Systems Administrator Lead

DEPARTMENT:

Information Technology

The following statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employee(s) assigned to this job.

The Systems Administrator Lead provides leadership, oversight, and direction for the Systems Administration team. This role guides team priorities, ensures successful delivery of infrastructure projects and operational objectives, and serves as senior technical advisor to the Manager, Systems Engineering. The position aligns infrastructure capabilities with business needs, develops team effectiveness, and drives continuous improvement across on-premises and cloud environments.

• Provide leadership and oversight for the Systems Administration team, establishing priorities, clarifying expectations, and ensuring work is aligned with department goals
• Lead infrastructure planning efforts by providing technical direction and recommendations for system modernization, resiliency, scalability, and operational improvement
• Oversee the development and maintenance of operational standards, support models, recovery procedures, and knowledge documentation for on-premises and cloud environments
• Guide resolution of high-impact or complex technical matters by coordinating resources, removing obstacles, and ensuring appropriate follow-through with stakeholders
• Monitor infrastructure performance, capacity, availability, and service health trends to identify risks, inform decisions, and recommend improvements
• Champion infrastructure changes that support business objectives, balancing reliability, security, cost effectiveness, scalability, and long‑term maintainability
• Travel to retail store locations as needed to perform complex, hands‑on troubleshooting, hardware replacements, and execute rollouts of new network, server, and point‑of‑sale (POS) infrastructure
• Participate in mandatory, annual Disaster Recovery (DR) testing exercises, which require traveling (flying and/or driving) to secondary data center or failover sites to test, validate, and restore critical IT operations
• Lead coordination of disaster recovery planning, testing, and readiness activities in partnership with IT Operations, Applications, Security, and business stakeholders
• Communicate strategy, project status, risks, and technical recommendations clearly to technical teams, business partners, and leadership audiences
• Drive accountability for project delivery, operational commitments, and team outcomes by tracking progress, escalating risks, and ensuring timely completion of agreed objectives
• Apply strong analytical, evaluation, and problem‑solving skills to guide team decisions, improve infrastructure practices, and support continuous improvement
• Set automation and tooling strategy and drive adoption across the team
• Support additional leadership, planning, and strategic initiatives as assigned

• High school diploma or equivalent required
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field preferred
• 10+ years of experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise Windows server environments
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate technical information to both technical and non‑technical audiences
• Valid California Driver’s License and maintain a clean driving record suitable for operating company vehicles to transport equipment and travel between store locations
• Expert knowledge of server operating systems, including Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Unix, and related platforms
• Expert knowledge of Microsoft cloud technologies, including Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra , Intune, and related administration tools
• Expert‑level experience with Azure Infrastructure as a Service, including virtual machines, storage, networking, identity, monitoring, and backup/recovery
• Experience with AI‑enabled technologies and platforms, such as Microsoft Copilot, vLLM, or similar tools, preferred
• Expert‑level experience with Active Directory, Group Policy, Entra , Intune, and policy design
• Expert knowledge of virtualization technologies, including VMware, Hyper‑V, or similar…