Solution Engineer - Data Center Services

Solution Engineer – Data Center Services

Founded over 35 years ago, First Quality is a family-owned company that has grown from a small business in McElhattan, Pennsylvania into a group of companies, employing over 5,000 team members, while maintaining our family values and entrepreneurial spirit. With corporate offices in New York and Pennsylvania and 8 manufacturing campuses across the U.S. and Canada, the companies within the First Quality group produce high-quality personal care and household products for large retailers and healthcare organizations. Our personal care and household product portfolio includes baby diapers, wipes, feminine pads, paper towels, bath tissue, adult incontinence products, laundry detergents, fabric finishers, and dishwash solutions. In addition, we manufacture certain raw materials and components used in the manufacturing of these products, including flexible print and packaging solutions.

Guided by our values of humility, unity, and integrity, we leverage advanced technology and innovation to drive growth and create new opportunities. At First Quality, you'll find a collaborative environment focused on continuous learning, professional development, and our mission to Make Things Better®.

We are seeking a Solution Engineer – Data Center Services for our First Quality Enterprises company working remotely.

The Data Center and Cloud Services Team within Infrastructure provides strategic direction, technical/functional expertise, and platform management for First Quality's Server and Compute solutions which include: HCI Infrastructure, Virtual Machines, Cloud Services, Active Directory, and related components as well as the tools and platforms that support the compute, storage, and backup systems at First Quality. The Solutions Engineer – Data Center and Cloud Services as a key member of the Solution Delivery team, provides functional and technical leadership for the delivery of First Quality's IT Infrastructure.

This position is responsible for the design, build, and deployment of the assigned systems and technologies. The person in this role will interact with team members at manufacturing sites and data centers as well as work directly with the Data Center & Cloud Architects to develop functional specifications and execute on the delivery of solutions including integration with other FQ systems and infrastructure.

The Solutions Engineer is responsible for build activities with a focus on hardware, software, and applications in our Data Centers and cloud environments which include but are not limited to: HCI Hardware for Virtual Workloads and Bare Metal Servers, Data Protection Platform Hardware and Systems, Enterprise Virtualization Platforms and hypervisor, Virtual Desktop Solutions, Cloud Services, and OS (Windows and Linux) server build administration and life cycle.

This position serves as a "build resource" for servers, storage, and backup services and, as such provides service transition to the Operations and Support Organization (L2) following completion of Infrastructure builds. Additionally, this role is responsible for serving as the L3 escalation point for these services. The person in this position owns their assigned system(s) and interacts with all divisions and departments within First Quality.

This person carries the responsibility for the build execution of the server / storage / backup services with the goal of fully utilizing their capabilities. The person in this position will work closely with the leaders and associates of First Quality's IT and Security organizations to maintain a complete end-to-end Infrastructure systems lifecycle (architecture to delivery to support).

Primary responsibilities include:

• Primary responsibility is the delivery of approved projects and associated solutions.
• Works closely with Solution Architects to create functional specifications, and low-level technical designs.
• Delivers high quality infrastructure and services to the business which meet desired requirements both on time and up to standards.
• Creates test plans, test scripts, and executes to ensure the services operate as expected.
• Partners with the Information Security Team to ensure the security posture of their solutions meets industry standards and aligns with First Quality best practices.
• Develops all the required technical documentation, drawings, and release notes content at time of delivery to be provided to Operations Team for ongoing support. Also helps develop operational procedures documents for the Support and Operations Teams to follow.
• Assists with project planning and scheduling and managing of projects
• Delivers effective communications both written and verbal.
• Attends customer / internal customer facing meetings as required to properly gather requirements and understand the business need
• Ensures adherence to IT Architecture principles and guidelines.
• Acts as a Level 3 escalation for support activities.
• Updates job knowledge by attending educational opportunities and training events.

The ideal candidate should possess the following:

• Minimum 7-10+ years of IT Infrastructure experience.
• Knowledge and experience in Data Center and Server Infrastructure - Data Center operations and maintenance, Server Hardware, HCI Server Solutions – (such as Dell VxRail, HPE Greenlake, Cisco UCS)
• Strong Virtualization Infrastructure Experience: (such as VMware / vCloud Foundation, Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV/Prism)
• Understanding of Enterprise Backup Systems and data protection platforms.
• Experience with Active Directory including User/Group/Computer Management, Domain Services Group Policy, DNS, DHCP and Authentication.
• Windows Server OS – 2016 to 2025
• Experience with Linux Server Build and Management (Red Hat or Ubuntu).
• Scripting capabilities for Infrastructure data gathering and remediations– PowerShell and VMware PowerCLI preferred. JSON, YAML and Terraform knowledge a plus.
• Has a strong focus on security when designing or engineering solutions for Infrastructure
• Experience evaluating products and solutions for procurement.
• Familiar with a variety of Information Technology concepts, practices, and procedures including server security hardening both on premise and in the cloud.
• Strong problem solving and decision-making skills with excellent written and verbal communications skills.
• Relies on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals.
• Able to overcome obstacles and get things done in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience in ITSM Change and Configuration Management required.
• Experience in Manufacturing Environments is a plus but not required.

Desired:

• Familiarity with deployment of workloads using Terraform or Azure DevOps processes and setting up workloads in Microsoft Azure and/or AWS a plus
• Experience with public cloud vendors (Azure, AWS, GCS), and building Hybrid Cloud with On Premise –Infrastructure.
• Experience and familiarity with GenAI platforms.
• ITSM/ITIL project and process management skillset
• Familiarity with Virtual Desktop Technologies and Platforms - Horizon View, Citrix, M365 DaaS.

What We Offer You

We believe that by continuously improving the quality of our benefits, we can help to raise the quality of life for our team members and their families. At First Quality you will receive:

• Competitive base salary and bonus opportunities
• Paid time off (three-week minimum)
• Medical, dental and vision starting day one
• 401(k) with employer match
• Paid parental leave
• Child and family care assistance (dependent care FSA with employer match up to $2500)
• Bundle of joy benefit (year's worth of free diapers to all team members with a new baby)
• Tuition assistance
• Wellness program with savings of up to $4,000 per year on insurance premiums
• ...and more!

First Quality is committed to protecting information under the care of First Quality Enterprises commensurate with leading industry standards and applicable regulations. As such, First Quality provides at least annual training regarding data privacy and security to employees who, as a result of their role specifications, may come in to contact with sensitive data.

First Quality is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identification, or protected Veteran status.