Candidates should be eligible to work for any employer in the United States without needing Visa sponsorship. 6 month contract-to-hire, full benefits/pto available prior to full-time conversion.
Job Title: Senior Systems and Azure Administrator
Job Summary:
We are seeking a Senior Systems Administrator with advanced expertise in Microsoft Azure, enterprise SAN storage systems, and VMware virtualization.This role is ideal for a highly technical professional with a strong DevOps mindset, deep automation skills, and a track record of designing, implementing, and optimizing hybrid cloud infrastructures. The successful candidate will play a key role in managing and securing mission-critical systems while mentoring junior team members and driving technical excellence across the organization.
Key Responsibilities:
Storage Administration (SAN)
- Architect, deploy, and manage enterprise SAN solutions (e.g., NetApp, Dell EMC, HPE Nimble, Azure Blob Storage, Azure Files).
- Lead capacity planning, storage tiering, and performance optimization strategies.
- Evaluate and recommend new storage technologies for scalability and redundancy.
- Oversee data lifecycle management and compliance with data retention policies.
VMware Administration
- Design and maintain highly available and resilient VMware environments.
- Lead VMware environment upgrades, migrations, and optimizations.
- Implement automation around VM lifecycle and performance monitoring.
- Establish and enforce best practices for virtualization across the organization.
Azure Cloud Administration
- Architect and administer solutions using key Azure services
- Azure Virtual Machines, VNETs, NSGs, VPNs, Azure Storage (Blob, Files),
- Azure Active Directory, Azure Site Recovery, and Azure Security Center.
- Build and manage CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, ARM templates, Azure CLI, and PowerShell for infrastructure automation and deployments.
- Lead the planning and implementation of hybrid cloud infrastructure projects.
- Manage Azure subscriptions, governance policies and cost control.
- Design secure and scalable solutions leveraging Azure IaaS, PaaS, and networking components.
- Leverage Azure Automation, Azure Monitor, Azure Log Analytics, and Azure Policy to optimize performance, ensure compliance, and reduce operational overhead.
Systems and Infrastructure Oversight
- Act as a technical lead on infrastructure projects, including upgrades, integrations, and cloud migrations.
- Design and enforce policies for patching, configuration management, and system hardening.
- Support core Windows Server infrastructure including Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and Group Policy.
- Develop and maintain comprehensive system documentation, diagrams, and runbooks.
- Serve as a senior escalation point for complex infrastructure issues.
Strategic Leadership & Mentoring
- Drive adoption of DevOps methodologies across infrastructure and operations teams.
- Collaborate with IT leadership to define long-term infrastructure strategies and goals.
- Provide mentorship and guidance to junior and mid-level administrators.
- Lead technical evaluations and vendor assessments for infrastructure solutions.
Security & Compliance
- Implement and monitor systems to ensure compliance with industry regulations (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR, SOX).
- Collaborate with cybersecurity teams to enforce policies around access controls, data protection, and system monitoring.
- Participate in internal and external audits and remediation efforts.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 7+ years of progressive systems administration experience, including leadership responsibilities.
- Deep expertise with enterprise SAN technologies (NetApp, EMC, HPE Nimble or similar).
- Extensive experience managing large-scale VMware environments.
- Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Azure infrastructure, tools automation and services.
- Strong scripting and automation skills; PowerShell, Azure CLI, and infrastructure-as-code tools (ARM templates, CI/CD pipelines).
- Solid understanding of DevOps principles and modern infrastructure practices.
Preferred Certifications:
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert or Azure Administrator Associate; AZ-300, AZ-400, AZ-500 are highly desirable.
- VMware Certified Professional (VCP) or VMware Advanced Professional (VCAP)
- Storage vendor certifications (e.g., HPE, NetApp, or Dell EMC)
