Sr. System Engineer - Active Directory Infrastructure

Communications & Power Industries (CPI); United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

CPI is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer – Active Directory & Infrastructure to join our three-person infrastructure team. This remote role is hands-on and the primary technical owner for Microsoft AD DS, Group Policy, hybrid identity, and Windows patching.

The ideal candidate will have deep enterprise AD experience and lead efforts on AD consolidation, GPO cleanup, security hardening, lifecycle management, and patching, with cross‑functional backup for virtualization, compute, storage, and

Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of AD with hands-on experience in multi-forest/tenant envs.
• Experience with AD consolidation, migration, cleanup or modernization.
• Advanced Windows Server administration and troubleshooting.
• Strong PowerShell scripting and automation skills.
• Hands-on experience with Entra ID, hybrid identity, directory sync.
• Knowledge of Kerberos, NTLM, SAML, OAuth/OIDC, DNS, DHCP and networking.
• Ability to troubleshoot across infra layers and work independently in a small team.
• Strong documentation, communication, troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.
• Security/compliance perspective including NIST/171/CMMC/ITAR/ECI

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary admin and SME for Microsoft AD DS in a multi-forest/domain/tenant env.
• Design, implement, maintain and optimize GPOs and policy performance.
• Lead AD consolidation, cleanup, restructuring, and modernization efforts.
• Administer and support Microsoft Entra ID and hybrid identity across on‑prem and cloud.
• Troubleshoot complex AD, GPO, DNS, Kerberos, NTLM, certificates and replication issues.
• Own and improve Windows Server patching using MECM and Intune.
• Provide senior backup and troubleshooting for VMware compute/virtualization, NetApp storage, Rubrik backup.
• Collaborate with security/infra teams on AD security hardening and disaster recovery.

Skills

AD administration

Group Policy management

Windows patch management

PowerShell scripting

Hybrid identity / Entra ID

Troubleshooting across layers

Documentation & communication

Security hardening (NIST etc)

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IT

Tools

MECM/Configuration Manager

Intune

VMware

NetApp

Rubrik

Entra ID

Job description

CPI is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer -- Active Directory & Infrastructure to join our three-person infrastructure team. This remote position is a hands‑on senior role and the primary technical owner for Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Group Policy, hybrid identity, and Windows patching.

The successful candidate will have deep experience with enterprise Active Directory and Windows environments and will lead efforts involving AD consolidation, directory and Group Policy cleanup and maintenance, security hardening, lifecycle management, and patching. The role also provides cross-functional backup for virtualization, compute, storage, backup, and other infrastructure platforms.

U.S. Citizenship is required. Candidates requiring employment authorization through an EAD, visa, or other non‑citizen work authorization are not eligible for consideration.

Primary Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary administrator and technical SME for Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), in a multi‑forest, multi‑domain, and multi‑tenant environment.
• Design, implement, maintain, troubleshoot, and optimize Group Policy Objects (GPOs), security/WMI filtering, and policy performance.
• Lead Active Directory consolidation, cleanup, restructuring, and modernization, including remediation of stale accounts/objects, legacy configurations, unnecessary policies, excessive privileges, and other directory complexity.
• Administer and support Microsoft Entra ID and hybrid identity, including directory synchronization and authentication/authorization across on‑premises and cloud environments.
• Troubleshoot complex AD, Group Policy, DNS, Kerberos, NTLM, certificates, authentication, authorization, and replication issues.
• Own and improve Windows Server and endpoint patching, using MECM/Configuration Manager and Intune including patch planning, deployment, compliance reporting, troubleshooting failed updates, and remediation of vulnerable or unsupported systems.
• Provide senior‑level backup and troubleshooting support for VMware compute/virtualization, NetApp storage, Rubrik backup and recovery, and related infrastructure.
• Work with security and infrastructure teams on AD security hardening, privileged access, least privilege, vulnerability remediation, disaster recovery, and business continuity.

Required Qualifications & Technical Skills

• U.S. Citizenship is required. Candidates requiring employment authorization through an EAD, visa, or other non‑citizen work authorization are not eligible for consideration.
• Advanced knowledge of AD with strong hands‑on experience administering and troubleshooting multi‑forest/domain/tenant environments
• Experience with AD consolidation, migration, cleanup, restructuring, or modernization.
• Advanced Windows Server administration and troubleshooting experience.
• Strong experience with Windows patch management, vulnerability remediation, and systems lifecycle management leveraging MECM/Configuration Manager and/or Intune.
• Strong PowerShell scripting and automation skills.
• Hands‑on experience with Microsoft Entra ID, hybrid identity, and directory synchronization.
• Working knowledge of Kerberos, NTLM, SAML, OAuth/OIDC, AD CS, DNS, DHCP, and networking dependencies.
• Ability to troubleshoot across infrastructure layers and work independently in a small, collaborative infrastructure team.
• Strong documentation, communication, troubleshooting, and root‑cause analysis skills.
• Security and Compliance perspective, NIST 800‑43, 171, CMMC, CUI, ITAR, ECI

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or similar.
• Experience with Active Directory security hardening, privileged access management, and least‑privilege design.
• Experience supporting VMware, NetApp, and/or Rubrik environments.
• Experience with disaster recovery, business continuity, infrastructure monitoring, and enterprise lifecycle management.
• Microsoft certifications related to Windows Server, Azure/Entra Identity, or Security.
• Experience supporting regulated, defense, aerospace, or other security‑sensitive environments.
• Strong Linux administration experience and familiarity with Docker/containerized workloads.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Azure Government / GCC High, including identity, security, networking, and compliance considerations.
• Experience supporting AI infrastructure, agentic AI platforms, MCP (Model Context Protocol), AI gateways, or enterprise integration of AI workloads with identity and access controls.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a hands‑on infrastructure engineer who takes ownership, understands Active Directory at a deep technical level, and can independently diagnose and resolve difficult identity and Windows problems. You should enjoy cleaning up and improving environments, not simply maintaining them, and be comfortable balancing AD engineering, patching, security, automation, and broader infrastructure support in a small team.

SHAPING THE FUTURE THROUGH INNOVATION AND DISCOVERY!

With a history spanning more than seven decades, Communications & Power Industries' thousands of products have impacted people's lives in numerous unseen ways every day. Our highly engineered products serve as the backbone of modern‑day commercial and military communications systems, assist in diagnosing medical conditions, empower scientific discoveries and space exploration, and much more.

CPI is headquartered in Plano, Texas and is a global manufacturer of electronic components and subsystems. We have manufacturing locations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. With a heritage of technological excellence, our team serves customers in the communications, defense, medical, industrial, and scientific markets.

What We Offer

Whether you are a seasoned professional or just embarking on your career, CPI is an ideal place to expand your knowledge and expertise. We cultivate a healthy, dynamic, and team‑oriented environment that empowers our employees to develop, create and deliver innovative, reliable technology solutions to power, connect, protect, and support a better tomorrow.

We offer our employees an attractive compensation package with competitive salaries and comprehensive benefits, including health and wellness programs, career development, generous retirement savings plan with company match and more!

Who We Are

We value the unique and diverse skills, qualities, and backgrounds that each employee brings to CPI, and we respect each employee as an integral member of our growing team. CPI is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all current and prospective employees, as well as to promoting a culture of inclusion and respect for everyone. We celebrate the innovation that diversity creates in the work environment, and we recognize that each employee brings their own unique capabilities, experiences, and perspectives to the organization. It is this variety that adds value to our teams, as well as to our stakeholders. We welcome and encourage applicants to reach their full potential with us.

CPI is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and affirmative action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability or other applicable legally protected characteristics.