Director, Systems Engineering

JOB TITLE

Director Systems Engineering

LOCATION

Worcester

DEPARTMENT NAME

Infrastructure Services and Architecture

DIVISION NAME

Worcester Polytechnic Institute - WPI

JOB DESCRIPTION SUMMARY

Reporting to the Assistant Chief Technology Officer Infrastructure Services and Architecture the Director of Systems Engineering will oversee the operation administration and engineering of the universitys systems environment including servers storage cloud computing and virtualization along with infrastructure DevOps application system and security support and Campus Safety Services. Information technology plays a vital and ever-expanding role in the institutional mission.

The institutions information technology environment is highly distributed and diverse and the Director of Systems Engineering must be an adept and informed leader who can offer strategic vision comprehensive planning and direct technical involvement alongside the engineers who report to the role. This senior leadership role is responsible for ensuring the confidentiality integrity and availability of the systems that support the universitys educational and operational objectives and for the reliability of the physical access control video surveillance emergency radio and emergency phone systems that support campus safety.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Strategic Leadership and Team Development

• Develop and implement a comprehensive systems strategy aligned with the universitys goals and objectives.
• Provide strategic direction for systems operations and administration storage cloud computing and virtualization application system and security support and Campus Safety Services.
• Collaborate with the Assistant CTO and other senior leaders to prioritize systems initiatives and align them with institutional priorities.
• Develop staff set clear performance expectations and manage workload and operational tasks across the systems team.
• Work with other groups within IT and other business units as needed to develop solutions for unique system requirements including technical and regulatory requirements.

Systems Storage Virtualization and Cloud Engineering

• Working directly with the Systems Engineers who report to this role direct the design implementation and management of the universitys physical and virtual server infrastructure enterprise storage and backup platforms and AWS and Azure cloud environments.
• Participate actively in solution design technical review and implementation planning alongside the engineering team.
• Ensure efficient utilization of resources through effective virtualization capacity planning and lifecycle management.
• Lead the evaluation selection and adoption of new platform technologies to enhance systems capabilities.
• Ensure new implementations are documented supportable and aligned with institutional standards and architecture.

Systems Operations and Administration

• Oversee the team that performs the day-to-day operation and administration of the universitys systems environment ensuring the stability availability and performance of all system components.
• Ensure all key services systems and components are under appropriate monitoring and alerting.
• Ensure operating system patching firmware maintenance and lifecycle activities are performed on a defined and predictable cadence.
• Ensure that all documentation and databases are up to date and accurate including asset inventory and configuration records.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for the team during major incidents directing the response restoring service and driving root cause analysis and preventive action to completion.
• Ensure all systems incidents and service requests are fully resolved within the applicable SLA and maintain open lines of communication with other ITS teams including the Service Desk.

DevOps Automation and Process Improvement

• Manage the DevOps resource supporting the infrastructure organization receiving strategic DevOps and automation requirements from the Assistant CTO and directing the work accordingly.
• Identify commonly performed actions repeated requests and recurring requirements across every area reporting to this role including systems operations storage virtualization cloud application system support and Campus Safety Services.
• Define document and standardize the processes behind that work so it can be measured and performed consistently by both full-time employees and the managed service provider.
• Identify and prioritize the automation opportunities with the greatest return on team efficiency and direct their design build and adoption.
• Measure the effect of automation and process improvement on toil cycle time and error rates and adjust priorities based on results.
• Promote the adoption of automation and consistent operating practice across the teams reporting to this role.

Application System and Security Support

• Own the systems and middleware layer beneath the universitys enterprise and departmental applications including database platforms web services and load balancing.
• Ensure that these platforms are appropriately sized patched monitored hardened and recoverable.
• Partner with application owners and the Office of Information Security to remediate vulnerabilities and apply security controls at the system and middleware layer.
• Coordinate maintenance windows and upgrade planning with application stakeholders to minimize disruption to academic and administrative operations.

Campus Safety Services

• Oversee the technology operation and support of campus safety systems including physical card access video surveillance emergency radios and the emergency phone system.
• Ensure the security reliability and availability of these physical security and life-safety systems.
• Oversee deployment upgrade and lifecycle planning for campus safety technology including coverage associated with building renovation and construction projects.
• Collaborate with Campus Police Facilities and external vendors and integrators to align technology capability with campus safety requirements.

Security Compliance and Resilience

• Ensure all systems components meet institutional security and compliance requirements and implement best practices for securing server storage virtualization cloud and campus safety infrastructure.
• Ensure system designs and procedures are aligned with and capable of enforcing university policies and best practices.
• Ensure backup recovery and business continuity capabilities are designed documented and regularly tested against defined recovery objectives.
• Ensure vulnerabilities are remediated within institutional service level targets and provide the Information Security operations team with the access and tooling required to identify locate and isolate systems involved in security incidents.
• Support audit activity and the production of control evidence and assist Information Security in drafting policies that overlap with the systems team.

Budget Vendor and Resource Management

• Develop and manage the operating and capital budget for the systems team and Campus Safety Services technology.
• Ensure efficient use of resources and identify opportunities for cost savings and license optimization.
• Oversee vendor relationships and negotiate contracts for systems storage cloud and campus safety related services and products interacting directly with vendors resellers and integrators.
• Plan and forecast refresh and renewal cycles to support multi-year budget development.

Performs all other duties and responsibilities as assigned or directed by the supervisor.

Qualifications:

• 4-year bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering Information Systems or Information Technology or equivalent experience. A bachelors degree in Information Technology Computer Science Engineering Information Systems or a related field is preferred.
• Minimum of 7 years of experience including direct leadership of a systems infrastructure or operations team.
• Strong leadership and team management skills with the ability to develop and retain technical staff.
• Excellent strategic thinking and planning abilities.
• Deep understanding of server storage virtualization and cloud computing technologies across both Windows and Linux environments.
• Working knowledge of the middleware layer supporting enterprise applications including database platforms web services and load balancing.
• Ability to direct DevOps and automation resources against strategic requirements set by the Assistant CTO.
• Knowledge of physical access control video surveillance and emergency communications systems.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making capabilities including the ability to serve as a senior escalation point during major incidents.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Experience developing and managing operating and capital budgets and negotiating with vendors.

Preferred Certifications: Certifications are preferred not required and no candidate is expected to hold all of them. Credentials relevant to WPIs technology stack include:

• Windows Server: Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Administrator Associate (Exam AZ-802) or the predecessor Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate (Exams AZ-800 and AZ-801).
• Cloud platforms: Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) or Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305); AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate or AWS Certified Solutions Architect.
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA EX200) or Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE); the Red Hat Certified Specialist in Deployment and Systems Management (EX403) additionally covers Red Hat Satellite.
• Nutanix: Nutanix Certified Professional - Multicloud Infrastructure (NCP-MCI) or Nutanix Certified Master - Multicloud Infrastructure (NCM-MCI).
• NetApp: NetApp Certified Data Administrator ONTAP (NCDA) or a NetApp Certified Implementation Engineer (NCIE) specialty such as Data Protection or SAN.
• Rubrik: Rubrik Certified System Administrator (RCSA).

Salary Grade 11: $71800 $75000 per year (depending on experience)

Salary is based on related experience expertise and internal equity; generally new hires can expect pay between the minimum and midpoint of the range.

Compensation at WPI

FLSA STATUS

United States of America (Exempt)

WPI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color age religion sex sexual orientation gender identity national origin veteran statusor disability. It seeks individuals from all backgrounds and experiences who will contribute to a culture of creativity collaboration inclusion problem solving innovation high performance and change is committed to maintaining a campus environment free of harassment and discrimination.