Data Center Engineer I

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Title: Data Center Engineer I, Salaried, Shift not Applicable Req

City, State: Madison, WI

Reports to: IT Infrastructure Manager

Classification: Exempt

Work Arrangement: Hybrid, local to Metro Madison

This position is primarily responsible for the lifecycle, performance, and reliability of server, SAN, and VMware infrastructure across all facilities. Maintains and optimizes virtualization and backup environments to ensure system availability and data integrity. Partners with IT Security to plan, execute, and validate disaster recovery strategies.

Following a mandatory 2-week, on-site training period at the Westfield, WI facility, this role will be primarily work-from-home. Candidates must reside within a reasonable commuting distance of Fitchburg, WI to ensure reliable access to the primary data center and headquarters. This position requires occasional travel to other company sites in Wisconsin and other states as project or operational needs dictate.

• Research, evaluate, and recommend server, storage, and hypervisor upgrades aligned with performance, security, and hardware lifecycle standards.
• Maintain and optimize data center infrastructure across 8 sites, executing consistent firmware updates, patch management, and configuration compliance across all sites.
• Develop, maintain, and update technical runbooks, configuration documentation, and CMDB and asset records to ensure accurate, accessible infrastructure knowledge.
• Diagnose and resolve infrastructure incidents via monitoring alerts and ITSM ticketing systems, performing root cause analysis and extended validation per SLA.
• Design and implement automation scripts (Power Shell, Bash) to streamline provisioning, patching, and operational workflows.
• Manage enterprise backup operations using Rubrik, including system health checks, scheduled jobs, and disaster recovery drills in coordination with IT Security and other IT departments.
• Monitor environmental controls (power, cooling, rack density) and coordinate with Facilities to implement changes that maintain optimal data center operating conditions.
• Partner cross-functionally with IT Security, Networking, Facilities, and leadership to align infrastructure changes with business, security, and compliance requirements.
• This position participates in a structured on-call rotation (7-day shifts, beginning Wednesday; 1 week on / 3 weeks off) to support critical infrastructure monitoring, emergency break/fix scenarios, and time-sensitive maintenance windows. Candidates should expect occasional after-hours or weekend communications aligned with incident severity and SLA requirements. All on-call duties fall within the scope of this exempt position and do not trigger overtime eligibility.
  
  Call handling follows a defined escalation path via Service Now, with guaranteed rest periods between rotations to ensure sustainable coverage.

• Bachelors’ Degree in Information Technology or related field and three plus years of Data Center Engineering experience in a manufacturing setting or five plus years of Server Engineering experience in a manufacturing setting.
• Hands-on operational experience administering virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere) and enterprise backup infrastructure (Rubrik or equivalent), including configuration, patching, and performance tuning.
• Demonstrated ability to manage infrastructure projects using change control, risk assessment, and ITIL-aligned processes.
• Strong technical communication skills, oral and written, with the ability to author clear runbooks, incident reports, and configuration documentation, and coordinate effectively with cross-functional IT, security, facilities teams, and end users.
• Proficiency in Power Shell/Bash scripting for infrastructure automation and administration tasks.

• Experience in regulated manufacturing, food production, or high-throughput industrial environments where strict uptime and compliance standards are required.
• Advanced VMware vSphere administration: HA/DRS, vRealize, or capacity planning.
• Advanced Rubrik…