Network & Systems Administrator

At Vertex Education we are a team of high achievers, courageous leaders, and passionate believers in changing lives through education. As a purpose-led education services provider, our mission is destined to benefit many and yet it starts with just one person inspired to work together with us to make a memorable and meaningful difference for our clients, schools, students, and communities. Be the one who makes a difference—with us. As a Network & Systems Administrator for Vertex Management Services, you will play a critical role in our mission of changing lives through education by establishing rock-solid infrastructure reliability for Legacy Traditional Schools. This role is designed to move our IT operations from reactive firefighting to proactive stability. You will be responsible for collaboratively resolving issues with a dual focus: ensuring immediate service restoration for our schools during an incident, and methodically engineering long-term solutions that prevent those incidents from recurring. We are looking for a team-oriented hands on administrator who is driven to build resilient, well-documented systems and finds success not in closing tickets, but in eliminating the root causes that create them. Responsibilities / Essential Functions: 1. Infrastructure Administration & Stability: Administer core network devices (Palo Alto, UniFi, Juniper) to ensure reliable and secure connectivity across all LTS campuses. Manage and maintain server infrastructure, including Microsoft Hyper‑V and Azure Stack, to guarantee high availability for critical school services. Oversee and secure hybrid identity systems (Active Directory, Entra ID, Google Workspace) to provide consistent and safe access for students and staff. Proactively apply system patches, manage configurations, and execute backup and recovery procedures (Veeam) to prevent service interruptions and data loss. 2. Incident & Problem Resolution: Respond with urgency to system outages and performance degradation, focusing on rapid service restoration to minimize disruption to school operations. Conduct methodical root cause analysis for recurring issues, documenting findings and engineering permanent solutions to prevent future incidents. Own the end-to-end lifecycle for assigned incidents, from initial diagnosis and troubleshooting through to resolution, communication, and post-mortem review. Participate in an on-call rotation to provide after-hours support for critical infrastructure emergencies affecting Legacy Traditional Schools. 3. Process Improvement & Documentation: Adhere to and champion the formal change management process, ensuring all production changes are peer-reviewed, tested, and documented to minimize risk. Develop and maintain clear technical documentation, network diagrams, and standard operating procedures to improve team efficiency and consistency. Identify and script solutions to automate repetitive manual tasks, freeing up team capacity to focus on high-impact improvement projects. Contribute to blameless post‑mortem reviews for major incidents, helping to identify systemic weaknesses and track preventative actions to completion. Actively partner with team members to troubleshoot complex, cross‑domain problems that span network, server, and application layers. Mentor peers and elevate the team’s collective capability by sharing expertise through cross‑training and creating shared documentation. Serve as a key technical resource for school support staff, providing clear communication and effective support for infrastructure-related inquiries. Contribute to a culture of shared ownership by participating in team huddles, project planning, and the evaluation of new infrastructure technologies. Qualifications: Required Qualifications: 5+ years of experience administering multi-site Microsoft environments, including Windows Server, Active Directory, and Hyper‑V. Strong understanding of network fundamentals and hands‑on experience managing firewalls, switches, and wireless infrastructure in a multi‑vendor environment. Proficiency managing hybrid identity platforms, including Microsoft Entra ID and Google Workspace administration. Experience using enterprise monitoring tools (e.g., PRTG) and backup solutions (e.g., Veeam) to ensure operational reliability. A track record of improving system stability through the disciplined use of formal change management and incident response processes. Proven ability to work collaboratively to troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues spanning multiple infrastructure domains. Ability to travel onsite to LTS locations in state and out of state. Preferred Qualifications: Hands‑on experience with Palo Alto Networks firewalls, Juniper switches, or Ubiquiti UniFi wireless equipment. Proficiency with PowerShell scripting to automate user administration, system health checks, and other repetitive tasks. Familiarity with managing on‑premises cloud infrastructure, specifically Microsoft Azure Stack. Relevant industry certifications (e.g., Microsoft Certified, CompTIA Network+/Security+). Previous IT experience in a K‑12 education environment. Familiarity with IT service management (ITSM) frameworks such as ITIL. Be excited to be a part of our team and grow your career with us! Be the one who enables us to positively impact over 258,000 students across multiple states while driving our growth forward so we can enrich even more lives. Be the one who helps us achieve excellence for over 226 schools that we support with academics, finance, technology, human resources, communications, marketing, facilities, construction, and food services. Be the one who is a diverse thinker, a team player, a smart risk taker, an innovator, and a difference maker by encouraging others to climb higher and reach farther to further education. Be yourself surrounded by wonderful people who care about you, value your unique skills, and lift you up. Be supported in your work by caring leaders and team members who want you to succeed. Be empowered to make a difference and climb higher and reach farther to change lives through education. Be well in all aspects of your life from your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing to your finances. Enjoy industry‑leading pay, rewards, referral bonuses, with unlimited flexible paid time‑off for performance. Be able to care for your health and your family with comprehensive medical, dental and vision benefits and invest in your future with 401(k) plans with a 6% employer match on your contributions. Enhance your growth and development with mentoring and money to take training classes. Thrive in a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive environment where we treat others with fairness and respect, celebrate diversity, and elevate equality and inclusion as an equal opportunity employer. With an innovative mind, a hungry heart, and engaging spirit you can change lives through education. Be a part of Vertex Education and let’s make a difference together. #J-18808-Ljbffr