Senior Systems Engineer

City of Avondale•Avondale, AZ

About The Position

The City of Avondale’s Information Technology Department is seeking a Senior Systems Engineer to plan, design, implement, administer, and support the City’s server, storage, virtualization, cloud, and enterprise systems infrastructure. The role helps ensure assigned systems are secure, available, performant, and reliable, and handles advanced monitoring, maintenance, patching, backup, recovery, and complex technical issues in support of City operations and services. The engineer collaborates with executive management and department leaders on capacity needs and infrastructure roadmaps, maintains technical documentation, develops systems administration and disaster recovery policies and procedures, and provides technical guidance to junior team members. The position designs and deploys infrastructure, plans migrations and upgrades, evaluates emerging technologies, and works with external providers. Operational duties include administering Windows and Linux servers, VMware platforms, enterprise storage, identity and certificate services, Microsoft 365, and related systems; monitoring performance and capacity; automating routine tasks; remediating vulnerabilities; coordinating security controls; and managing backup, recovery, and disaster recovery testing. The role also provides 24x7x365 on-call support on a rotation basis. The first application review begins November 10, 2026, with weekly reviews thereafter; the recruitment remains open until filled.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a closely related field; an equivalent combination of education and job-related experience may be considered on a year-for-year basis.
Five years of progressive experience configuring, installing, and managing server infrastructure, including Windows and Linux operating systems and storage systems, and performing migrations, upgrades, or decommissioning of legacy and unsupported server platforms.
Experience administering Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, PKI, and certificate lifecycle management, including Active Directory Certificate Services and ACME-based automation.
Experience administering Microsoft 365, including Exchange Online, SharePoint, and Teams.
Advanced, hands-on technical knowledge of virtualization platforms, preferably VMware vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation.
Experience with enterprise backup and recovery, disaster recovery planning, system capacity planning, security hardening, patch management, and systems management best practices.
Knowledge of formal change, incident, and problem management processes, such as ITIL, and applicable data privacy and security practices and laws.
Advanced troubleshooting skills across server hardware, operating systems, virtualization, storage, and enterprise applications.
Working knowledge of scripting and automation, such as PowerShell.
Working knowledge of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, VLANs, and firewalls, as they relate to server and application support.
Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills, including the ability to explain technical information in user-friendly terms and describe operational and business impacts.
Ability to research connectivity and interoperability issues and products related to servers, storage, and desktop systems, coordinating with the networking team as needed.
High self-motivation, attention to detail, analytical and problem-solving ability, and ability to work and prioritize tasks in a stressful, fast-paced environment.
Ability to lead or contribute to infrastructure projects and document work, including tickets, change records, and standard operating procedures; ability to partner effectively with staff, vendors, and other IT teams.
A valid Arizona Operator’s Driver’s License is required.

Nice To Haves

Microsoft role-based certification relevant to the position, such as Azure Administrator Associate or Microsoft 365 Administrator Expert.
VMware Certified Professional (VCP) or NetApp Certified Data Administrator (NCDA).
Linux experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Ubuntu.
Microsoft Hyper-V experience.
Familiarity with containers and Kubernetes.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with executive management and department leaders to assess near- and long-term server, storage, and computing capacity needs.
Create and maintain technical documentation, including system configurations, dependencies, procedures, diagrams, service records, and inventories of servers, assets, and licenses.
Develop and maintain policies, procedures, and training plans for systems administration, system usage, backup, and disaster recovery; provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior team members.
Contribute to infrastructure and roadmap planning, including on-premises, hybrid, and cloud hosting strategies.
Design and deploy server, storage, virtualization, backup, UPS, and other data center infrastructure.
Plan and execute migrations, upgrades, and retirements of operating systems, enterprise applications, and cloud services such as Microsoft 365 and Azure.
Identify and address legacy and unsupported servers in accordance with City policy.
Research and evaluate emerging technologies, products, services, cybersecurity practices, and industry standards; interact and negotiate with third-party providers.
Configure and administer Windows and Linux servers, VMware vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation platforms, and enterprise storage such as NetApp ONTAP.
Administer directory, identity, and certificate services, including Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and PKI with automated certificate issuance and renewal.
Manage email and collaboration platforms, including Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft 365.
Monitor system performance, capacity, and health; troubleshoot problems; automate routine administrative tasks with scripting tools such as PowerShell; and provide performance statistics and reports.
Manage patching, updates, and vulnerability remediation for servers and enterprise systems.
Participate in managing systems security controls, including access management, endpoint protection, and security audits, in coordination with network and cybersecurity personnel.
Manage backup and recovery solutions, test restores, and support disaster recovery exercises in accordance with City policies.
Provide 24x7x365 on-call support on a rotation basis with other team members.
Lead or contribute to infrastructure projects from planning through implementation and document work so others can support or continue it.
Coordinate with department staff, vendors, and IT teams such as networking, security, and applications.