Senior Systems Engineer

Update your profile details, view your application and progress. Keep informed about job opportunities at UMass Boston. Job no: 530178 Position Type: Staff Full Time Campus: UMass Boston Department: IT Comm & Infrastructure Serv Pay Grade: 33 Date opened: 18 Aug 2026 Eastern Daylight Time Applications close: 08 Sep 2026 Eastern Daylight Time General Summary: The Senior Systems Engineer is a senior technical contributor responsible for designing, implementing, securing, automating, and supporting the University’s enterprise systems infrastructure. The position works across on-premises and cloud environments, including Windows and Linux systems, virtualization, storage, backup and recovery, directory and authentication services, monitoring, and related enterprise platforms. The Senior Systems Engineer leads complex technical work, resolves significant production issues, and helps establish engineering standards and sustainable operating practices. The position works closely with Systems Engineering colleagues and partners across Information Security, Network Engineering, Enterprise Applications, Research Computing, Client Services, Academic Technology, and other University departments. Examples of Duties: Essential Duties and Responsibilities Design, implement, maintain, monitor, and continuously improve secure, reliable, and scalable enterprise systems across on-premises and cloud environments, including performance, availability, capacity, security, and lifecycle management. Serve as a senior technical resource for complex systems, cloud, virtualization, operating systems, directory services, storage, backup, automation, infrastructure reliability, incident response, root-cause analysis, and service restoration. Lead or contribute to major infrastructure implementations, upgrades, migrations, integrations, and platform-modernization initiatives. Develop and maintain automation using scripting, configuration management, infrastructure as code, version control, and other repeatable engineering practices. Implement system hardening, patching, vulnerability remediation, privileged-access controls, logging, and other security requirements in partnership with Information Security. Support enterprise backup, restoration, disaster recovery, and continuity capabilities, including documentation and regular recovery testing. Maintain accurate technical documentation, diagrams, operating procedures, configuration standards, and recovery instructions. Serve as a technical lead on assigned projects by coordinating work across IT teams, vendors, and University stakeholders while mentoring colleagues, sharing knowledge, and establishing primary and secondary ownership of critical platforms. Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend solutions based on security, reliability, supportability, institutional need, and total cost. Provide responsive and professional support to University customers and technical partners. Participate in an on-call rotation and perform occasional planned or emergency work outside normal business hours. Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned. Minimum Qualifications: 1. Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, engineering, or a related field. 2. At least six years of progressively responsible experience designing, implementing, or supporting enterprise infrastructure environments. 3. Strong knowledge and practical experience in several of the following areas: a. Windows or Linux server systems b. Microsoft Azure or comparable cloud platforms c. Active Directory, Entra ID, authentication, or federation d. Virtualization technologies e. Enterprise storage, backup, and disaster recovery f. Infrastructure automation and scripting g. Systems monitoring and observability h. Infrastructure security and vulnerability remediation 4. Experience leading or making substantial technical contributions to infrastructure implementations, upgrades, migrations, or complex incident response. 5. Ability to develop and maintain automation using PowerShell, Python, Terraform, Ansible, or comparable technologies. 6. Strong troubleshooting, analytical, documentation, communication, and customer-service skills. 7. Ability to manage competing priorities, exercise independent judgment, and work effectively both independently and as part of a collaborative team. 8. Demonstrated ability to work effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences, identities, disciplines, and organizational levels. Preferred Qualifications 1. Experience supporting technology in higher education, research, government, healthcare, or another complex institutional environment. 2. Experience with Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Active Directory, Entra ID, VMware or comparable virtualization platforms, enterprise backup technologies, and Linux systems. 3. Experience with infrastructure as code, configuration management, Git-based workflows, automated deployment, or platform-engineering practices. 4. Experience supporting research environments, regulated data, cloud-based research services, or data-intensive computing. 5. Experience with disaster recovery, service management, site-reliability practices, or technical project leadership. 6. Relevant technical, cloud, security, or service-management certifications. Work Schedule and Conditions The position participates in a scheduled on-call rotation and may be required to support planned maintenance, major upgrades, incidents, and recovery activities outside normal University business hours. Because of the position’s hands‑on technical, operational, and collaborative responsibilities, the Senior Systems Engineer is generally expected to work on campus at least four days per week. Limited remote work may be available consistent with University policy and operational needs. Our Approach to Candidates UMass Boston recognizes that strong candidates may develop relevant skills through a variety of professional, educational, and lived experiences. Candidates who meet the minimum qualifications but do not possess every preferred qualification are encouraged to apply. We welcome candidates with transferable experience, nontraditional career paths, and a commitment to collaborative and inclusive work. For Professional Unit Positions: Is this job required to be on-call? Yes Background Check Information: UMass Boston Standard Background Package (Mandatory) Criminal Felony & Misdemeanor - 7 years (a) - Unlimited # of counties as revealed by SSN Trace Federal Criminal Massachusetts CORI Education Report - highest degree (b) Employment Report - 7 years, previous employer National Sex Offender Search Professional Licenses Report - per license SSN Trace SSN Validation Supervision Received: The Senior Systems Engineer reports to the Director of Systems Engineering and exercises substantial independent judgment in carrying out assigned technical, operational, and project responsibilities. Supervision Exercised: The Senior Systems Engineer does not normally exercise direct supervision but may provide technical leadership, functional direction, mentoring, or project coordination to other employees, consultants, contractors, and student staff. Only Internal candidates in the Professional Staff Bargaining Unit will be considered during the first 10 business days of the posting. All other candidates will be considered after that period. Salary Ranges for the appropriate Pay Grade can be found at the following link: All official salary offers must be approved by Human Resources. UMass Boston is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, wewill ensure that persons withdisabilitiesare provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io or View phone number on click.appcast.io. The University of Massachusetts Boston provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, pregnancy or a pregnancy-related condition, or membership in any other legally protected class. The University of Massachusetts Boston complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the university operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment. UMass Boston does not provide visa sponsorships for non-academic positions. The University of Massachusetts Boston is committed to providing a safe and secure environment that is supported by qualified employees for all of its students, faculty and staff to carry out the University's teaching, research and public service missions. As a condition of employment, the University will conduct appropriate background check reviews. For more information, please see the University of Massachusetts Boston campus policy and procedures for employee background reviews. #J-18808-Ljbffr