Senior Systems Engineer Team Lead (Remote Opportunity)

VetsEZ is seeking a Team Lead / Senior Systems Engineer to support enterprise healthcare IT operations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This role leads the systems engineering and administration team while providing senior, hands-on engineering of Windows-based environments supporting mission-critical applications and data platforms. The ideal candidate has deep experience designing and managing physical and virtual server infrastructure, system hardening, enterprise backups, and secure configuration of Windows infrastructure within federal or healthcare environments, along with experience leading technical teams. This position requires U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance. Responsibilities:

• Lead a team of system administrators and engineers, assigning work, setting priorities, and tracking progress against program deliverables, maintenance windows, and schedules.

• Serve as the team's primary technical point of contact with program leadership, application developers, database engineers, cybersecurity personnel, and VA stakeholders.

• Design, engineer, and maintain Windows Server infrastructure (2016, 2019, and newer) across development, staging, and production environments, including capacity planning and lifecycle upgrades.

• Architect and oversee enterprise services including Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, SMB, RDP, and Group Policy Objects (GPOs), and establish configuration standards for the team.

• Design and maintain high-availability solutions including server clusters, SAN-attached volumes, multipath I/O (MPIO), and NIC teaming with Mellanox NICs and switch integrations.

• Oversee virtual (Hyper-V) and physical platforms, including HP ProLiant DL Series servers and blades, firmware updates, and diagnostics.

• Lead implementation of VA/DoD Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), vulnerability remediation, and secure configuration of remote access tools including sFTP and RDP.

• Own the enterprise backup strategy using Commvault, including scheduling, validation, and restoration testing.

• Direct system monitoring with SCOM, SolarWinds, or equivalent tools, and serve as the senior escalation point for complex incidents and root cause analysis.

• Plan and coordinate deployment of enterprise software tools including Visual Studio, Power BI, ER/Studio, Jupyter Lab, SQL Server, and others.

• Lead change management for system changes, including technical review of team changes, risk assessment, and rollback planning.

• Establish PowerShell automation standards and review scripts produced by the team, and guide the team's responsible use of AI-assisted tools.

• Ensure technical documentation, configuration guides, and system topology diagrams are complete and current for operational and audit readiness.

• Mentor and develop team members, support onboarding and training, and provide input on team performance and staffing needs. Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, electronics engineering, or another engineering or technical discipline. Eight (8) years of additional relevant experience may be substituted for the degree.

• •5+ years of experience.

• Experience administering and engineering Windows Server environments in large-scale or enterprise settings.

• Experience leading or serving as technical lead for systems administration or infrastructure engineering teams, including assigning work and reviewing team output.

• Experience designing and engineering enterprise Windows infrastructure, including high-availability, clustering, and SAN-attached storage solutions.

• Hands-on experience with Active Directory, GPOs, Windows clustering, sFTP configuration, and SAN-attached storage.

• Proficiency in patch management, system hardening, and compliance with federal security standards.

• Experience with virtualization platforms such as Microsoft Hyper-V and tools such as Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).

• Familiarity with enterprise backup and monitoring tools such as Commvault, SolarWinds, or SCOM.

• Strong troubleshooting, documentation, and scripting skills (e.g., PowerShell), with the ability to review and set standards for scripts written by others.

• Strong leadership and communication skills, with the ability to present technical recommendations to technical teams, non-technical stakeholders, and program leadership.

• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance. Additional Qualifications:

• Experience supporting VA environments or other federal healthcare systems.

• Knowledge of Windows-based integration with Azure-hosted services.

• Familiarity with Nessus scans and remediation tracking for ATO readiness.

• Exposure to container-based platforms or hybrid cloud infrastructure.

• Microsoft, CompTIA, or ITIL certifications (e.g., MCSA, Security+, ITIL v4).

• Experience with ITIL-based change, incident, and problem management in enterprise environments.

• Experience using AI-assisted tools (for example, GitHub Copilot) to write and maintain PowerShell scripts for server automation, patching, and Active Directory administration, including reviewing and testing AI-generated scripts in non-production environments before use.

• Experience establishing team practices for AI-assisted administration and engineering, including review and testing standards and guidance on when AI-generated scripts and configurations can be used in production.

• Experience using AI tools to accelerate STIG and Nessus vulnerability remediation, such as interpreting findings and drafting remediation steps and scripts, with results validated against STIG requirements before they are applied.

• Experience using AI-driven monitoring and AIOps capabilities in SCOM, SolarWinds, or similar tools to detect anomalies, anticipate capacity issues, and speed root cause analysis.

• Experience using AI tools to analyze Windows event logs, error messages, and system data during troubleshooting, with the engineer confirming findings before acting on them.

• Experience using AI tools to draft and maintain technical documentation, including configuration guides, runbooks, system topology documentation, and audit artifacts.

• Familiarity with secure and responsible AI use in federal environments, including using only agency-approved AI tools, never entering server configurations, credentials, or PHI/PII into unapproved tools, and following VA and federal AI guidance. Benefits:

• Medical/Dental/Vision

• 401k with Matching

• Corporate Laptop

• PTO + Federal Holidays

• Training opportunities

• Remote opportunity Note: Selected candidates will be required to complete fingerprinting at a government facility and undergo a background check as part of the hiring process. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status. Sorry, we are unable to offer sponsorship at this time.