Systems Administrator/Cloud Ops

Systems Administrator / Cloud Operations Engineer

Reports to

Manager, Infrastructure & Cloud Operations

Team

Infrastructure & Cloud Operations — works alongside a senior systems engineer

Location

Flexible — any company office or remote (US), with travel to offices and data centers

Level

Individual contributor — analyst / engineer

Employment type

Full-time, exempt

About the role

This role keeps the identity, cloud services, servers, and networks our engineering, surveying, and design teams rely on secure and running.

Identity is the control plane for everything else. Access, security, acquisition integration and audit evidence all depend on one directory being authoritative. The company operates across six engineering firms and is consolidating them onto a single Microsoft 365 identity tenant.

This role works alongside the team’s senior systems engineer on identity, core cloud services and day-to-day infrastructure operations. You will own routine administration, patching, monitoring, backup and data center operations, and take an active part in the tenant consolidation and in operating the result. The company currently runs three data centers, which are being consolidated as part of that program.

You will also provide second-level support to the engineering, surveying and design staff who rely on these systems across offices and in the field, including the specialist applications their work depends on.

The role is also the team’s backup for identity and the network. You will cross-train with the senior engineer to the point where either of you can run the environment while the other is out — cover that is tested, not assumed.

Key responsibilities

Day-to-day operations, patching and the data centers

• Perform routine administration across servers, virtualization (VMware or Hyper-V), cloud workloads, storage, backup and collaboration services, and execute the patch cycle across servers and cloud infrastructure with published currency reporting.
• Operate and maintain the company’s three data centers, and execute the data center consolidation program as it is sequenced.
• Monitor infrastructure health and capacity, respond to alerts, and escalate with useful diagnostic information rather than a restated alert. Take second-level escalation from the service desk on infrastructure issues.
• Execute and evidence backup restore tests on the published schedule, without prompting, and maintain the disaster recovery procedures they support.

Identity

• Support the consolidation of all operating companies into a single identity tenant, including mailbox, file and Teams migration.
• Administer Active Directory, Entra ID and hybrid identity, including Group Policy, DNS and DHCP.
• Run the identity lifecycle: joiner, mover and leaver processes that work reliably and produce an audit trail. A departed employee retaining access is a finding in every framework the company is subject to.
• Administer multi-factor authentication, conditional access and privileged access, including the documented, time-limited exception list.
• Maintain role and group design so that access is granted by role rather than by request history.

Core cloud services

• Administer Microsoft 365 service configuration and health: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive and Teams.
• Maintain tenant-level security and compliance configuration in partnership with the Manager, Information Security & Compliance, including data loss prevention, retention and audit logging.
• Support the identity and tenant design of a segmented compliance enclave for federal work, built so that it does not force the whole company into a higher-cost, lower-capability tenant.

Network and endpoint security

• Maintain LAN/WAN, firewalls, VPNs, switching and wireless across office locations, as the team’s backup for the network.
• Support secure remote access for hybrid and field staff.
• Manage endpoint protection and device management, and respond to and document security incidents.

End-user and application support

• Take second-level escalation from the service desk on hardware, software and workstation issues.
• Support engineering and design applications — Autodesk (AutoCAD, Civil 3D), Bentley, Esri ArcGIS and Bluebeam.
• Image, deploy and retire workstations, CAD workstations, laptops and mobile devices.

Acquisition integration

• Execute the identity and collaboration workstream on acquisitions: directory assessment, coexistence, migration and cutover.
• Contribute to the identity section of the integration playbook and improve it after each deal.

Engineering discipline and cover

• Automate provisioning, configuration and reporting rather than performing them by hand.
• Write and maintain runbooks, network diagrams and asset inventory to a standard where a competent peer — or the managed service provider — could operate the system without you present.
• Cross-train with the senior systems engineer so that cover for identity and the network is tested rather than assumed.
• Flag to IT leadership, in writing, any system that only one person can operate.

Required qualifications

• Four or more years administering Windows Server, Microsoft 365 and cloud infrastructure, with hands-on patch management, backup, monitoring and physical data center operations, including migration and decommissioning.
• Working command of Entra ID or Active Directory, conditional access and multi-factor authentication.
• Hands-on experience with virtualization (VMware or Hyper-V) and enterprise backup.
• Solid networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, VLANs, DNS, DHCP, firewalls and VPNs.
• Scripting and automation capability — PowerShell at minimum — sufficient to avoid doing repetitive work by hand.
• The discipline to document work to a standard someone else can follow.
• The ability to explain technical issues clearly to non-technical staff.
• A valid driver’s license and the ability to travel to offices and data centers as needed.

Preferred qualifications

• Hands-on involvement in a tenant-to-tenant migration or directory consolidation.
• Experience with government community cloud environments or a segmented compliance enclave.
• Experience supporting federal contract security requirements, such as NIST SP 800-171 or CMMC.
• Experience supporting AEC applications (Autodesk, Bentley, Esri) and high-performance CAD workstations.
• Relevant certification: Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator, Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert, Azure Administrator, CompTIA Network+ or Security+, or CCNA.

Technical capabilities

• Windows Server, Active Directory and group policy; Azure infrastructure administration; VMware or Hyper-V.
• Backup and recovery operations, patch and vulnerability remediation, monitoring and alerting.
• Microsoft Entra ID, hybrid identity, Entra Connect.
• Conditional access, multi-factor authentication, privileged identity management, access reviews.
• Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive and Teams administration and migration.
• Migration tooling for tenant-to-tenant work.
• PowerShell, Microsoft Graph and infrastructure automation.
• Microsoft Purview: data loss prevention, retention, audit.
• Networking: firewalls, VPN, switching and wireless; endpoint management with Intune.

How performance is measured

• Patch currency across servers and cloud infrastructure.
• Restore tests completed on schedule, with evidence.
• Data center consolidation milestones delivered.
• Runbook coverage and the result of the most recent cover test.
• Percentage of provisioning performed by automation rather than by hand.
• Time from termination to access revocation, and access review completion.

Working conditions

• Occasional after-hours or weekend work for maintenance windows, migrations and urgent issues; may include an on-call rotation.
• Travel to company offices and data centers as needed.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs and work in data centers, server rooms and equipment closets.

Decision rights and escalation

Works within the standards set by the Manager, Infrastructure & Cloud Operations. Escalates anything affecting licensing cost, the compliance boundary, or user-facing capability.