Senior Desktop Infrastructure Engineer Job Chicago area,Illinois USA,IT/Tech

Seeking a Senior Desktop Infrastructure Engineer with expert-level experience in Azure Virtual Desktop, Azure Networking, Nerdio, Microsoft Entra , Active Directory, Windows desktop engineering, Windows 11 image engineering, and Power Shell automation. The role focuses on architecting and operating enterprise desktop infrastructure, optimizing virtual desktop performance and costs, engineering secure and scalable Windows 11 platforms, and providing technical leadership for desktop engineering initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

Architect, implement, and maintain Azure Virtual Desktop environments.
Design and manage AVD host pools, session hosts, Windows image life cycles, and deployment pipelines.
Develop scalability, resiliency, and disaster recovery strategies for desktop infrastructure.
Optimize user experience, platform performance, and Azure consumption costs.
Establish operational standards and platform governance for AVD environments.
Design and troubleshoot AVD network connectivity across Azure and on-premises environments.
Serve as a primary escalation point for network-related virtual desktop issues.
Diagnose and resolve DNS, routing, firewall, latency, authentication, and connectivity issues.
Partner with Network Engineering on Express Route, VPN, segmentation, and hybrid connectivity solutions.
Optimize network paths and client connectivity performance for virtual desktop workloads.
Troubleshoot FSLogix profile performance, storage connectivity, and authentication issues.
Analyze packet captures, connection diagnostics, and performance metrics to identify root causes.
Support private endpoint, storage account, Azure Files, and Microsoft Entra n requirements.
Administer and optimize Nerdio Manager.
Develop automated provisioning and Windows image management workflows.
Configure autoscaling and cost optimization strategies.
Build operational automation using Power Shell and Azure services.
Lead the design and engineering of the Windows 11 desktop platform.
Own gold image architecture and standards.
Establish image testing, validation, and release processes.
Provide technical leadership for desktop engineering initiatives and mentor engineers and contractors.
Establish engineering standards and operational practices.
Evaluate vendors and technical solutions.
Lead major incident response and root cause investigations.

Required Qualifications:

Expert-level experience with Azure Virtual Desktop.
Expert-level experience with Azure Networking.
Expert-level experience with Nerdio.
Expert-level experience with Microsoft Entra Active Directory.
Expert-level experience in Windows desktop engineering and Windows 11 image engineering.
Expert-level experience with Power Shell automation.
Strong root cause analysis and troubleshooting skills.
Strong experience with FSLogix and Azure Files.
Strong understanding of DNS and TCP/IP networking.
Strong experience with firewalls and network security.
Strong experience with Intune and Autopilot.
Strong experience with Group Policy.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with Express Route and Azure Virtual WAN.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code.
Experience with Ansible.
Experience with Liquid ware Profile Unity.
Experience with VMware Horizon or Citrix.