Systems Engineer Sr

Northwestern University; Evanston (IL); On-site; USD 112,000 - 142,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Tuition benefits

Wellness programs

Retirement savings options

Job summary

Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, seeks a Senior Systems Engineer to install, configure, and support multi-tier infrastructure across IT and schools, including servers, storage, and networks.

The role leads planning for operations and projects, participates in disaster recovery, and collaborates with development teams to ensure high availability, security, and compliance with best practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of system administration or related experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning, development, and coordination of operations for current and future infrastructures.
• Participate in disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
• Provide project liaison and manage communications between CI and project leaders.
• Maintain policies and standard procedures to maximize uptime and security.
• Guide software installations, upgrades, and automation for large-scale deployments.
• Monitor application performance and manage resources for optimal operation.

Skills

System administration

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Job description

Department: IT Cyber Platform Services
Salary/Grade: ITS/82
Target hiring range for this position will be between $111,800-142,000 per year. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data

Job Summary:

This role works closely in supporting our technology partners within Information Technology and across our schools and departments to install, configure, and support multi-tier application environments.

Completes efforts and projects related to the design, installation, operation, support, upgrades and maintenance of infrastructure, including software, servers, networking and storage. Administers, maintains and supports complex and critical infrastructure. Provides user support for server hosting requests, problem resolution, system changes and upgrades. Analyzes infrastructure performance and resolves problems or makes appropriate recommendations. Ensures that all aspects of operability are delivered as part of the implementation process while also ensuring that existing service level is maintained or improved. Contributes to and ensures full compliance to operational standards, procedures and best practices. In this role the Senior Systems Engineer could serve as project manager as well as a product or service owner. Participate in scheduled on-call rotation and managing team service management ticket queues.

*Note: Not all aspects of the job are covered by this job description.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Leads planning, development, and coordination of operations and projects for current and future infrastructures, including software deployment.
• Anticipates impact of growth and changes in operations and recommends design and process changes.
• Participates in disaster recovery and business continuity planning, including backup, recovery procedures, and high availability configurations.
• Provides recommendations and occasionally leads discussions regarding infrastructure planning and budgeting.
• Serves as project liaison for implementations or upgrades, acting as the focal point for communications between CI and assigned Project Leaders.
• Facilitates coordination and a thorough understanding of requirements, attends project meetings, creates written meeting notes, and manages ticketing.
• Maintains policies and standard procedures to increase system uptime and ensures compliance with best practices.
• Identifies training needs and stays current on application technologies, system standards, and innovative administration approaches.
• Guides and performs software installations, upgrades, and automation scripting to optimize multi-server and large-scale deployments.
• Monitors application performance on servers and manages appropriate software and hardware allocations for optimal performance.
• Performs capacity planning to project future growth and collaborates with development teams to build, rebuild, or update server applications.
• Leads troubleshooting of application, operating system, server hardware, network communications, and storage problems within infrastructure.
• Provides a second level of support, leads incident resolution efforts, and offers user support on deployed servers.
• Provides data and metrics to support sizing requirements and performance tuning decisions, participating in decision processes with management.
• Provides work direction to staff, recommends hires, coaches and mentors associate-level employees, and ensures projects meet timelines and expectations.

Miscellaneous

Perform other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications (Education, Experience, Certifications, Skills)

• Successful Completion Of A Full 4-Year Course Of Study In An Accredited College Or University Leading To A Bachelor's Or Higher Degree; Or Appropriate Combination Of Education And Experience

Preferred Qualifications (Education, Experience, Certifications, Skills)

• 6 Years System Administration Or Other Relevant Experience Required.

Benefits:

At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful and competitive benefits. The available benefits package for this position will include health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance; paid vacation and holidays; paid medical/sick and parental leave; tuition benefits for the employee and dependents; pre‑tax and flex spending accounts for commuting and dependent care; generous retirement savings options; and wellness programs. For a comprehensive overview of available benefits, including eligibility details, visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/index.html to learn more.

Work-Life and Wellness:

Northwestern offers comprehensive programs and services to help you and your family navigate life's challenges and opportunities and adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles.

We support flexible work arrangements where possible and programs to help you locate and pay for quality, affordable childcare and senior/adult care. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/work-life/index.html to learn more.

Professional Growth & Development:

Northwestern supports employee career development in all circumstances whether your workspace is on campus or at home. If you're interested in developing your professional potential or continuing your formal education, we offer a variety of tools and resources. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/learning/index.html to learn more.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics, including disability and veteran status. View Northwestern's non-discrimination statement. Job applicants who wish to request an accommodation in the application or hiring process should contact the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance. View additional information on the accommodations process.