Messaging Engineer II

At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 24 offices worldwide. Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers’ commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward.

About the role

Are you passionate about building and maintaining reliable, high-performing messaging and mobility environments that keep a global workforce connected? As a Messaging Engineer II, you’ll play a key role in supporting, engineering, and operating enterprise messaging infrastructure and mobile device management platforms. You’ll partner with infrastructure, security, and application teams to resolve complex issues, enhance performance, and deliver a seamless end-user experience across a global environment. This is a hands-on role where your expertise will directly impact system stability, innovation, and user productivity. This is a hybrid role requiring 2–3 days per week in a Kirkland office.

Responsibilities

• Triage and resolve complex messaging and mobility issues escalated via email, phone, or IT Service Management (ITSM) systems, collaborating with internal teams and external vendors as needed.
• Provide timely updates and clear communication to attorneys and staff on issue status, ensuring a high-quality support experience.
• Proactively monitor system health, performance, and availability; analyze trends and report metrics to support capacity planning and continuous improvement.
• Identify and drive opportunities to improve messaging and mobile platforms, elevating functionality, reliability, and end-user experience.
• Partner with Architecture and other IT teams to shape and implement messaging and mobility strategies that scale globally.
• Contribute to the implementation of messaging-related projects, including coordinating production changes and documenting processes for future reference.
• Develop and maintain platform standards, ensuring consistency and alignment across IT teams.
• Work closely with Security Governance and Operations teams to maintain email and mobile device security standards.
• Stay current with emerging messaging and mobile technologies, quickly learning and applying new tools and solutions.
• Participate in on-call rotations and perform scheduled maintenance during designated weekend windows.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 5+ years supporting enterprise-scale messaging environments in large, global organizations.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Exchange Server, Exchange Online, email archiving systems, SMTP, and secure messaging platforms such as Proofpoint.
• Experience with Mobile Device Management (MDM) platforms, including Microsoft Intune, and supporting iOS devices.
• Solid understanding of Microsoft Active Directory and Windows Server environments.
• Proficiency in PowerShell and automation techniques within Windows-based systems.
• Ability to translate messaging architecture into scalable, real-world deployments across global user bases.
• Familiarity with tools such as Outlook, CodeTwo Email Signatures, Trend ScanMail, Kiteworks, monitoring tools (GSX, System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)), and related technologies.
• Proven ability to define, implement, and communicate messaging standards and best practices effectively.

Qualifications

Microsoft certifications are a plus.

Pay

The base salary range below represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position in Chicago. This range may differ based on your geographic location and cost of living considerations.

Chicago: $116,000 - $144,000

Benefits

At Kirkland & Ellis, we consider compensation more than just a base salary. We offer an exceptional range of flexible benefits including comprehensive healthcare, paid time off, and retirement. We also offer personal support and tailored learning and development opportunities all designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work.