Systems Operations Engineer II

Howard University•Washington, DC

45d

About The Position

The Systems Operations Engineer II at Howard University Hospital is responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance, and optimization of the hospital’s enterprise systems infrastructure. This role ensures the stability, security, and efficiency of on-premises and cloud-based systems that support clinical, administrative, and research activities throughout the hospital. The engineer serves as a subject matter expert in healthcare systems architecture, automation, and performance monitoring, providing leadership in developing operational standards and mentoring junior staff. This position operates within the Infrastructure and Operations division of Hospital IT Services and plays a critical role in managing the hospital’s data center operations, virtualization platforms, storage systems, and hybrid cloud services. The Senior Systems Operations Engineer collaborates with Network Services, Information Security, Clinical Application Support, and Biomedical Technology teams to deliver reliable, secure, and scalable computing environments. The role requires proactive monitoring, incident response, and long-term strategic planning to align infrastructure services with hospital goals and regulatory requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field required.
Minimum of 7 years of experience in systems administration, infrastructure engineering, or related roles.
Experience in healthcare or hospital environments preferred.
Expertise in Windows and Linux server environments.
Strong proficiency with virtualization (VMware, Hyper-V), storage (SAN/NAS), and cloud platforms (Azure, AWS).
Experience with automation and configuration management tools (PowerShell, Ansible, Terraform, etc.).
Familiarity with identity management, monitoring tools, and IT service management (ITSM) processes in healthcare.
Deep understanding of enterprise systems, cloud infrastructure, and automation tools.
Strong problem-solving skills with a focus on root-cause analysis and performance optimization in a hospital environment.
Effective at working across diverse IT disciplines and communicating with technical and non-technical hospital staff.
Committed to providing responsive, high-quality service to clinicians, staff, and patients.
Comfortable in a fast-paced hospital environment with evolving technologies and institutional priorities.
Ability to guide team members and model best practices in hospital systems operations.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator / Solutions Architect
VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Healthcare IT certifications (e.g., CHIT, HCISPP) preferred.

Responsibilities

Manage, monitor, and optimize physical and virtual servers, storage systems, and operating environments (Windows, Linux, and cloud-based systems) for hospital operations.
Ensure system uptime, capacity planning, and proactive issue resolution for clinical and administrative systems.
Develop and maintain automation scripts for system provisioning, configuration, and patch management.
Design and implement resilient and scalable enterprise infrastructure solutions tailored to healthcare needs.
Manage identity, access, and authentication systems (e.g., Active Directory, Azure AD, SSO, MFA) with a focus on HIPAA compliance.
Support hybrid cloud environments (AWS, Azure, VMware, etc.) and assist with cloud migrations for hospital applications.
Collaborate with Information Security to maintain compliance with hospital, state, and federal healthcare data protection requirements (e.g., HIPAA, HITECH).
Implement and monitor security controls, patch management, and incident response protocols for hospital systems.
Monitor system performance metrics and logs, analyzing trends to prevent outages affecting patient care.
Ensure proper backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity planning for critical hospital systems.
Work closely with clinical application, database, and network teams to ensure integrated system performance.
Develop and maintain system documentation, runbooks, and operational procedures specific to hospital IT.
Provide mentorship and training to junior staff and student technologists.
Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend innovations to improve hospital IT service delivery.
Contribute to strategic planning for infrastructure modernization and cloud adoption in the hospital setting.