Senior Infrastructure & Systems Engineer (L3)

Van Ausdall & Farrar Inc

Indianapolis, IN, USA

Published: 6/14/2022

Technology

Full Time

Job Description

Job Description Ready for Your Next Technical Challenge?

If you're the engineer others turn to when the easy answers haven't worked, this may be the opportunity for you.

Van Ausdall & Farrar (VAF) is looking for an experienced Senior Infrastructure & Systems Engineer (L3) to serve as a top-tier technical resource within our Managed IT Services team.

Unlike supporting a single corporate environment, you'll work across a diverse client base—solving complex infrastructure challenges, designing and implementing solutions, leading technical projects, and helping shape how our clients' environments evolve.

This is a hands-on senior engineering role for someone who enjoys digging into difficult problems, working across technologies, sharing knowledge, and taking ownership from initial diagnosis through resolution.

And one more thing: we're looking for someone who likes people, too.

Yes, we need serious technical chops—but this isn't a role where you can hide behind a screen all day. Our engineers work directly with our customers, and we're looking for someone who can walk into a room, build trust, explain a complex technical issue without speaking entirely in acronyms, and confidently lead a customer conversation.

If you can troubleshoot a complex infrastructure problem and explain what happened to a customer without making their eyes glaze over, you'll fit in well here.

Salary: $90,000–$110,000, based on experience
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Work Arrangement: Onsite
Position: Full-time

This position is based in our Indianapolis office. Remote work and relocation assistance are not available at this time. Local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

This is an MSP environment. The person isn't being asked to sit in an office five days a week to answer Teams messages they could answer from their couch. They're collaborating with engineers, working hands-on with infrastructure, leading projects, troubleshooting complex client environments, interacting with customers, mentoring L1/L2 engineers, etc.

What You'll Do

As a Senior Infrastructure & Systems Engineer, you'll serve as a technical authority and final internal escalation point for complex client issues while also designing, implementing and improving infrastructure across VAF's managed client environments.

Advanced Troubleshooting & Escalation

Serve as a final internal escalation point for complex, high-impact incidents across virtualization, Microsoft 365 and Active Directory environments.
Troubleshoot advanced infrastructure and systems issues that have progressed beyond L1/L2 support.
Perform root-cause analysis on recurring issues and develop permanent corrective actions to reduce repeat incidents.
Take ownership of major incidents and communicate technical status and resolution progress to internal teams and client stakeholders.
Engage and manage vendor support relationships, including Microsoft, VMware, Dell and other technology partners, through resolution.

Virtualization & Compute Infrastructure

Architect, deploy and manage Scale Computing HCI, VMware vSphere (vCenter, ESXi, vSAN, NSX), Microsoft Hyper-V and Azure Stack HCI environments.
Perform host provisioning, cluster configuration, vMotion/Storage vMotion, resource tuning and capacity planning.
Lead hardware refreshes, P2V/V2V migrations and data-center consolidation projects.
Evaluate client environments and recommend infrastructure improvements based on performance, scalability, security and business needs.

Microsoft 365 & Cloud Administration

Administer Microsoft 365 environments, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Microsoft Teams, Defender and Compliance workloads.
Design and implement Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) configurations, including Conditional Access, MFA, application registrations, B2B/B2C and identity governance.
Manage tenant-to-tenant migrations and hybrid Exchange/Active Directory configurations.
Support and administer Microsoft Intune MDM and endpoint-management environments.
Configure and tune Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Purview and DLP policies based on client security requirements.

Active Directory & Identity

Design and maintain Active Directory forests, domains, sites, trusts, OU structures and Group Policy Objects.
Manage AD replication, FSMO roles, DNS/DHCP, certificate services and AD-integrated DNS.
Lead Active Directory migrations, domain consolidations and forest-recovery efforts.
Troubleshoot hybrid identity and Entra ID Connect synchronization issues.
Implement least-privilege models, tiered administration and privileged-access-management practices.

Backup, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity

Manage backup and disaster-recovery solutions, including Cove, Veeam, Datto and Azure Site Recovery.
Conduct and validate failover testing.
Develop and maintain recovery runbooks and technical documentation.
Help ensure client environments are prepared for recovery and business-continuity events.

