Escalation Engineer

RJ Young•Nashville, TN

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Escalation Engineer (Tier 3) owns complex technical issues end-to-end, restores services quickly, and reduces repeat incidents through root cause analysis, documentation, and standardization. This highly customer-facing role troubleshoots across networking, servers and virtualization, and Microsoft 365 identity. Most work is remote support from the company office, with hands-on staging, building, and testing as needed. The engineer communicates clearly with non-technical stakeholders and SMB owners, explains technical issues in business terms, listens actively, and provides proactive status updates. The role also leads small-to-mid-sized projects end-to-end, partners with project and account teams, and documents scope, risks, and customer decisions. Thorough ticket notes, repeatable troubleshooting steps, and contributions to standard operating procedures and knowledge base content are critical. The engineer works with networking and firewalls, particularly Sophos; switching and wireless platforms such as Ruckus and Aruba; virtualization and servers, including VMware, Hyper-V, and potentially Scale Computing; and Microsoft 365 and identity environments, including Commercial, GCC, and GCC High. Duties include production troubleshooting, device staging and deployment, baseline configuration, cutover validation, and rollback planning. Onsite customer visits may be required for specific contracts, cutovers, or escalations. The job operates primarily in a professional office environment, providing remote support into customer environments and performing equipment staging, building, and testing in an office or lab. The position is full-time, typically Monday through Friday during business hours. Occasional evening or weekend work may be needed for critical incidents, maintenance windows, or cutovers, and there is a light on-call rotation, typically once every few months. The role may involve standing, bending, and lifting equipment; employees must be able to lift and carry up to 40 pounds and rack or mount equipment with assistance as needed. U.S. citizenship is required to support certain regulated customers and environments. Velocity1 provides equal employment opportunities and prohibits discrimination and harassment based on characteristics protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship is required to support certain regulated customers and environments.
At least 5 years of IT support experience with proven escalation ownership at Tier 3 or equivalent.
Strong networking fundamentals, including VLANs, subnetting, DHCP/DNS, routing basics, and troubleshooting methodology.
Production firewall experience, including NAT, firewall rule sets, VPN troubleshooting, and change validation; Sophos is preferred.
Production experience with Windows Server and Active Directory fundamentals, including AD DS, DNS, and basic GPO knowledge.
Microsoft 365 administration beyond user accounts, including identity and security fundamentals; Conditional Access knowledge is strongly preferred.
Strong customer-facing communication and active listening, with the ability to work directly with SMB owners.
Ability to lift and carry up to 40 pounds and rack or mount equipment with assistance as needed.
Ability to work occasional evenings or weekends for critical incidents, maintenance windows, or cutovers, and participate in a light on-call rotation.

Nice To Haves

MSP experience supporting multiple customers with differing standards and tooling.
Production experience with Ruckus or Aruba switching and/or wireless.
Hands-on production experience with Sophos firewalls, or equivalent experience with clearly transferable skills.
VMware and/or Hyper-V experience.
Scale Computing experience, or similar HCI experience and demonstrated ability to ramp up quickly.
PowerShell scripting or automation for runbooks and repeatable fixes.
Compliance or security exposure, including CMMC, NIST, or CIS, and secure configuration practices.
Experience with preferred platforms: Sophos, Ruckus, Aruba, Scale Computing, Hyper-V, or VMware.

Responsibilities

Own complex Tier 3 technical issues end-to-end, restore services, and reduce recurring incidents through root cause analysis, documentation, and standardization.
Troubleshoot VLANs, subnetting, private addressing, DHCP, DNS, NAT, firewall rules, VPNs, and common SMB network problems.
Configure and troubleshoot switches and access points, VLANs, and SSIDs; diagnose connectivity, roaming, and basic RF or coverage issues in mixed-vendor environments.
Stage and deploy equipment, including rack/stack, power, labeling, patching, uplink validation, console access, initial device turn-up, baseline configuration, and configuration backups where applicable.
Validate cutovers and plan for rollback before shipment or handoff, or coordinate remote cutovers.
Troubleshoot VMware and/or Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines, including performance, availability, networking, and storage basics.
Administer and troubleshoot Windows Server roles and features, patching, backups, restoration concepts, and common issues.
Support Microsoft 365 administration, MFA, Conditional Access, hybrid identity, AD Connect sync troubleshooting, and core Exchange Online, Teams, and SharePoint services.
Communicate with SMB owners and other non-technical stakeholders, explain issues in business terms, and provide proactive status updates.
Lead small-to-mid-sized projects end-to-end, working with project and account teams and documenting scope, risks, and customer decisions.
Maintain thorough ticket notes and repeatable troubleshooting steps, and contribute to standard operating procedures and knowledge base content.
Provide remote customer support from the office and perform hands-on staging, building, and testing; attend onsite customer visits when required by contract scope, cutovers, or escalations.
Participate in a light on-call rotation and perform occasional after-hours work for critical incidents, maintenance windows, or cutovers.