Critical Environment Technician

Microsoft • Chicago, IL

2d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Critical Environment Technician (CET) on Microsoft’s Cloud Operations & Innovation (CO+I) team, you will maintain the critical infrastructure that keeps Microsoft datacenters operating. The work includes coordinating with suppliers and vendors, recognizing safe and unsafe conditions, maintaining and troubleshooting critical-environment equipment, responding to onsite incidents, and using telemetry and other platforms to monitor equipment performance and operations.

CO+I provides the infrastructure and foundational technologies behind Microsoft online services, including Bing, Office 365, Xbox, OneDrive, and Azure. The organization operates a global portfolio of more than 200 datacenters in 32 countries and millions of servers. The role supports reliable datacenter operations and Microsoft’s focus on environmental sustainability and optimization. CO+I also offers employee development opportunities, including career rotation programs, Diversity & Inclusion training and events, and professional certifications.

The role may involve domestic travel to other sites for training or support, up to 25% of the time. Work may be scheduled in 12-hour shifts, including evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. The position is not eligible for visa sponsorship and requires citizenship verification for certain customer-related legal restrictions.

Requirements

• High school diploma, GED, or equivalent.
• At least 4 years of mission-critical services work or applied-learning experience in high-availability assembly, manufacturing, or critical-infrastructure environments, or equivalent experience.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security-screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.
• Citizenship verification is required due to citizenship-based legal restrictions for work supporting certain U.S. government agency customers; a valid passport will be used for verification.
• Authorization to work in the United States without now or future requiring employer sponsorship.
• Ability to work 12-hour shifts, potentially during evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.
• Ability to travel to other sites periodically, up to 25% of the time.
• Ability to climb ladders occasionally and stairs and/or ramps frequently; stand for prolonged periods; and work for extended periods amid elevated ambient noise, heat, and light.
• Occasional ability to lift up to 25 pounds without assistance and 25–50 pounds with lift assistance, and to push or pull 50–75 pounds using an assistive device.
• Normal corrected near, far, and peripheral visual acuity, and normal color vision for electrical work, as defined by applicable standard medical criteria.
• Hands-on understanding of critical-environment equipment and the ability to perform and troubleshoot maintenance across trained disciplines.

Nice To Haves

• Associate’s degree, technical trade certification (such as military or trade-school training), or higher-equivalent education, together with at least 5 years of mission-critical services experience; or a high school diploma, GED, or equivalent together with at least 7 years of mission-critical services experience; or equivalent experience.
• Mission-critical services experience in high-availability environments such as datacenters, oil and gas refineries, hospitals, pharmaceutical operations, or manufacturing.

Responsibilities

• Follow and promote safety and security requirements, applicable regulations, and Microsoft procedures; recognize unsafe conditions, stop or pause work where needed, and escalate concerns.
• Participate in required meetings, training, handoffs, and environmental health and safety activities.
• Prepare method statements of work and coordinate contractor schedules and on-site activities.
• Inspect facility equipment and participate in testing and commissioning activities.
• Escort contractors, subcontractors, vendors, and service providers according to applicable risk procedures; ensure work is safely started and completed and performed to scope.
• Review vendor documentation, identify concerns, stop work when appropriate, and escalate issues.
• Coordinate preventative and corrective maintenance and recommend corrections to procedures when errors are identified.
• Review and complete work orders and prepare assigned reports, including turnover and preventative-maintenance reports, using templates or other methods for trending and analysis.
• Develop methods of procedure (MOPs), standard operating procedures (SOPs), and digital methods of operating procedures (DMOPs) for systems and devices within the technician’s expertise.
• Document completed work and observations using approved tools and templates, and coach less experienced technicians on training assignments.
• Perform planned, predictive, and corrective maintenance and repairs across one or more equipment types and disciplines, following procedures and permit requirements with minimal supervision.
• Prioritize and communicate or escalate maintenance activities; document tasks and issues and follow recommended maintenance schedules.
• Oversee maintenance within a discipline or area of expertise and maintain systems and equipment safely and professionally.
• Troubleshoot equipment to the subsystem level, document findings, verify settings against established parameters and designs, and escalate to suppliers, engineers, or experienced colleagues when needed.
• Inspect and supervise critical-environment facility equipment, buildings, and grounds for abnormal or unsafe conditions and analyze trends.
• Understand critical-system alarms and use appropriate escalation procedures; perform equipment inspections and validate performance.
• Monitor datacenter equipment and maintenance operations from central monitoring locations, using telemetry, control systems, and other platforms to identify alarms and analyze current and past events.
• Use technical expertise, experience, and device analytics to recognize equipment trends and investigate potential issues; advise less experienced colleagues.
• Perform monitoring-equipment repair, replacement, and maintenance work in accordance with Microsoft service-level requirements.
• Respond to abnormal conditions and lead onsite incident response, coordinating with critical-facilities professionals to make corrective repairs.
• Gather incident information and prepare timelines, data, root-cause analyses, and action items as required; engage appropriate parties to mitigate incidents.
• Develop or follow emergency operating procedures and other operating procedures for incidents, and provide emergency monitoring response to irregular or malfunctioning conditions.
• Use the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to track equipment assets and complete maintenance work-order requests; track task hours and maintain required data, logs, reports, and procedures.
• Record spare equipment and parts usage in maintenance work orders and independently handle advanced tasks such as vendor contacts and escalations.
• Operate equipment and systems within a designated discipline, understand their interactions and their role in overall datacenter operations, and serve as a subject matter resource for less experienced colleagues.
• Embody Microsoft’s culture and values.

Benefits

• Professional development opportunities, including career rotation programs, Diversity & Inclusion training and events, and professional certifications.
• Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation; specific benefits are not listed in the posting.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: High school or GED