Lead System Administrator

Boardwalk • Houston, TX

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Boardwalk is a limited partnership operating in the midstream portion of the natural gas and natural gas liquids industry, providing transportation and storage services for our customers. Our 14,000 miles of pipeline and storage assets provide diverse market connectivity to producers and end-users who need reliable sources of natural gas for power generation, home heating or petrochemical feedstocks. We have the experience, knowledge, and flexibility to design service offerings and create system enhancements tailored to our customers’ needs throughout the 13 states in which we operate. As an organization focused on sustainability, we are committed to protecting the environment while delivering this energy source. This commitment is made to our customers, employees, and the communities in which we operate. We incorporate environmental stewardship, safety, and compliance into our day-to-day operations and seek to strengthen and support the communities we serve. Additional information about the company can be found online at www.bwpipelines.com. We are currently looking for a Lead System Administrator for our Houston, TX office. The System Administrator provides technical leadership and hands‑on expertise across Boardwalk Pipelines’ enterprise system administration environment. This role serves as a senior escalation and technical advisory resource for complex identity, messaging, endpoint, virtualization, and cloud access challenges, while helping define, document, and reinforce technical standards, system patterns, and best practices across the System Administration team. This position restores critical senior technical depth that historically existed within the team and is essential to reducing operational risk, eliminating single points of failure, and increasing the consistency and quality of system administration outcomes. The System Administrator actively raises the effectiveness and output of the team through mentorship, architectural‑level thinking, automation, and operational guidance. Working in close partnership with the Supervisor of System Administration and under the architectural direction of the Enterprise Architect, this role translates architectural intent into practical, repeatable, and supportable operational designs without assuming people‑management responsibilities. The System Administrator supports high‑severity incident response, drives continuous improvement, and ensures the reliability, security, and scalability of Boardwalk’s hybrid infrastructure.

Requirements

• Hands‑on experience operating as a technical lead within an enterprise system administration function
• Demonstrated ability to define, document, and mature technical standards, system patterns, and operational best practices through collaboration and mentorship, without direct people‑management responsibility or disruption to established supervisory roles.
• Proven ability to identify and diagnose cross‑service Microsoft 365 outages, including understanding service dependencies and impact patterns across messaging, identity, and security services.
• Strong experience administering Microsoft 365, including Exchange Online, OneDrive, and the Microsoft 365 service portals.
• Working awareness of sensitivity labels, service portal behavior, and dependencies between Purview, Exchange, and Defender portals.
• Deep expertise in hybrid identity platforms including Active Directory and Entra ID (Azure AD), covering directory synchronization, user and group lifecycle management, role‑based access control, administrative account protections, and Conditional Access policy strategy.
• Advanced Windows Server and Active Directory experience, including: Domain controller operations, DNS, Group Policy, DFS, and certificate service dependencies
• Troubleshooting internal service interruptions
• Responding to distributed or enterprise‑wide outage events
• Strong background in virtualization technologies including VMware and/or Hyper‑V, covering VM provisioning, lifecycle management, and performance considerations.
• Experience with Citrix NetScaler, including DMZ tier operation, HA pairs, and Exchange load‑balancing configurations.
• Strong DNS knowledge, including conditional forwarders, multi‑tier DNS flows, and name‑resolution troubleshooting in complex environments.
• Familiarity with modern endpoint and server security tools (e.g., Guardicore) and an understanding of their potential interference patterns during incident and performance troubleshooting.
• Knowledge in modern endpoint and management platforms such as Intune, SCCM/MCM, NinjaOne, and enterprise endpoint security engines.
• Experience supporting or deploying Windows systems in cloud environments.
• Strong understanding of hybrid identity and cloud‑connected Windows systems.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure (subscriptions, RBAC, identity‑integrated services) and AWS (IAM concepts, DNS services such as Route53).
• Familiarity with Citrix DaaS and cloud‑based desktop or application delivery platforms.
• Experience supporting OT‑adjacent infrastructure, including SCADA connectivity considerations, network segmentation, and load‑balancing implications.
• Strong self‑starter mentality with the ability to take ownership of investigations, incidents, and complex issues without requiring constant direction.
• High motivation and initiative, particularly during fast‑moving outage and troubleshooting scenarios.
• Excellent documentation practices, including structured technical notes, runbooks, procedural updates, and clear incident timelines.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to articulate findings and recommendations to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, particularly during cross‑team investigations.
• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work effectively with System Administration, Networking, Security, Application teams, and leadership, recognizing the cross‑functional nature of messaging, DNS, identity, and virtualization in the Boardwalk environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline or equivalent progressive experience supporting large‑scale enterprise systems in a senior technical role, required.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working closely with Enterprise Architects or Technical Architects, translating architectural direction into operationally supportable designs, standards, and implementation patterns.
• Experience administering or integrating enterprise security platforms such as Microsoft Defender, Proofpoint, or equivalent endpoint and email security tooling.
• Experience integrating infrastructure, endpoint, and monitoring systems with ITSM and CMDB platforms such as FreshService, NinjaOne, or similar tools.
• Experience supporting VDI or application delivery platforms, including Citrix, thin‑client, or virtual desktop environments.
• Experience operating in regulated, audit‑sensitive, or safety‑critical environments, with strong change management discipline and documentation expectations.
• Industry‑recognized technical certifications (Microsoft, VMware, AWS, Security) demonstrating advanced technical proficiency and a commitment to continued professional development, preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provides technical leadership and hands‑on expertise across Boardwalk Pipelines’ enterprise system administration environment.
• Serves as a senior escalation and technical advisory resource for complex identity, messaging, endpoint, virtualization, and cloud access challenges.
• Helps define, document, and reinforce technical standards, system patterns, and best practices across the System Administration team.
• Actively raises the effectiveness and output of the team through mentorship, architectural‑level thinking, automation, and operational guidance.
• Translates architectural intent into practical, repeatable, and supportable operational designs without assuming people‑management responsibilities.
• Supports high‑severity incident response, drives continuous improvement, and ensures the reliability, security, and scalability of Boardwalk’s hybrid infrastructure.

Benefits

• Boardwalk Pipelines, LP, maintains a drug-free workplace and will require pre-employment drug & substance abuse testing before hiring.
• Boardwalk Pipelines, LP, is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior