IT Specialist

Salk Institute Office of Technology Development•San Diego, CA

10h•$31 - $35

About The Position

The IT Specialist provides skilled technical support to end users in a BYOD research environment and supports endpoint, identity, and collaboration services. The role independently identifies, researches, and resolves technical problems across endpoints, accounts, collaboration services, connectivity, and workplace technology, while documenting and tracking work to ensure timely resolution. The position follows account provisioning, security, and endpoint configuration standards maintained by Senior and Lead IT Specialists. Because the Institute is a research organization, the role also supports specialized scientific workstations and laboratory computers, access to high-capacity research storage, scientific applications, instrument-attached systems, and conference-room and collaboration technology. Support is provided across the main campus and remote Institute sites, including scheduled site visits.

Requirements

At least two years of desktop, laptop, mobile-device, and peripheral support experience in a multi-platform environment.
At least two years supporting macOS and Windows operating systems and business applications, with working familiarity with Linux.
At least two years providing IT support using a ticketing system, with demonstrated ownership of a personal queue.
Demonstrated experience administering user accounts, group membership, and permissions in Active Directory or a comparable directory service.
Demonstrated experience with endpoint deployment, imaging or provisioning, and secure device disposal.

Responsibilities

Serve as the first point of contact for end-user requests by telephone, email, ticket, remote tools, and in person, and provide Tier 2 resolution for issues requiring deeper diagnosis.
Troubleshoot hardware, software, operating system, application, network connectivity, Microsoft 365, printers, peripherals, VPN, Wi-Fi, and mobile-device issues across macOS, Windows, Linux, and mobile platforms.
Install, configure, and maintain desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and peripheral equipment.
Support scientific workstations, laboratory computers, instrument-attached systems, research storage, and research and scientific applications.
Provide support across campus and remote Institute sites, including scheduled visits, and train users in supported technologies and applications.
Configure and deploy devices to Institute standards, apply operating system and application updates, and support endpoint-management platforms such as Intune, Jamf, or SCCM/MECM.
Support user accounts, passwords, lockouts, multifactor authentication, group membership, and permissions in Active Directory and Entra ID according to established provisioning standards.
Support Exchange Online, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, Office applications, mailboxes, calendars, room calendars, and distribution lists.
Support mapped drives, shared folders, cloud and external storage, and user data migrations.
Support telephony, printers, scanners, conference-room systems, displays, and audiovisual equipment.
Verify endpoints have required security controls and comply with institutional configuration standards.
Diagnose unfamiliar or intermittent faults and determine whether they originate in endpoints, applications, accounts, networks, or upstream infrastructure.
Recognize and report suspected phishing, malware, and compromised-account activity, escalating to the Cybersecurity Engineer according to procedure.
Diagnose wired and wireless connectivity, DNS, DHCP, VPN, and basic network issues; escalate infrastructure-level issues with diagnostic details.
Escalate work beyond Tier 2 scope to the Systems & Storage, Network, or Cybersecurity teams under criteria set by the Lead IT Specialist.
Follow technical standards, checklists, and procedures maintained by Senior and Lead IT Specialists, and identify where standards need revision.
Share troubleshooting knowledge, contribute resolutions to the knowledge base, and participate in reviews of recurring issues and service improvement discussions.
Participate in application deployments, hardware refreshes, migrations, relocations, infrastructure upgrades, and security initiatives.
Manage endpoint hardware lifecycle and asset records, including receipt, inventory, deployment, tracking, repair, replacement, secure wiping, and retirement.
Coordinate with hardware and software vendors on warranty repairs, returns, licensing questions, and technical support cases.
Identify repetitive support tasks and help reduce them through scripting, configuration policy, or endpoint-management automation.
Document incidents, service requests, troubleshooting, and resolutions in the IT service management platform and meet defined service targets.
Create and maintain knowledge articles, installation procedures, troubleshooting guides, and configuration documentation.
Prepare equipment and accounts for new employees, coordinate application access, and deliver new-hire IT orientation.
Complete terminated-user offboarding using the defined checklist, ensuring accounts, licenses, access, and Institute equipment are handled and recorded.
Monitor personal backlog and alert the supervisor to unusual situations, ageing items, or workload spikes.
Perform other related duties as assigned by management.