Systems Engineer – Herndon VA

Job Summary

The Systems Engineer works as part of the IT Team providing 24x7 operational support of Windows servers, storage systems and virtual environments in the corporate datacenters and offices. This includes general administration, Tier II/Tier III support, design, engineering and implementation. This role includes communicating, participating in, and documenting best practices for the general administration and management of servers, storage platforms, and applications in our datacenters.

This individual is also responsible for actively managing their projects and achieving deadlines and milestones. As a subject matter expert, they will utilize their strong technical background and related experience to achieve the organization’s goals and vision.

Base Salary Pay Range: $100,000-$130,000 per year. Specific offers within the listed pay ranges are determined by a variety of factors such as experience, education, skills, certifications and business needs.

• Conduct general system administration, security patching, O/S upgrades, and troubleshooting of problems to ensure critical system availability
• Initiate and sometimes lead technical discussions and projects and work collaboratively with teams to meet deadlines
• Monitor systems to ensure system health and functionality as well as remediate problems/issues in a timely manner
• Design and implement standards (hardware, software, configurations, security, etc.), and policies and procedures around these standards
• Evaluate, define and manage infrastructure strategy to ensure capabilities of supporting current and future business demands at optimal cost
• Prepares, submits, and manages operating and capital expenditures for technology needed to support the organization’s technology projects
• Implements technical controls to support Cybersecurity initiatives, which ensures secure operations in network and computing environments
• Identify and evaluate potential hardware and software solutions which will contribute to organization’s overall goals
• Support 24/7 operations including periodic on-call rotation
• Collaborates with Director, Cybersecurity and other team members on risk assessment, response and remediation
• Provides weekly updates with project timelines and goals to Director, IT
• Keeps abreast of new knowledge, research, products, and services in technology that will benefit the organization
• Rack and stack server and storage hardware
• Other duties as assigned

• 6+ years of relevant IT systems administration/engineering experience in a hands‑on capacity
• Strong experience:
  • Windows Server OS
  • AD Certificate, Domain and Federation Services, DHCP, DNS, File, NPS, Print, RDS, IIS, WSUS, Failover Clustering/AOAG, Group Policy
  • Email
    • Exchange on‑prem/hybrid
    • Mailbox/Edge Transport roles, databases, DAGs, virtual directories, certificates, load balancing
    • SMTP, IMAP
    • DNS & Authentication
      • MX, A/AAAA, PTR
      • SPF, DKIM, DMARC
    • Spam, phishing, and malware filtering
  • SharePoint on‑prem/online
  • Server
    • Dell Power Edge hardware or similar including management via Lifecycle Controller, iDRAC, Open Manage, etc.
  • Storage
    • DAS, NAS, SAN, CIFS/SMB, iSCSI, NFS, FC, FCoE, NVMe‑oF
  • Backup, disaster recovery, high availability and fault tolerance
  • System monitoring, performance tuning and capacity planning
  • Scripting for automation and system administration
• Bonus experience:
  • Microsoft Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV
  • Microsoft stack licensing
  • Datacenter buildout
  • Racks, PDU’s, structured cabling, cable management
  • Cisco switching, routing and firewall
  • VMware vSphere (vCenter, ESXi)
  • Net App AFF/CDOT
  • Rubrik CDM
  • Zoom Enterprise suite
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple tasks and priorities for operational deliverables
• Ability to interact and work effectively with internal and external customers while providing the highest quality of customer service
• Preferred knowledge of industry security standards, audits, and certifications
• Detail oriented with strong problem‑solving skills
• Manage vendor relationships and negotiations
• Excellent communication and organization skills
• Ability to write and present formal documentation

• Remains in a sitting/stationary position continually or almost continually during the work day
• Operates a computer and performs desk‑based computer tasks continually; frequently viewing a computer screen
• Prefer the ability to lift, carry, push, pull objects and/or equipment that weighs up to 50 pounds on rare occasions

Cogent Communications is an Equal Opportunity Employer.