Senior Systems Engineering

Senior Systems Engineer

With offices in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio, Pepper Construction is a national general contracting and construction management firm that primarily serves the private sector. Pepper Construction provides clients the experience and resources of a national company, combined with the hands-on approach of a local company.

The Senior Systems Engineer will lead the design, implementation, and optimization of Microsoft Cloud (Azure) and the full Microsoft 365 suite across Pepper's enterprise and jobsite environments. This role is responsible for delivering a secure, scalable, cloud-first architecture that enables seamless collaboration between field and office, strengthens cybersecurity posture, and supports resilient operations.

Microsoft Cloud & Microsoft 365 Platform Ownership

Lead architecture and administration of the full Microsoft 365 ecosystem, including:

Exchange Online (mail flow, security, hybrid environments)

Microsoft Teams (collaboration, voice, and meetings)

SharePoint Online and OneDrive (content management and file services)

Intune / Endpoint Manager (device and application management)

Serve as a Global Administrator responsible for tenant governance, configuration, and optimization

Manage and enhance Exchange Online and Hybrid Exchange environments, including:

Mail routing, security policies, and retention

Drive adoption and optimization of Microsoft collaboration tools across job sites and offices

Identity, Access & Security (Microsoft Stack)

Implement and manage Conditional Access, MFA, Zero Trust policies, and device compliance

Administer Microsoft Defender suite (Endpoint, Identity, O365) and security posture improvements

Support Microsoft Sentinel (SIEM) for monitoring and threat response

Manage role-based access control (RBAC) and privileged identity management

Cloud Infrastructure & Hybrid Environment

Design and support Azure infrastructure (IaaS/PaaS) including compute, storage, networking, and backups

Manage hybrid identity and infrastructure integrations between on-prem and cloud platforms

Lead cloud migration initiatives including Exchange, file services, and application workloads

Support legacy systems where needed while driving cloud-first modernization

Resiliency, Compliance & Operations

Ensure compliance with data protection, retention, and regulatory standards using Microsoft tools

Monitor performance, availability, and service health across Microsoft platforms

Provide Tier 2/3 escalation support for Microsoft Cloud, M365, and infrastructure issues

Define and execute Microsoft-first cloud strategy and architecture standards

Evaluate emerging Microsoft technologies (e.g., Lead technical projects and manage vendors and consultants

Bachelor's degree in IT, Computer Science, or equivalent experience

5-7+ years of experience in systems engineering, cloud, or Microsoft platform administration

Microsoft 365 administration (including Exchange Online)

Azure (IaaS, identity, networking)

Strong understanding of security, compliance, and cloud governance principles

Solid knowledge of networking and hybrid infrastructure

Microsoft 365 (Exchange, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Intune)

Exchange Online & Hybrid administration

Microsoft Defender suite and Sentinel

Windows/Linux server environments

SQL Server administration

Network infrastructure (Cisco, firewalls, VPN)

Experience leading cloud transformation and M365 adoption initiatives

Microsoft Certified: Microsoft Certified: Microsoft 365 Certified: Microsoft Certified: Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate

We consider many factors when determining the actual hiring salary, including location, transferable skills, work experience, licensure and certification, business needs, internal equity, and market demands.

Pepper Construction offers a comprehensive benefits package that prioritizes physical, financial, and emotional well-being, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability insurance, a 401k match, student loan repayment benefit, paid time off for company holidays, vacation, personal days, fully paid medical and parental leave, mental health services, and more.

Pepper does not sponsor work visas.

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