Senior IT Specialist

Job Title: Senior IT Specialist

Department: Information Technology

Role Overview:

We are seeking a highly analytical and experienced Senior IT Specialist to architect, deploy, and govern our enterprise IT infrastructure. In this role, you will move beyond standard administration to focus on high availability, robust security postures, capacity planning, and strategic technology integrations. You will act as the ultimate escalation point (L3) for complex technical issues and play a pivotal role in aligning IT operations with business objectives.

Core Responsibilities:

Infrastructure Architecture & Management: Design, deploy, and oversee highly available (HA) and scalable server and network environments. Act as the Tier-3 escalation point for critical Help Desk and operational incidents. Asset Lifecycle & Vendor Management: Oversee the complete lifecycle of enterprise IT assets. Manage vendor relationships, negotiate contracts/licensing, audit SLAs, and optimize CAPEX/OPEX for IT procurement. Enterprise Security & Compliance: Engineer and enforce robust IT security postures. Implement Zero Trust architectures, conduct vulnerability assessments, and manage Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans (DR/BCP). Strategic Alignment: Partner with cross-functional department heads to assess technological needs, eliminate technical debt, and drive digital transformation initiatives that enhance overall business productivity. Technology Integration & Automation: Continuously evaluate and deploy emerging technologies, virtualization advancements, and infrastructure automation to streamline operations and maximize throughput. IT Governance: Author, implement, and audit enterprise-grade IT policies, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and service management frameworks (aligned with ITIL best practices). Third-Party & Team Leadership: Direct, mentor, and audit third-party contractors and Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Provide technical mentorship and guidance to junior IT staff and Help Desk personnel. Network Assurance & Testing: Define rigorous Quality of Service (QoS), stress testing, and acceptance criteria for all IP-based networks and infrastructure rollouts. Qualifications & Personal Attributes:

Experience: 5+ years of progressive, hands-on experience in enterprise IT infrastructure, network engineering, and systems administration. Analytical Prowess: Expert-level root-cause analysis (RCA) capabilities. Proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex, systemic infrastructure bottlenecks under critical outage scenarios. Project Management: Demonstrated track record of leading large-scale IT projects (e.g., physical-to-virtual migrations, data center upgrades, network overhauls). Soft Skills: Exceptional cross-departmental communication skills. Ability to translate complex technical jargon into actionable business insights for stakeholders. High stress-tolerance. Advanced Technical Arsenal:

Network Engineering: Advanced expertise in Cisco environments (Routing, Switching, VLANs, STP, OSPF/BGP) and enterprise-grade Mikrotik deployments (traffic engineering, complex routing). CCNP level knowledge preferred.

System Administration (Microsoft Stack): Deep knowledge of Windows Server ecosystems (2019/2022), Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), complex GPO design, DNS/DHCP, and Microsoft 365/Exchange Hybrid environments.

System Administration (Linux): Proficiency in Enterprise Linux environments (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu) and basic shell scripting (Bash/PowerShell) for task automation.

Virtualization & Storage: Expert-level administration of hypervisors (VMware vSphere/ESXi or Hyper-V), vCenter, clustered environments, and SAN/NAS storage protocols (iSCSI, NFS).

Security & Perimeter: Hands-on experience with Next-Gen Firewalls (Fortinet, Cisco ASA/Firepower, Sophos), IPsec/SSL VPN architectures, and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solutions.

Monitoring & Backup: Proficiency in deploying and tuning enterprise monitoring tools (Zabbix, PRTG, SolarWinds) and managing centralized backup/replication strategies (e.g., Veeam Backup & Replication).