Lead Technical Support Engineer

Prairie State College is prioritizing innovation and technological advancements. This offers a distinct opportunity for a Technical Support Engineer to make significant contributions and experience unmatched professional development. We are seeking a coachable and collaborative Lead Technical Support Engineer ready to take their career to the next level. Our client college is upgrading their infrastructure with modern SAN solutions, servers, and firewall. Bring your passion for customer service and positive attitude toward change management to help improve processes while increasing your technical acumen and troubleshooting skills. 

The Lead Technical Support Engineer plays a critical role in ensuring the operations and maintenance of the academic and administrative server and cloud infrastructure. This position reports to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and works collaboratively across the IT department to consistently deliver exceptional services to our clients. Additionally, the Lead Technical Support Engineer will manage and lead a team of two Technical Support Engineers, providing guidance, mentorship, and ensuring alignment with organizational goals. He / She will plan and coordinate the design, installation, and connectivity of server and cloud systems to ensure the stable operation of the organization's IT systems including the development, installation, configuration, maintenance, support, backup and optimization of all new and existing server hardware, software, cloud, virtual environments, and network components. 

This person will also troubleshoot server performance issues, as well as proactively analyze data capacity and provide storage planning solutions and recommendations. This position will help drive transformation across a variety of networks, servers, and platforms. The duties will adjust to match the technology portfolio and project workload. 

Requirements

• Provide leadership, mentorship, and guidance to a team of two Technical Support Engineers, fostering a collaborative and high-performing work environment.
• Set clear goals and expectations for team members, monitor their performance, and provide constructive feedback to ensure continuous improvement. 
• Ensure team adherence to best practices, policies, and procedures, driving consistency in operations and service delivery. 
• Document customer needs, problems, interventions, and interactions, informing clients as changes occur 
• Use debugging tools, simulations, and scripts to isolate and fix problems 
• Guide and assist with installations and technical training, including documentation 
• Directly troubleshoot and solve technical issues with customers 
• Responsible for collaborating with appropriate CampusWorks and client stakeholders to maintain client plans. 
• Perform server administration tasks (ex: user/group, security permissions, group policies, print services); research event-log warnings and errors; and monitor resources to ensure that systems architecture components work together seamlessly 
• Monitor data-center health using existing management tools, and respond to hardware issues as they arise; help build, test, and maintain new servers when needed 
• Maintain internal infrastructure requirements, including laptop and desktop computers, servers, routers, switches, firewalls, printers, phones, security updates, support internet, intranet, LANs, WANs, and network segments 
• Assist the help desk and other teams with troubleshooting to identify root cause, and provide technical support when needed 
• Perform routine and scheduled audits of all systems, including backups 
• Maintain essential IT infrastructure, including operating systems, security tools, applications, servers, email systems, laptops, desktops, software, and hardware 
• Take responsibility for projects and solutions within the larger business initiative 
• Handle business-critical IT tasks and systems that provide commercial advantage in the global marketplace 
• Enable faster and smarter business processes, and develop analytics for meaningful insights 
• Work with internal and external partners to communicate project status, activities, and achievements

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent work experience). 
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience as a System Administrator or similar role 
• 5-7 years of relevant experience is preferred 
• Strong knowledge and proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and Google apps. 
• Familiarity with internet security practices and protocols. 
• Experience with Azure and Google Workspace Preferred. 
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical users. 
• Strong organizational and problem-solving skills. 
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team, managing multiple tasks and priorities effectively. 
• Prior experience in coordinating meetings and facilitating group discussions is a plus. 
• Experience in budget management or financial processes is desirable. 
• Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot complex issues and present actionable solutions proactively. 
• Detail-oriented approach with a commitment to accuracy and thoroughness in all aspects of system operations and team management. 
• Skilled in managing relationships and communications at all levels of the organization, with the ability to "manage up" to senior leadership and "manage down" to support team members effectively.