Systems Engineer Lead

Target hiring range for this position will be between $125,220 - $153,000 per year. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

About the Role

This position is part of a team that provides tactical, 24/7 operational support and strategic direction for the University’s collaboration products, including email, document management tools, conferencing, and person-to-person and group messaging software across the Evanston, Chicago, and Qatar campuses. This role determines strategic direction and provides leadership for the design, engineering, and implementation of Collaboration Services infrastructure that services and secures the distribution of Infrastructure Management Systems and Services.

The responsibilities include vendor management, vulnerability management (application-level), application release/upgrade analysis and planning, policy coordination (e.g., database sizes, retention, archiving, compliance), patch management (application-level), application governance, security of the environment(s), and message hygiene management/administration focusing on the Collaboration Services product portfolio.

Provides technical supervision to and oversees the work of junior staff. Guides and advises stakeholders on best practices for implementing or enhancing the system. Works with management to design high-level systems integration. Assesses the architectural impact of projects on the overall system and makes recommendations to the manager.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Planning:
  • Structures requirements; designs, documents, and implements data-driven solutions.
  • Directs/architects scalable systems that meet future growth demands.
  • Identifies, recommends, and defines projects and activities as related to system/architectural direction and strategy.
  • Establishes best practices and procedures/tools, programming standards, etc.
  • Provides recommendations for strategic planning and system growth/future business needs.
  • Researches and applies state-of-the-art and peer best practices in software development and systems engineering.
  • Directs the evaluation of new and emerging technologies.
  • Assists in the long-range planning of information technology systems for IT@NU.
  • Partners with the user community to define requirements, analyze business needs, and drive business process improvement efforts.
• Design & Implementation:
  • Directs efforts and projects in the design, installation, operation, support, and maintenance of NU's distribution of Collaboration Services Infrastructure Management Systems and Services.
• Administration:
  • Directs the investigation of new technologies and strategies for deployment and integration into the production campus.
  • Directs the technical analysis of software and hardware.
  • Writes and reviews requirements documents for evaluation of new hardware/software.
  • Responds to customer inquiries via phone, online, in-person, etc.
  • Delivers system presentations and overviews.
  • Collaborates with cross-team assets to create project timelines and assign tasks and deliverables.
  • Identifies resources needed for future projects.
  • Represents projects in the absence of the manager.
  • Coordinates vendor product demonstrations, sets up evaluation criteria, and develops recommendations for purchase of new hardware/software.
  • Develops relationships with vendors.
  • Partners with internal/external staff to develop requirements for new services and applications.
  • Develops security definitions and control processes for the operation and management of the campus Collaboration Services.
  • Leads in the maintenance and integrity of university data.
  • Executes data backup and recovery routines on a specified schedule or as requested.
  • Represents NU and presents at regional and national conferences.
  • Maintains awareness of evolving information technologies through professional publications, outside contacts, and ongoing professional development.
• Development:
  • Establishes timetables and priorities for task completion; monitors work plans to meet project deadlines and achieve project goals.
  • Utilizes requirements gathering techniques such as gap analysis, interviews, joint application development sessions, etc.
  • Develops solutions/programs/reports and implements technology.
  • Troubleshoots problems involving complex difficult issues.
  • Prioritizes tasks across the collaboration services team.
  • Conducts or participates in business process review sessions to obtain and document operational and business requirements.
  • Develops system and services architecture(s) and sets forth design development, engineering, security, and testing methodologies.
• Performance:
  • Provides tier 3 technical support to users as part of a periodic on-call rotation.
  • Consults with users to diagnose and resolve problems on multiple software or hardware platforms.
  • Serves as an escalation point for other engineers on the on-call rotation.
• Supervision:
  • Provides work direction and/or supervises staff such as team members, subordinates, contractors, vendors, students, etc.
  • Champions utilization of best practices and standards, and ensures compliance with IT/University policies.
  • Recommends staff hires/termination; conducts performance evaluations for supervised team members.
  • Coaches and mentors staff.
  • Manages projects ensuring timelines and deliverables are met and meet expectations.
• Miscellaneous:
  • Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Minimum Qualifications:
  • Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in computer science, information technology, or related field; OR appropriate combination of education and experience.
  • 7 years’ experience in the implementation of complex CI Infrastructure Management Software Systems and Services.
  • Experience with the following technologies:
    • Active Directory Design, Administration
    • Box Collaborative Storage
    • Cisco routers and switches
    • GoogleAppEngine identity management/provisioning
    • Information security
    • LDAP
    • Mac OS X Operating System
    • Microsoft Exchange, Lync, Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook), SharePoint
    • Nagios
    • Oracle and Oracle RAC
    • Puppet/Chef/Ansible
    • Server hardware
    • Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
    • Skype
    • SQL/MySQL/Postgres
    • Storage hardware
    • Tomcat
    • VMware vSphere
    • Windows Operating System
    • Azure, Microsoft Hyper-V, Power Systems
    • Office 365
    • HTML 5, Java, JavaScript, Microsoft PowerShell, Perl, PHP, Python, Shell Scripting
  • Skills in:
    • Critical thinking, business intelligence, application design
    • Decision Making, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Directory Services
    • Judgment, Metadata Creation and Management, Problem Solving
    • Reading and interpreting architectural, construction, mechanical, and technical drawings
    • Troubleshooting, Use-Case Analysis
    • Budgeting, Agile Environment, Code Documentation
    • Collaboration and Teamwork, Cost/Benefit Analysis
    • Evaluating Resources, Facilitating Collaboration
    • Functional Documentation, Iterative & Incremental Development
    • Organizational Skills, Planning, Workflow Development & Documentation
    • Writing Proposals and Project Charters
• Minimum Competencies:
  • Written and verbal communication
  • Conceptual ability
  • Dependability
  • Decision making
  • Initiative
  • Innovation/Creativity
  • Meets deadlines
  • Effective written and verbal communication skills
  • Crisis Management
• Preferred Qualifications:
  • Advanced degree in Computer Science or Information Technology.
  • Ability to use judgment in interpreting and adapting policies, precedents, and work directions for appropriateness to specific tasks or problems.
  • Ability to maintain composure and work effectively in a high-pressure setting.
  • Energy and enthusiasm for this type of work, along with a clear desire to continue to develop and grow in knowledge and experience.
  • Direct experience providing a secure networking environment (both wired and wireless).
  • Advanced knowledge and experience with quality of service across enterprise networks, Voice over IP, and high availability networking environments.
• Preferred Competencies:
  • Problem solving
  • Quality/compliance with process/procedures
  • Results driven
  • Strategic thinking
  • Independent/Self-driven work
  • Team building
  • Visionary Leadership

Benefits

At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful and competitive benefits. The available benefits package for this position includes:

• Health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance.
• Paid vacation and holidays; paid medical/sick and parental leave.
• Tuition benefits for the employee and dependents.
• Pre-tax and flex spending accounts for commuting and dependent care.
• Generous retirement savings options.
• Wellness programs.

For a comprehensive overview of available benefits, including eligibility details, visit Northwestern Benefits.

Work-Life and Wellness

Northwestern