Systems Engineer II

Location Worcester

DEPARTMENT NAME Infrastructure Services and Architecture

DIVISION NAME Worcester Polytechnic Institute - WPI

SUMMARY The Systems Engineer II is a member of the Systems Engineering and Operations team responsible for the infrastructure, platforms, and configuration that keep WPI's enterprise applications running. The role works across the full application stack - operating systems, web and application servers, databases, and access configuration - to keep campus applications patched, available, well documented, and securely configured. The Systems Engineer II independently owns assigned systems, coordinates upgrades and vendor releases, and provides Tier II/III support.

The position works closely with application owners, vendors, Information Security, the Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Integrations teams to support WPI's academic and operational mission.

• Install, configure, upgrade, and maintain the servers and platforms that host enterprise applications such as CBORD, Star Rez, 25
  
  Live, and other departmental systems, whether on premises, vendor-hosted, or SaaS.
• Coordinate application upgrades and vendor releases with departmental owners, including testing, change requests, scheduling, and rollback planning.
• Configure and maintain web and application servers (IIS, Apache, Nginx, Tomcat), including bindings, reverse proxies, load balancing, and TLS certificates.
• Work with the Integrations team, which builds and supports integrations between systems, to give applications what they need on the platform side (network connectivity, service accounts, API access, and file transfer endpoints) and to troubleshoot integration issues with core systems such as SIS, HR, IAM, and payment processors.

• Own the patching cycle for operating systems, middleware, and application components on assigned systems, following established maintenance windows and change management.
• Track vendor support life cycles and plan upgrades before end-of-support dates.
• Maintain configuration baselines and fix drift and audit findings within defined timelines.

• Provide Tier II/III support for escalated application and infrastructure incidents, and drive root cause analysis.
• Monitor system health, logs, and alerts, and tune monitoring to catch issues early.
• Write Power Shell, Python, or Bash scripts to automate routine administration, patching, and reporting.
• Participate in an on-call rotation and support after-hours maintenance windows as needed.

• Administer application databases (primarily Microsoft SQL Server; also MySQL/PostgreSQL), including installation, maintenance plans, backups, restores, performance tuning, and access permissions.
• Work with vendors on schema upgrades, data fixes, and performance problems.

• Configure the server and application side of authentication and authorization, including SSO (SAML, OIDC), role-based access, and service accounts, in coordination with the IAM team, which owns identity services such as Microsoft Entra .
• Carry out application-level access configuration and support periodic access reviews for assigned applications, following IAM team processes, least privilege, and institutional policy.
• Work with Information Security on vulnerability remediation, certificate management, and incident response for assigned systems.

• Keep runbooks, system diagrams, configuration records, and CMDB entries accurate and up to date.
• Take part in backup, recovery, and disaster recovery testing for assigned applications.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned by supervisor.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, or a related field, OR equivalent combination of education and demonstrated professional experience.
• Three or more years of progressive systems administration experience, including at least two years supporting enterprise or vendor applications (Level II).
• Strong Windows Server administration skills and working knowledge of Linux.
• Hands-on experience with IIS and/or Apache/Nginx/Tomcat, including TLS certificate management.
• Microsoft SQL Server administration (backup/restore, maintenance, permissions, and basic query tuning).
• Experience with patch management tools and practices (MECM/SCCM, WSUS, Intune, Azure Update Manager, or…