Project Delivery & Technical Leadership

Lead the scoping, design and execution of client infrastructure projects from Statement of Work (SOW) through implementation and handoff to support.
Translate business and technical requirements into effective infrastructure solutions.
Develop architecture diagrams, build documentation and knowledge-base resources.
Provide technical mentorship, peer review and training to L1 and L2 engineers.
Participate in onboarding and technical skills development for other members of the engineering team.
Partner with internal teams and client stakeholders to ensure successful project delivery and ongoing service quality.
Participate in the on-call rotation for after-hours escalations and scheduled change windows.

Security, Compliance & Best Practices

Apply CIS, NIST and Microsoft security baselines across client environments.
Identify and remediate security and infrastructure vulnerabilities.
Conduct health checks, patch-management reviews and vulnerability-remediation activities.
Support client compliance initiatives such as HIPAA, CMMC and SOC 2 through technical controls, documentation and evidence collection.
Ensure client environments meet VAF standards for security, documentation and service quality.

What You'll Bring

We're looking for an experienced engineer with a strong infrastructure foundation who can operate independently, solve complex problems and confidently serve as a technical resource for both clients and other engineers.

Required Qualifications

5+ years of progressive IT engineering experience, including at least 2 years in an MSP or multi-tenant consulting environment.
Deep expertise with VMware vSphere (vSphere 7/8) and/or Microsoft Hyper-V/Azure Stack HCI or other HCI environments.
Strong Microsoft 365 administration experience, including working knowledge of Microsoft 365 admin centers, PowerShell and Graph API.
Advanced Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) engineering skills, including hybrid identity and AD Connect.
Strong knowledge of Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy and certificate services.
Hands-on experience with enterprise backup and disaster-recovery platforms such as Veeam, Datto and Azure Site Recovery.
Solid networking fundamentals, including VLANs, routing, firewalling, VPN and SD-WAN concepts.
Strong PowerShell scripting skills for automation and bulk-administration tasks.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to work effectively and professionally with clients in a consulting/MSP environment.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and take ownership of issues through resolution.
Valid driver's license and ability to travel occasionally to client sites.
Ability to participate in an on-call rotation for after-hours escalations and scheduled change windows.

Preferred Qualifications

We don't expect every candidate to have every certification or technology listed below. Experience in several of these areas is a plus:

Microsoft certifications such as Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert, MS-102, AZ-104 or SC-series certifications.
VMware certifications such as VCP, VCAP or VCDX.
CompTIA Security+, CySA+ or equivalent security certification.
ITIL v4 Foundation certification.
Experience with Microsoft Intune, Defender for Endpoint and Microsoft Sentinel.
Experience with networking platforms such as Cisco Meraki, Fortinet or Ubiquiti.
Familiarity with ITSM/PSA platforms such as ConnectWise, Autotask, HaloPSA or ServiceNow.
Exposure to Linux administration.
Exposure to containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.

Why VAF?

Van Ausdall & Farrar has been helping Indiana businesses solve technology challenges since 1914.

Today, VAF provides a broad portfolio of business technology solutions, including Managed IT Services, Cybersecurity, Cloud Solutions, Internet/ISP Services, Unified Communications, Copy & Print Solutions, Video Surveillance, Document Conversion and more.

For a senior engineer, working in our managed-services environment means you won't spend every day maintaining the same infrastructure. You'll have the opportunity to work across different client environments, technologies and industries while solving complex technical challenges and continuing to expand your expertise.

You'll also have the opportunity to:

Work on a wide variety of infrastructure environments and projects.
Serve as a trusted technical resource for clients.
Take ownership of complex technical challenges.
Influence architecture and technical decisions.
Mentor and develop other engineers.
Continue expanding your technical knowledge across a broad technology stack.
Work alongside an experienced team in an established, locally owned Indianapolis company.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If you're an experienced infrastructure and systems engineer who enjoys solving the problems others escalate, leading technical projects and working across diverse client environments, we'd like to meet you.

Apply today to start a conversation about joining VAF's Managed IT Services team.

Van Ausdall & Farrar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other status protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodations are available throughout the application and interview process.