Sr. Systems Engineer

Job Title: SR. Systems Engineer
Department: Information Technology
Exempt/Non-Exempt Status: Exempt

Scope of Work
This is a supervisory and technical leadership position. The position oversees critical systems including servers, networks, cloud platforms, and security technologies, and plays a central role in strengthening the City's cybersecurity posture through security architecture, threat mitigation, identity and access controls, system hardening, and incident readiness. Responsibilities include the development, implementation, and maintenance of network security, disaster recovery, and business continuity policies and procedures to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The Senior Systems Engineer provides technical leadership, mentors and supervises IT staff, collaborates with departmental stakeholders, and supports the City's technology, security, and operational resilience goals and objectives.

Supervision
Received IT Director Exercised
Supervises up to five full-time (or full-time equivalent) employees

Essential Job Functions
The job functions listed herein are neither exclusive nor exhaustive, but are intended to be illustrative of the types of tasks the employee will most likely be expected to perform on a regular basis. The employee may be asked to perform different or additional tasks than the ones listed here, as the needs of the employer and/or the requirements of the position change.
Infrastructure & Security Leadership
1. Leads the technical design, implementation, and continuous improvement of the City's enterprise infrastructure and cybersecurity posture across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
2. Designs, implements, and maintains security and infrastructure controls including identity and access management, system hardening, logging, monitoring, backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity capabilities.
3. Conducts risk assessments, vulnerability analysis, and threat evaluations; recommends and implements mitigation strategies to reduce operational and cybersecurity risk.
4. Supports cybersecurity incident preparedness, response, and recovery activities, including investigation, containment, remediation, and post-incident review.
Infrastructure Operations
1. Manages the design, implementation, maintenance, security, and lifecycle management of enterprise infrastructure systems including Active Directory, virtualization platforms, storage systems, cloud services, LAN/WAN, wireless networks, internet/intranet services, and associated technologies.
2. Ensures infrastructure systems operate at optimal performance, reliability, availability, and security levels through proactive monitoring, preventive maintenance, capacity planning, and lifecycle management.
3. Performs advanced troubleshooting and serves as the lead technical escalation point for complex or mission-critical infrastructure and security issues.

Leadership & Supervision
1. Directly supervises the Systems Engineer and Network Administrator, providing technical direction, mentoring, training, workload prioritization, and performance guidance. 2. Establishes technical standards and best practices for infrastructure operations and security and ensures consistent implementation across the team.

Policy, Governance & Documentation
1. Assists the IT Director in developing and maintaining cybersecurity policies and standards aligned with City governance and regulatory requirements.
2. Ensures systems and services comply with City standards, security requirements, audit expectations, and applicable legal or regulatory obligations.
3. Maintains accurate, current technical, security, and operational documentation for systems, configurations, procedures, and incident response.

Strategic Planning, Collaboration & Advisory
1. Serves as a technical subject matter expert and advisor to the IT Director, and City departments regarding infrastructure and cybersecurity capabilities, risks, and solutions. 2. Works closely with business units and departmental leadership to understand operational requirements and ensure technology and security solutions effectively support City services.
3. Partners with the IT Director to identify, design, and implement new systems and technologies in a secure, reliable, and cost-effective manner.

Vendor & Procurement Support
1. Identifies infrastructure and security needs and prepares budget requests for equipment, upgrades, renewals, and replacements.
2. Assists the IT Director in preparing RFPs, bids, contracts, scopes of work, and supporting documentation for infrastructure and security initiatives.
3. Manages vendor relationships and communications related to infrastructure and security systems; evaluates vendors, software, and security products and provides recommendations.

Operational Support
1. Assists with Service Desk issue resolution as needed and participates in on-call rotation and after-hours response for critical infrastructure or security incidents.

Other Job Functions
* Serves on on-call rotation, requiring a pager to be carried.
* Performs related duties as assigned.

