Senior System Engineer

Our client, a professional services firm in the Pacific Northwest, is looking for a Senior Systems Engineer . This is a contract engagement covering a broad infrastructure scope, with the potential to convert to a full-time role for the right candidate.

Location: Seattle, WA – Hybrid (2–3 days on-site per week)

Duration: 4+ months contract-to-hire

Compensation: $60.00 – $75.00 per hour

Benefits: Benefits available to eligible employees or consultants may include medical, dental, and vision insurance, paid sick leave, retirement savings plans, and other employer sponsored programs.

US citizens and those authorized to work in the US are encouraged to apply.

Work sponsorship is not currently available.

Summary:

Our client is seeking a senior, hands-on systems engineer to step into a critical infrastructure role spanning identity, PKI, cloud, and Windows server environments. The ideal candidate is comfortable owning business-critical systems from design through day-to-day operations, inheriting lightly documented environments, and tracing dependencies across multiple technical domains. This person will serve as a senior technical resource and escalation point while also contributing to documentation, automation, and long-term modernization efforts.

Key Responsibilities:

• Administer and support on-premises Active Directory, including forest and domain management, DNS, replication, FSMO roles, sites and site links, trust relationships, and authentication services.

• Manage hybrid identity through Azure AD/Entra ID and Azure AD Connect, including Conditional Access policies, enterprise application registrations, Privileged Identity Management, and RBAC.

• Serve as the subject matter expert for enterprise PKI and certificate services, including the full certificate lifecycle — issuance, renewal, revocation, expiration monitoring, and template management — as well as CRL, OCSP, AIA, and CDP administration.

• Administer production AWS workloads including EC2, EBS, FSx, AWS Backup, and Patch Manager; support Windows-based enterprise applications in AWS; and contribute to disaster recovery planning, runbook development, and recovery testing.

• Administer, patch, and troubleshoot Windows Server environments and IIS-hosted websites, web services, and APIs, including application pools, TLS bindings, and certificate stores.

• Administer Microsoft 365 services including Exchange Online and Teams; manage email security standards including DKIM, DMARC, and SPF.

• Serve as the senior Tier 3 escalation point for complex incidents involving identity, certificates, Windows Server, AWS, IIS, and enterprise applications.

• Develop and maintain production-quality PowerShell scripts for infrastructure administration, reporting, remediation, and operational workflows; apply infrastructure-as-code practices where practical.

• Produce high-quality technical documentation — architecture diagrams, runbooks, standard operating procedures, dependency maps, and recovery procedures — and maintain documentation as systems evolve.

• Partner with Information Security to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities, audit findings, and configuration risks; apply least-privilege and secure-configuration principles across all platforms.

• Identify recurring incidents, determine root causes, and develop permanent corrective actions; evaluate operational work that can be automated, documented, or transitioned to IT Support.

Qualifications:

• 7 or more years of hands-on enterprise systems engineering experience in complex production environments.

• Strong operational and architectural knowledge of Active Directory, including replication troubleshooting, DNS, authentication protocols (Kerberos, NTLM), and trust relationships.

• Hands-on production experience administering Entra ID, Azure AD Connect, Conditional Access, enterprise application registrations, RBAC, and Privileged Identity Management.

• Hands-on production experience with enterprise PKI and certificate services, including Microsoft ADCS or an equivalent platform, CA hierarchy management, template management, auto-enrollment, and troubleshooting of certificate chains, TLS errors, and web-server bindings.

• Hands-on production experience with AWS services including EC2, EBS, FSx, AWS Backup, and Patch Manager, with experience supporting Windows workloads in AWS.

• Deep experience administering and troubleshooting Windows Server and IIS in production environments, including application pools, web bindings, TLS configuration, and service dependencies.

• Experience with Microsoft 365 administration including Exchange Online, Teams, and hybrid identity environments; working knowledge of DKIM, DMARC, and SPF.

• Ability to independently write, test, and maintain production-quality PowerShell scripts.

• Strong written communication skills; ability to produce documentation detailed enough for another qualified engineer to execute without contacting the original author.

• Experience working within formal change management, security, and production-support practices.

• Ability to work independently, take ownership during complex incidents, and communicate risks and recommendations to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Nice to Have:

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate or other relevant AWS certification.

• Microsoft certification in Windows Server, Azure, Entra ID, security, or Microsoft 365.

• Experience with AWS Application Load Balancers and health-check configuration.

• Experience with infrastructure-as-code and configuration-management practices.

• Familiarity with F5 or comparable application delivery platforms.

• Familiarity with enterprise integration platforms.

• Experience with enterprise monitoring platforms such as LogicMonitor or comparable tools.

• Experience with ITSM platforms (incident, request, change, and knowledge management).

• Experience supporting global or geographically distributed environments.

• Experience reducing Tier 3 ticket volume through automation, documentation, and support enablement.

• Experience modernizing legacy Windows and application infrastructure.

About Hansell Tierney:

Hansell Tierney is one of the premier staffing and recruiting companies in the Pacific Northwest. Launched in 2001, we are a woman-owned business that serves and staffs Northwest organizations by doing things the right way, not just the easiest way. Hansell Tierney partners with candidates and clients to match the best candidates with interesting local opportunities. We navigate every relationship with the highest level of discretion and service while holding ourselves accountable to our promises. Our business thrives on our deep understanding of the job market and our ability to skillfully tailor our recruitment process to meet our clients' unique needs.

This Organization Participates in E-Verify

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.

Compensation and Benefits Disclosure

The compensation range listed above represents the expected range for this position. Actual compensation may vary based on factors including experience, skills, internal equity, and geographic location.

Benefits available to eligible employees or consultants may include medical, dental, and vision insurance, paid sick leave, retirement savings plans, paid time off, and other employer-sponsored programs.