IT SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR

Job Title: Systems Administrator

The City of Columbia is seeking a skilled Systems Administrator to support and maintain the city's IT infrastructure, ensuring reliable and secure operations for municipal services. The ideal candidate will have expertise in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM)/ Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Active Directory (AD), with a strong focus on system administration, network management, and cybersecurity best practices. This role will be responsible for maintaining enterprise systems, troubleshooting technical issues, and implementing upgrades to improve efficiency across city departments.

The work is considered sedentary in nature and involves walking or standing some of the time and involves exerting up to 10 pounds of force on a recurring basis, and occasionally more up to 50 pounds, and routine keyboard operations. The work requires the following physical abilities to perform the essential job functions: lifting, mental acuity, talking, and visual acuity.

Work environment involves exposure to no known environmental hazards; and is dynamic that requires sensitivity to change and responsiveness to changing goals, priorities, and needs.

Responsibilities:

• Manages any assigned Information Technology projects from conception and design, through startup, deployment, user training, and providing long term maintenance support;
• Analyzes technology requirements of COC departments; develops plans to implement new or modified technologies so as to help meet departments' business needs;
• Takes ownership of specific applications and services and supports the necessary Project Management functions to complete all project objectives within the time frames given;
• Develops and documents functional and technical specifications based on business requirements;
• Researches, evaluates, recommends and implements new management information system technologies, applications and hardware systems;
• Communicates with consultants and vendors to determine appropriate hardware and software technologies for assigned projects; oversees vendor contracts for hardware and software maintenance;
• Establishes system parameters and formats; ensures hardware/software compatibility;
• Conducts installations, integrations, patches, service packs and upgrades of hardware and application systems;
• Administer and support Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to enforce security and operational policies. Use of computers and applications;
• Manage user authentication, permissions, and access control in Active Directory and Azure AD environments.
• Implement and enforce security policies to protect city systems, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local regulations.
• Conducts routine hardware and software audits of servers for compliance with established standards, policies, configuration guidelines, version requirements and procedures;
• Manage Microsoft Active Directory (AD), including user accounts, security groups, policies, and domain services.
• Analyzes, proposes and implements solutions for end-user service requests, trouble reports, and a variety of problems associated with the City's computing network;
• Performs system fault diagnoses; maintains backups of and restores user data as necessary;
• Develops and maintains a comprehensive hardware and software configuration library containing all documentation, software and other media necessary to build and deploy assigned systems and subsystems;
• Implements new city systems as assigned;
• Supports and manages a VMware environment;
• Administer, maintain, and optimize the city's Microsoft SCCM environment, including software deployments, patch management, and system imaging.
• Provides tier 3 support of applications and hardware (including servers, desktop & handheld devices)
• Provides weekday, after-hours and weekend primary support for IT systems and Public Safety services, including 911;
• Develops documents and implements standard operating procedures;
• Provides electronic files to other agencies and organizations as appropriate;
• Assists Help Desk staff, and helps to coordinate their activities;
• Receives and responds to inquiries, concerns and complaints in areas of responsibility;
• Attends training, seminars and conferences as appropriate to enhance job knowledge and skills;
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements to Perform Work:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, network engineering or closely related field;
• 3 years of relevant prior experience;
• Valid South Carolina Class "D" Driver's License.

Knowledge of personal and peripheral equipment with skill in doing data entry and in the use of Microsoft Windows Server 2008-2025 based services such as Active Directory, DNS, WINS, DHCP, File Sharing; Knowledge of server hardware and technologies such as RAID, SAN, VMWARE; Ability to provide twenty-four (24) hour maintenance support on a rotating on-call basis; Experience with Windows Server (2016/2019/2022) administration and maintenance. Knowledge of networking concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VPNs, Firewalls). Familiarity with PowerShell scripting for automation and administrative tasks. Experience with Office 365 / Microsoft 365 administration. Understanding of IT security principles, endpoint protection, and compliance frameworks. Excellent communication and customer service skills for supporting city employees and stakeholders. Strong experience with Microsoft SCCM (Endpoint Configuration Manager) for software deployment, OS imaging, and patch management. Proficiency in Microsoft Active Directory (AD), Group Policy Management, and Azure. Strong problem-solving and analytical skills with the ability to troubleshoot complex IT issues. Excellent communication and customer service skills for supporting city employees and stakeholders.