projects, and collaborate with ITS engineers and external vendors to maintain high availability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in infrastructure, IT operations, or related field.
• One year of relevant work experience may be substituted for one year of required education (OR) one year of relevant academic coursework beyond the minimum requirement may be substituted for one year of required professional experience.

Responsibilities

• Designs, deploys, and supports highly available and secure private, public, and hybrid cloud-based systems, including disaster recovery solutions and procedures.
• Develops and maintains automation workflows for virtual machines, infrastructure operations, and system deployments.
• Leads enterprise projects, manages vendor relationships, and ensures resiliency, power, and consolidation enhancements.
• Maintains systems documentation and provides regular communication to the Infrastructure Manager.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

Job description

Job Title: Platform Engineer

Department: Infrastructure

Campus Location: Main Campus

FLSA Status: Exempt/ Salaried

Position Type/ Work Schedule

• 2080 Hours per year
• 12 Months per year
• 40 Hours per week (Estimated)

About Us

Colorado College is a nationally recognized, residential liberal arts college with 2,100 students from around the world. Employees set the stage for student success by bringing their diverse experience and knowledge to the table. The college actively promotes a dynamic and inclusive environment in which students and employees of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives can learn and work.

Job Summary

The Platform Engineer provides technical leadership in the design, deployment, administration, and ongoing support of the College’s enterprise infrastructure systems. Manages highly available, secure, and fault-tolerant private, public, and hybrid cloud environments, including virtualization, operating systems, data storage, networking services, backup, and disaster recovery. Leads infrastructure projects, develops automation solutions, establishes technical standards and procedures, and supports the reliability, performance, security, and long-term scalability of enterprise systems.

Responsibilities

Systems Architecture, Security, and Infrastructure Planning

• Designs, deploys, and supports highly available and secure private, public, and hybrid cloud-based systems, including disaster recovery solutions and procedures that meet the performance and availability requirements of the Block Plan. Designs, installs, configures, secures, and maintains electronic data storage solutions, highly redundant compute platforms, server virtualization infrastructure, and virtual desktop infrastructure. Promotes virtualization and cloud technologies and implements scalability and performance maturity models for enterprise platforms. Ensures that long-term systems operations and administration requirements are incorporated into the College’s overall information systems planning. Establishes standards, policies, and procedures for infrastructure administration, maintenance, and compliance with College requirements and applicable state and federal information security regulations. Collaborates with ITS Network Engineers to design and implement secure server and virtual networking solutions and provides guidance and support to faculty and students using cloud-based and on-premises servers for academic projects.

Systems Engineering, Programming, and Automation

• Develops and maintains code to integrate infrastructure applications with third-party cloud-based and on-premises applications and to extend open-source software solutions. Designs and maintains automated workflows for virtual machines, infrastructure operations, and system deployments. Identifies and automates systems tasks using common scripting and automation tools. Promotes the appropriate use of open-source software and programs and code-control systems such as Git. Participates in a rotating after-hours on-call schedule to ensure continued support and availability of enterprise systems.

Systems Administration, Monitoring, and Recovery

• Installs, configures, secures, and maintains guest operating system environments, including Windows, Linux, and prepackaged virtual appliances, as well as network infrastructure services such as DNS and DHCP. Oversees the installation of software releases and system upgrades, evaluates and installs patches, and diagnoses and resolves software and operating system issues. Monitors, tunes, diagnoses, and resolves issues involving server, network, operating system, and storage resources. Implements operating system, data storage, and backup enhancements to improve infrastructure reliability, recoverability, and performance. Maintains data files and monitors system configurations to ensure data integrity. Installs and manages centralized campus infrastructure logging services and uses monitoring tools to assess server and network resources.

Enterprise Projects, Data Center Operations, and Vendor Management

• Leads projects of critical importance involving enterprise systems, networking, security, and overall IT architecture. Provides project leadership, project management, and hands-on architectural support for College-wide IT projects and strategic initiatives, including the implementation of best practices, policies, and procedures. Works with Facilities Services staff and vendors to maintain and monitor the College’s data centers and provides guidance regarding resiliency, power, and consolidation enhancements. Evaluates current and emerging enterprise technology tools, trends, issues, and best practices; researches vendor-supported and open-source hardware and software solutions; and makes recommendations regarding hardware and software purchases. Manages vendor relationships, including bid processes, obtaining quotes, and purchasing.

Documentation, Team Support, and Service

• Develops and maintains systems documentation and provides regular and timely communication to the Infrastructure Manager. Mentors team members, develops effective training programs, and oversees the work of individuals who perform day-to-day systems support tasks. Demonstrates a commitment to excellence in service to users and serves as a backup to other positions within the Network Systems Group.

Collaboration Skills

• Contact may involve support of controversial positions or the negotiation of sensitive issues, stressful or complex interactions with the community, and requires high levels of tact and the ability to respond to escalated interpersonal interactions.

Technical Knowledge

• Work requires advanced skills and knowledge in approaches and systems, which affect the design and implementation of major programs and/or processes.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field
• 5 years of experience in a related field

One year of relevant work experience may be substituted for one year of required education (OR) one year of relevant academic coursework beyond the minimum requirement may be substituted for one year of required professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain positive professional relationships in a highly collaborative, service-oriented environment.
• Strong interpersonal communication, sound judgment, accountability, adaptability, and the ability to navigate competing priorities are highly valued.
• Successful candidates demonstrate initiative, intellectual curiosity, independent problem-solving, and a willingness to accept feedback, share knowledge, and contribute to team success.
• Technical experience with enterprise infrastructure, virtualization, Windows and Linux operating systems, cloud technologies, automation, information security, and disaster recovery is preferred. Candidates should demonstrate a strong technical foundation, an aptitude for learning new technologies, and the ability to apply developing technical skills to complex institutional challenges.
• 2 years of experience with cloud-based systems such as Azure.
• Cloud certification in Amazon, Microsoft, and/or Google is preferred.
• Experience with automation tools such as Ansible for Windows and Linux deployment and maintenance preferred.

Applicants are welcome to apply even ifyoudo not meet the preferred qualifications.We value diverse perspectives and encourage individuals with a genuine interest in the role tosubmittheir applications.

Other Position Details

• Does not supervise others
• Position will not drive CC vehicles

Anticipated Hiring Salary Range

• $75,748 to $92,791 per year

What We Offer

As part of the total compensation for Staff and Faculty roles, we offer a competitive benefits package including:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Paid vacation and sick time - accrual of 7.34 hours of vacation per pay period (176 hours, 22 days per year) and 4 hours of sick time per pay period (96 hours, 12 days per year)
• Paid seasonal breaks and holidays (20 days per year)
• 403(b) retirement plans where employees contribute 5% of pay and CC contributes 10%
• Tuition benefits for employee and eligible dependents
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Assistance Program
• Wellness benefits include free access to the sports center, swimming pool, arts and crafts, outdoor programs, and financial consultants

Benefits and Wellness Information

Please refer to our Benefits Page

Accommodation Statement

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Colorado College’s policies, if you have a disability and would like to request accommodations to support your application or interview process, please contact Human Resources at [e-mail] as early as possible. Positions may close on the listed deadline or, if posted as continuous, may close without prior notice.

E-Verify Information

This organization participates in E-Verify. For more information, visit www.e-verify.gov

Leave Information

Please refer to https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/welcome/leadership/policies/vacation-leave-and-accrual.html