Job description

Senior Systems Administrator LOCATION: Boston, MA OR San Francisco, CA About the Role Our client is seeking an experienced Senior Systems Administrator to run and continuously strengthen the infrastructure, applications, and services that keep their employees productive and their business operating reliably. This role owns day-to-day administration across cloud and on-premises environments and serves as the primary Tier 3 escalation point for the 24×7 helpdesk and onsite support teams. You will resolve their most complex incidents, eliminate the root causes of recurring problems, coordinate service providers, and deliver dependable, high-availability technology services. The role requires onsite presence three days per week, with additional onsite or after-hours support for planned maintenance and critical incidents as needed. Key Responsibilities Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance • Administer and maintain Microsoft 365, Okta, Jamf, Intune, Zoom, enterprise SaaS applications, cloud platforms, and supporting office workplace technology like Neat AV, etc. • Monitor system health, performance, capacity, availability, and alerts, and resolve emerging issues before they affect employees or business operations. • Plan and lead MSP for patching, upgrades, configuration changes, certificate renewals, and lifecycle maintenance through approved change-management processes. • Own the backup and recovery service and its full lifecycle, including procedures and disaster recovery documentation; regularly test recovery capabilities, identify gaps, and drive remediation. • Maintain core network and infrastructure services, including DNS, DHCP, VPN, Wi-Fi, identity integrations, and endpoint-management dependencies. Tier 3 Escalation and Problem Management • Serve as the senior technical escalation point for the 24×7 helpdesk and onsite support teams, owning complex incidents and service requests through final resolution. • Diagnose issues across identity, endpoints, applications, networks, integrations, and cloud services by analyzing logs, configurations, dependencies, and prior troubleshooting results. • Prioritize escalations by business impact and urgency, meet service-level targets, communicate status clearly, and coordinate recovery activities during major incidents. • Lead root-cause analysis, maintain problem records, and implement corrective actions that reduce repeat incidents and overall ticket volume. • Author runbooks and knowledge articles and coach helpdesk and onsite staff so common issues are resolved at the appropriate support tier. • Coordinate escalations with managed service providers, software vendors, and other technology partners, remaining accountable for progress, communication, and closure. Documentation and Continuous Improvement • Keep diagrams, configurations, system inventories, ownership data, dependencies, standard operating procedures, and recovery documentation current for assigned systems. • Analyze incident, request, and problem trends to identify opportunities to strengthen workflows, monitoring, support procedures, and administration tools. • Refine operational processes and tooling to increase service reliability, reduce recurring issues, and make escalations faster to diagnose and resolve. • Partner with Infrastructure, IT Support, Laboratory Operations, business teams, and vendors to implement and document operational improvements. Required Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, or equivalent practical experience. • Five (5) or more years of experience in systems administration, infrastructure operations, or a comparable senior technical role. • Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft 365, Okta, endpoint management (JAMF & Intune), SaaS administration, Windows, macOS, and cloud or hybrid infrastructure. • Working knowledge of enterprise networking, including DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, VPN, Wi-Fi, routing concepts, and network troubleshooting. • Demonstrated experience handling Tier 3 escalations, major incidents, root-cause analysis, problem management, and service-provider coordination. • Experience with backup, restore, disaster recovery, patching, change control, and infrastructure monitoring. • Experience maintaining runbooks, system documentation, and operational records, and improving support and systems-administration processes and tools. • Clear written and verbal communication, sound judgment, and the ability to explain technical issues to support teams, business partners, and leadership. Preferred Qualification • Experience supporting a biotechnology, pharmaceutical or life sciences environment. • Experience with technologies such as Meraki, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and enterprise SaaS or identity integrations. • Relevant certifications in Microsoft 365 cloud administration, Okta, Jamf, Intune, Meraki, or ITIL.

Requirements

Must-haves

Senior Systems Administrator
LOCATION: Boston, MA OR San Francisco, CA
Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance
Administer and maintain Microsoft 365, Okta, Jamf, Intune, Zoom, enterprise SaaS applications, cloud platforms, and supporting office workplace technology like Neat AV, etc.
Monitor system health, performance, capacity, availability, and alerts, and resolve emerging issues before they affect employees or business operations.
Plan and lead MSP for patching, upgrades, configuration changes, certificate renewals, and lifecycle maintenance through approved change-management processes.
Own the backup and recovery service and its full lifecycle, including procedures and disaster recovery documentation; regularly test recovery capabilities, identify gaps, and drive remediation.
Maintain core network and infrastructure services, including DNS, DHCP, VPN, Wi-Fi, identity integrations, and endpoint-management dependencies.
Tier 3 Escalation and Problem Management
Serve as the senior technical escalation point for the 24×7 helpdesk and onsite support teams, owning complex incidents and service requests through final resolution.
Diagnose issues across identity, endpoints, applications, networks, integrations, and cloud services by analyzing logs, configurations, dependencies, and prior troubleshooting results.
Prioritize escalations by business impact and urgency, meet service-level targets, communicate status clearly, and coordinate recovery activities during major incidents.
Lead root-cause analysis, maintain problem records, and implement corrective actions that reduce repeat incidents and overall ticket volume.
Author runbooks and knowledge articles and coach helpdesk and onsite staff so common issues are resolved at the appropriate support tier.
Coordinate escalations with managed service providers, software vendors, and other technology partners, remaining accountable for progress, communication, and closure.
Documentation and Continuous Improvement
Keep diagrams, configurations, system inventories, ownership data, dependencies, standard operating procedures, and recovery documentation current for assigned systems.
Analyze incident, request, and problem trends to identify opportunities to strengthen workflows, monitoring, support procedures, and administration tools.
Refine operational processes and tooling to increase service reliability, reduce recurring issues, and make escalations faster to diagnose and resolve.
Partner with Infrastructure, IT Support, Laboratory Operations, business teams, and vendors to implement and document operational improvements.
Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice-to-haves

Experience supporting a biotechnology, pharmaceutical or life sciences environment.
Experience with technologies such as Meraki, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and enterprise SaaS or identity integrations.
Relevant certifications in Microsoft 365 cloud administration, Okta, Jamf, Intune, Meraki, or ITIL.

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Keywords to mirror

aws

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