Senior Systems Administrator - Consultant

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Senior Systems Administrator - Consultant

Job Profile Title

Systems Administrator Senior

Job Description Summary

Information Systems & Computing (ISC) is the University of Pennsylvania's central IT organization, providing the core network, data, voice, video, and enterprise application infrastructure and services upon which Penn's numerous Schools and Centers build their unique tools and capabilities.

ISC's 300-plus employees work closely with the University's IT organizations in order to create, deliver and support products and services that help Schools and Centers operate efficiently and effectively. We strive to be easy to work with, and to serve as a trusted advisor to Penn's IT community, faculty, staff and students in support of an environment of discovery and progress.

ISC's focus on customer service and the high-quality, cost-effective, reliable implementation of modern IT solutions advances the mission of the University, as well as that of each individual School and Center. At Penn, technological freedom and departmental autonomy represent dearly held core values. ISC supports those ideas by providing foundational services and cogent counsel, empowering individuals and departments to employ their distinct strengths in support of their goals.

Learn more about us by visiting https://www.isc.upenn.edu/about or www.linkedin.com/company/penn-information-systems-computing/.

The Senior Systems Administrator-Consultant will be responsible for managing virtual desktop images in accordance with our clients' needs. This includes interfacing with university-wide clients to understand their requirements and working with the virtual desktop service manager to develop efficient, cost-effective solutions. The role requires experience with PowerShell, Active Directory, and Azure Windows Desktop Solutions (AVD, Azure Labs, Cloud PC) at an enterprise level. Proficiency in desktop imaging is preferred. This position will report to the manager of the Virtualization Technologies team and work closely with other teams such as Systems Engineering, HireIT, Unified Communications, Data Center Operations, and Network Engineering.

Job Responsibilities

• Manage virtual desktop solutions in conjunction with the client's requirements. Communicate important service details to clients, including billing
• Maintain virtual machines in Azure and On Prem via enterprise endpoint management solutions
• Perform daily maintenance including changes, modifications, or improvements as part of the ongoing administration of deployed images. This includes Helix work orders and incident response
• Monitor, analyze and optimize virtualization performance of virtual desktops
• Perform endpoint management of images; contribute to the development of endpoint management configuration and administer endpoint management tools
• Maintain, administer, and configure virtualization toolset
• Work with service owner to define standards, best practices, and plans for the future of the service
• Work closely with school/center IT staff to gather requirements. Configure solutions based on these needs
• Troubleshoot, patch, and configure software toolsets within the Technology Services portfolio
• Communicate regularly on status, progress to supervisors, project teams
• Stay current with technology through research and training. Identify emerging security threats and misconfigurations and making recommendations for improvement
• Maintain regular contact with Local Support Providers, Customer Care, and key vendors via technical support channel
• Training and mentoring

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science and 3 to 5 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
• Must have a solid understanding of Azure virtualization technologies, operating systems and communications packages
• Strong interest in developing new methods and procedures for addressing problems
• Ability to participate in strategic planning; establishing policies and procedures; and working with new and emerging technologies, storage subsystems, and data center infrastructure
• Experience with Scripting (PowerShell, Perl or Python) and automating processes required.
• Experience with Azure Desktop Solutions, Windows Desktop is required.
• Prior experience with Windows Servers , Active Directory, Group Policy, and Microsoft Office 365 is preferred
• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate through written business communications and documentation.
• Excellent customer service skills and communication skills