Manager Systems Administration

Job Level
Mid-level position
Job Category
Administrator / Manager (of network or database)
Sector
  • Information Technology
Job Status
Areas of Responsibility
  • Network / Systems

Department Description:

The College's computing infrastructure is currently diverse and decentralized across seven departments and ten graduate programs. Its infrastructure is in the early stage of significant reorganization to a SSU model. Number of workstations totals over 1400 Windows, 400 Macs, and 900 Linux. Windows Server/Active Directory and Linux services are both used extensively. There are several Windows and Linux instructional labs, hosting complex application setups for each departmental discipline. Instructional labs utilize various deployment and virtualization methods, such as Symantec Ghost and VMWare, respectively, to meet the needs of large student pools changing each quarter. Each department has extensive and varied technical computing research requirements, encompassing several parallel clusters, robotics, instrumentation, graphics, code development, security, and other specialty systems. Finally, there is a diverse set of infrastructure to support general needs such as web services (mostly Apache on Linux, with web CMS being added), firewall, virtual machines, file/SAN and backup service, database such as for student information, and user account management.  

Location: Davis  

Allow Applicants to Attach:

Resume
Cover Letter
References  

Position Details

Job Summary:

This position is part of the College of Engineering Information Technology Shared Services (ITSS) and reports directly to the Executive Director of IT. IT Shared Services provides generalized IT services to the entire college and includes some members who provide direct departmental IT support. IT Shared Services maintains core services such as websites and web applications, database services, virtualization services, instructional lab storage and support, license server management, network configuration and management, etc. This position will supervise systems administrators that provide the backing infrastructure for all services, along with expertise to other IT staff, faculty, staff and researchers. Much of the current infrastructure has grown through the consolidation of individual departmental systems and this position will lead the effort to continue those efforts while maturing existing services. Initiatives will include ensuring high levels of uptime, and standardizing/automating processes around ITIL to ensure coverage and consistency through staffing availability. This position and the supervised staff will be the college's liaison to external service providers (i.e. IET Data Center, Amazon Web Services, etc.) to ensure accountability and functionality. This position will work closely with other campus partners on initiatives to build common cross-campus services, for example Service-Now Change Management and Aggie Desktop workstation build and management standards. The sysadmin group will also provide ad-hoc advice and service to research groups needing assistance with infrastructure. 

Inputs 
The Manager Systems Administration receives input from a variety of sources, including but not limited to the following: 

  • Stakeholders 
  • COE faculty, staff, students 
  • COE IT Executive Director and staff 
  • Service teams 
  • Vendors and service providers 
  • IET and other external UCD organizations 
  • Enterprise Environmental Factors 
  • COE and UCD policies, state and federal laws 
  • Organization governance 
  • Systems and tools 
  • Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework 
  • Project Management Institute (PMI) framework 
  • Marketplace conditions and technology trends 
  • Organization communication channels 

Outputs 
The Manager Systems Administration is expected to maintain or contribute to several deliverables, including but not limited to the following: 

  • Key Performance Indicator definitions and reports 
  • Service Level Agreements and Operational Level Agreements 
  • Infrastructure documentation 
  • Infrastructure inventory/CMDB 
  • Disaster recovery plan 
  • Desk manuals 
  • Unified change management plan 
  • Input to PM to establish project intake process 
  • Contributions to knowledge-base 
  • Annual budget  

Physical Demands:

Must be able to lift personal computers, peripherals, and servers weighing up to 50 lbs. 
Bend in confined areas to service equipment and connect cables 
Prolonged sitting and use of keyboard.  

Work Environment:

Ability to provide service to the college's 8 units located across campus and off-site. 
Provide own transportation across campus and to off-site locations. 
Work outside the standard work schedule as needed, including evenings and weekends, to meet project priorities, system deployment, and maintenance activities. 

UC Davis is a smoke and tobacco free campus effective January 1, 2014. Smoking, the use of smokeless tobacco products, and the use of unregulated nicotine products (e-cigarettes) will be strictly prohibited on any UC Davis owned or leased property, indoors and outdoors, including parking lots and residential space.  

Background Check Required: 

This position is a critical position and subject to a background check. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of background investigation including criminal history and identity checks.

Yes  

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science or other related field, or equivalent experience. 
  • 7 years of experience in computing systems administration, networks, database, data centers or other infrastructure related environments (24x7x365). 
  • Experience providing leadership in an IT environment. 
  • 5 years of experience leading IT project teams 
  • Proven experience in building trust and respect with customers and IT staff 
  • Experience coaching and mentoring service team members 
  • IT Infrastructure Management 
  • Experience managing and providing high availability IT infrastructure environments. 
  • Extensive knowledge of computing systems administration, including operating systems, database systems, file storage and backup systems, directory systems, content management systems, policy creation and maintenance, virtualization, and application implementation, patching and upgrades. 
  • Extensive knowledge of physical IT infrastructure, including network topology, protocols and routing, power requirements and backup power supplies, cooling requirements, rack storage, telecommunications equipment and services. 
  • Extensive knowledge and experience in system, application and network security best practices, standards, and tools. 
  • Experience working with customers and vendors to develop Service Level Agreements and Operational Level Agreements 
  • Experience developing long term infrastructure strategy, e.g. planned equipment obsolescence, upgrades, performance improvements, and also long term infrastructure maintenance activities, e.g. warranty, contract and license management, and third‐party service agreements. 
  • Understanding and skill to work with procurement processes, systems and staff to acquire equipment and resources 
  • Interpersonal and Communications Skills to effectively communicate with a diverse community with varying levels of understanding of IT issues. 
  • Experience supporting customer and service needs and negotiate solutions with a high degree of customer satisfaction 
  • Experience articulating technical concepts into business language 
  • Active listener and proven report writing capability 
  • Experience in facilitation and presentation 
  • Experience with conflict resolution  
  • Experience providing analysis and reports regarding programs related to IT services 
  • Experience in Process improvement analysis and implementation  

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Understanding of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) concepts and framework 
  • 3 years of experience in higher education  

Quick Link To This Position:

www.employment.ucdavis.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=79560