Systems Engineer

OVERVIEW

A thriving mission-driven multimedia organization NPR produces award-winning news information and music programming in partnership with hundreds of independent public radio stations across the nation. The NPR audience values information creativity curiosity and social responsibility and our employees do too. We are innovators and leaders in diverse fields from journalism and digital media to IT and development. Every day our employees and member stations touch the lives of millions worldwide.

Across our organization were building a workplace where collaboration is essential diverse voices are heard and inclusion is the key to our success. We are committed to doing the right thing in our journalism and in every role at NPR . This means that integrity adherence to our ethical standards and compliance with legal obligations are fundamental responsibilities for every employee at NPR.

Intro to Position

NPR is seeking a Systems Engineer for its Distribution IT Infrastructure team to manage test and maintain our enterprise virtualized infrastructure including servers storage and networking this role you will deploy configure monitor and troubleshoot modern virtualization platforms (such as VMware vSphere HPE Morpheus VM Essentials or Proxmox) to guarantee high availability scalability and security across NPRs core distribution technologies.

This role sits at the intersection of physical and virtual infrastructure: you will help stand up new data center hardware and build NPRs private cloud environment on top of it from rack and cable to hypervisor and host networking.

Working collaboratively with Infrastructure and Security colleagues you will analyze business workflows implement structured change management processes and support capacity planning initiatives to deliver resilient mission-critical operations for NPR and our nationwide Member station network.

Responsibilities

• Physical Infrastructure Build-Out: Partner with Infrastructure colleagues to install rack cable and configure new server storage and network hardware including firmware updates out-of-band management (e.g. HPE iLO Dell iDRAC) and RAID/BIOS configuration to establish the foundation for virtualized workloads.
• Virtual Infrastructure Deployment & Maintenance: Deploy configure and maintain virtualized systems using enterprise tools (e.g. HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Proxmox Nutanix Incus or VMware) to support operational reliability.
• Architecture Evaluation & Testing: Evaluate virtual system architecture compare existing applications and create metrics to measure response times and availability for test environments.
• Change Management Implementation: Recommend and execute system enhancements following established organizational change management policies and procedures.
• Operational & Capacity Support: Assist the Distribution Infrastructure team in executing cloud/virtualization workflows and capacity planning tools focused on return on investment and business value.
• Security Alignment & Compliance: Partner with Security Engineers to ensure virtual hosts operating systems and network configurations comply with organizational security policies.
• Workflow & Process Analysis: Analyze and document Distribution IT process workflows identifying areas for continuous improvement and operational efficiency.
• Technical Documentation & Knowledge Sharing: Create comprehensive documentation procedures instructions and training materials for internal colleagues and system users.
• Incident Escalation & Operational Support: Proactively communicate operational status to management participate in an on-call rotation and respond to critical system issues on a 24x7 basis as needed.

The above duties and responsibilities are not an exhaustive list of required responsibilities duties and skills. Other duties may be assigned and this job description can be modified at any time.

Minimum Qualifications

• 3 years of professional experience supporting maintaining troubleshooting and administering servers and networking within a data center environment.
• 2 years of hands-on experience in the planning design deployment and management of enterprise virtualized cloud infrastructure (e.g. VMware ESXi Microsoft Hyper-V or open-source hypervisors).
• Hands-on experience with physical data center hardware including racking and cabling servers configuring out-of-band
• Competence in DNS administration (BIND preferred).
• Experience with IP address management (IPAM) and DHCP services.
• Experience with configuration management (Puppet preferred).
• Experience creating agentless automation workflows (Ansible preferred).
• Experience with Mail Transfer Agent administration (Exim).
• Working knowledge of Windows Server administration (2022) alongside core directory and networking protocols (Active Directory DNS DHCP IIS).
• Practical experience supporting enterprise storage (NetApp or TrueNAS).
• Comfortable with networking configuration of hosts switches and routers including VLANs trunking and NIC bonding/link aggregation as applied to hypervisor hosts.
• Proven track record as a key contributor or project leader on complex technical initiatives including the creation of detailed technical documentation and workflow diagrams.
• Demonstrated ability to participate effectively in a team environment handle multiple concurrent projects and contribute to an on-call rotation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Unix/Linux networking configuration and Cisco switches and routers (Catalyst or Nexus/NX-OS).
• Familiarity with scripting languages (Python PowerShell or JavaScript).
• Experience with enterprise backup/recovery solutions (e.g. Veeam).
• Experience with HPE ProLiant or Dell PowerEdge server hardware.
• Knowledge of Linux operating systems and relevant industry certifications (VMware VCP Microsoft or AWS).

Required Skills/Competencies

• System Troubleshooting & Diagnostics: Ability to systematically isolate diagnose and resolve complex issues across hardware server storage network and virtualized layers.
• Structured Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills to present technical concepts and write actionable system documentation.
• Prioritization Under Pressure: Capacity to prioritize tasks effectively during high-urgency system maintenance or operational incidents.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Strong interpersonal skills to partner seamlessly with Security Network and Distribution engineering teams.
• Continuous Learning Mindset: Commitment to staying current with emerging virtualization tools cloud platforms and data center technologies.

Education Requirements

Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Systems or a related field OR equivalent practical work experience.

Work Location

Hybrid Permitted: This is a hybrid permitted role. Some aspects of this role require duties better performed at an NPR facility. The employee will be required to be in the office at the Washington D.C. location at least 2 days a week. The employee must also reside in an NPR-supported location based on the number of on-site days they choose.

Note for hiring manager: With rack build-out in scope confirm whether 2 days a week is enough or whether more on-site time is expected during installation.

Job Type

This is a full-time exempt position.

Compensation

Salary Range: The U.S.-based anticipated salary range for this opportunity is $109350 - $133650 plus benefits. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

Benefits: NPR offers access to comprehensive benefits for employees and dependents. Regular full-time employees scheduled to work 30 hours or more per week are eligible to enroll in NPRs benefits options. Benefits include access to health and wellness paid time off and financial well-being. Plan options include medical dental vision life/accidental death and dismemberment long-term disability short-term disability and voluntary retirement savings to all eligible NPR employees.

The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salaries NPR expects to provide for new hires for the position across all US locations.

NPR Pay Range

$109350 - $133650 USD

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