Requirements of Work
Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's Degree in computer science, technical communications and internet operations, plus at least 6 years of experience in administering, designing, implementing and supervising a computer wide area network and related infrastructure including security (Master's Degree may substitute for 2 years of experience); or any equivalent combination of training and experience which provides the following knowledge, ability and skills:

Knowledge of
* The City's organizational goals and objectives.
* IT Security, governance and service management frameworks such as CIS, NIST, ITIL and COBIT, as applied to infrastructure and operational environments.
* Service and application delivery.
* Enterprise infrastructure technologies and architectures, including servers, virtualization platforms, storage systems, network services, and hybrid and cloud-based environments.
* Secure system and network design principles, including defense-in-depth, least privilege, segmentation, system hardening, and secure configuration practices.
* Identity and access management concepts, authentication and authorization mechanisms, and user access controls across enterprise systems.
* Cybersecurity and infrastructure security practices related to threat mitigation, vulnerability management, monitoring, logging, and incident preparedness.
* Disaster recovery, business continuity, backup, and system resilience planning for enterprise environments.
* The theory, operation, application, and capabilities of automation tools, systems management platforms, and infrastructure monitoring solutions.

Ability to
* Design, implement, secure, and maintain complex enterprise infrastructure systems across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.
* Apply cybersecurity and secure-by-design principles to infrastructure architecture, system configuration, and day-to-day operations.
* Analyze security, performance, and operational issues; identify root causes; and implement effective corrective actions.
* Support cybersecurity incident response, system recovery, and post-incident remediation activities in coordination with IT leadership.
* Develop, implement, document, and maintain technical policies, procedures, standards, and recovery plans related to infrastructure and system security.
* Exercise sound independent judgment and provide technical guidance on matters involving system availability, security, performance, and operational risk.
* Train, mentor, and supervise technical staff; assign work; review performance; and ensure staff follow established policies, procedures, and security standards.
* Work with and protect sensitive and confidential information in accordance with City policies and applicable regulations.
* Communicate effectively with technical staff, department leadership, vendors, and non-technical stakeholders regarding infrastructure and security matters.
* Establish and maintain effective working relationships with City officials, department directors, coworkers, vendors, and the public.
* Adapt to evolving technologies, security threats, and operational requirements.
* Prioritize workload; manage competing deadlines and execute tasks under pressure and in emergency situations.
* Work a variety of hours.

Skill in
* The design, installation, configuration, securing, and maintenance of enterprise infrastructure systems, including servers, storage, virtualization platforms, networks, and cloud services.
* Applying cybersecurity and secure configuration practices to infrastructure systems, including access controls, system hardening, monitoring, and recovery capabilities.
* Troubleshooting complex infrastructure, performance, availability, and security-related issues and implementing effective technical solutions.
* Infrastructure and system monitoring, logging, automation, and operational management tools.
* Disaster recovery, backup, and system resilience technologies and practices.
* Analyzing technical problems, assessing operational and security risk, and recommending appropriate corrective actions.
* Project planning, coordination, and execution for infrastructure and technology initiatives.
* Vendor evaluation, technical review, and management related to infrastructure and security systems.
* Budgeting, lifecycle management, and cost analysis for infrastructure and technology investments.
* Preparing and maintaining technical documentation, diagrams, standards, and procedures.
* Oral and written communication, including the ability to clearly convey technical and security concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
* Supervising technical staff and providing leadership, mentoring, and guidance.

Necessary Special Requirements ITIL; NIMS ICS ;on-call rotation; valid Wisconsin driver's license; ability to pass a criminal background check.

Physical Demands The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
* Work is performed mostly in an office setting; hand-eye coordination is necessary to operate computers and various pieces of office equipment.
* Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus; prolonged visual concentration is required.
* While performing the duties of this job, the employee frequently is required to sit, stand, talk and hear; use hands and fingers to handle, feel, or operate objects, tools, or controls and reach with hands and arms.
* The employee is occasionally required to walk; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
* The employee may frequently be exposed to noise, electrical currents, heat, cold and other unpleasant or hazardous conditions.
* The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

The City of Waukesha is an Equal Opportunity Employer.