Senior Systems Administrator

Description

GGlassHouse Systems (GHS) is an enterprise systems and managed services solutions provider that develops, designs and deploys solutions for leading enterprises in Canada and the US. For almost 32 years, GHS has delivered an enterprise level of service and support to clients. Recognized with industry-leading awards each year, GHS translates this differentiation into positive client experiences.

We are looking for a Senior Systems Administrator to provide hands-on infrastructure administration and technical leadership across GlassHouse Systems' internal IT environment and Managed Services clients. This role will serve as the primary technical escalation point for infrastructure questions, complex incidents, and day-to-day technical decisions, escalating to the IT Manager where business, risk, budget, or governance decisions are required. The successful candidate will mentor team members, improve technical standards, and support enterprise infrastructure across on-premises, Microsoft 365, Azure, and other cloud platforms.

This hybrid position requires commuting to the Toronto office three days a week.

Responsibilities

Infrastructure Operations

· Design, deploy, and maintain IT infrastructure, including physical and virtual servers, operating systems, storage platforms, and supporting services for internal IT and Managed Services clients.

· Ensure infrastructure availability, reliability, security, and performance through proactive monitoring, maintenance, and capacity management.

· Plan and execute operating system upgrades, security patches, maintenance releases, and infrastructure lifecycle activities using enterprise management tools.

· Implement, test, and maintain backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions to meet recovery objectives and compliance requirements.

· Support data centre and server room operations, including hardware deployments, equipment lifecycle management, and infrastructure support activities.

· Maintain accurate infrastructure documentation, including architecture diagrams, configuration standards, operational procedures, and technical runbooks.

· Maintain and audit software, hardware, and infrastructure asset inventories within the IT Asset Management platform.

Incident & Service Delivery

· Respond to and resolve infrastructure incidents, service requests, and operational issues in accordance with applicable service-level agreements.

· Act as the primary technical escalation point for Service Desk, L2 Support, SysAdmin, and Linux SysAdmin resources for complex infrastructure issues and technical decision-making.

· Lead root cause analysis activities for major incidents and recurring technical issues, ensuring corrective actions are implemented and tracked to completion.

· Coordinate complex technical escalations with vendors, clients, cloud providers, and internal specialist teams.

· Participate in the scheduled on-call rotation and provide after-hours support when required.

Technical Leadership

· Provide technical leadership, mentorship, coaching, and knowledge transfer to infrastructure team members while promoting operational excellence and technical growth.

· Establish and maintain infrastructure standards, operational procedures, technical governance, and best practices across internal and client environments.

· Drive automation, standardization, continuous improvement, and operational maturity initiatives to improve service quality and efficiency.

· Resolve technical decisions within delegated authority and escalate matters involving business risk, budget impact, contractual commitments, or governance requirements to management.

Platforms & Technology Ownership

· Administer and support Active Directory, Entra ID, Microsoft 365, Group Policy, and related identity and access management services.

· Support hybrid infrastructure across on-premises environments, Azure, Microsoft 365, IBM Cloud, and GCP, collaborating with the Professional Cloud team on advanced cloud engineering initiatives.

· Support Managed Services client infrastructure environments, including Windows Server, VMware, Hyper-V, Veeam, storage, backup, and related x86 platforms.

· Participate in vulnerability remediation, security hardening, compliance initiatives, change management, and operational risk management activities.

Strategic & Project Work

· Lead infrastructure projects through planning, implementation, validation, documentation, and transition to operations.

· Evaluate infrastructure technologies, architecture designs, and operational processes, and recommend improvements to enhance scalability, resiliency, security, and supportability.

Requirements

· University degree or diploma in Computer Science, Information Technology, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and relevant experience.

· 8+ years of progressive infrastructure administration experience within enterprise IT and/or Managed Services environments, including support for multiple client infrastructures.

· Strong administration experience across enterprise Windows Server and Linux environments, including physical, virtual, and hybrid cloud infrastructure.

· In-depth experience with server patching, compliance, and lifecycle management using WSUS, SCCM/MECM, BigFix, or equivalent enterprise management platforms.

· Strong VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, backup, and disaster recovery experience, including clustered, highly available, and recovery-enabled environments.

· Strong knowledge of SAN/NAS storage, Fibre Channel concepts, and core networking technologies including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VPN, FTP, and SFTP.

· Advanced experience with Active Directory, Entra ID, Group Policy, authentication, identity lifecycle management, and hybrid identity services.

· Hands-on experience supporting Azure and Microsoft 365 environments, with the ability to provide L2 operational support for GCP and IBM Cloud environments.

· Experience configuring, maintaining, and improving enterprise monitoring and alerting platforms such as ManageEngine, Checkmk, or similar solutions.

· Ability to lead complex technical escalations, major incident resolution, root cause analysis, and corrective actions across infrastructure and performance-related issues.

· Demonstrated experience leading infrastructure projects, technical implementations, migrations, operational handovers, and transition-to-support activities.

· Ability to review infrastructure designs, assess risk, plan capacity, and recommend improvements for scalability, resiliency, security, and operational efficiency.

· Experience coordinating service delivery and technical escalations with vendors, clients, cloud providers, and internal stakeholders.

· Experience mentoring technical resources and providing technical leadership across Service Desk, L2 Support, SysAdmin, and Linux SysAdmin teams.

· Strong understanding of security hardening, vulnerability remediation, compliance requirements, change management, and operational risk management.

· Experience working with ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow, with strong technical documentation skills including diagrams, runbooks, standards, procedures, and knowledge articles.

· Ability to participate in on-call rotation and occasionally travel to client sites and data centers within the Greater Toronto Area.

Nice to Have

· VMware Certified Professional (VCP).

· Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate.

· Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate.

· Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate or equivalent Microsoft infrastructure certification.

· Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE) or equivalent backup-platform certification.

· Advanced Linux administration experience in enterprise or managed services environment.

· Experience with IBM Cloud, Rubrik, Zerto, IBM Spectrum Protect/TSM, Fibre Channel switches, or VTL.

· PowerShell scripting; working knowledge of Python, Ansible, or Infrastructure-as-Code tools.

· Experience with enterprise networking technologies, including LAN/WAN, TCP/IP, routing, switching, VPNs, firewalls, and network troubleshooting

Personal attributes

· Technical leadership and sound, risk-aware decision making under pressure.

· Strong ownership, accountability, reliability, and attention to detail.

· Ability to influence technical direction without direct authority.

· Proven mentoring, coaching, collaboration, and knowledge-transfer skills.

· Clear written and verbal communication with technical teams, management, vendors, clients, and non-technical stakeholders.

· Calm, structured incident response and strong analytical troubleshooting.

· Ability to balance operational priorities, client commitments, technical debt, and long-term infrastructure improvements.

· Strong planning, prioritization, documentation, and change-control discipline.

· Commitment to continuous improvement and service quality.

Disclaimer

The rate for this position is $90K-110K. The rate is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

What you'll get:

Competitive salary

Health benefits (medical, vision, dental)

Life insurance

Pension plan

Professional development

Amazing company culture

Free parking

Gym on-site

Join a team of professionals led by a diverse set of leaders from across the industry.

GlassHouse Systems commitment:

We believe that a diverse team is the key to innovation and growth. We are an equal opportunity employer that values diversity at our company and encourages all candidates to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

GlassHouse Systems will accommodate individuals with disabilities through each stage of the recruitment process. Please advise us of any needs when your interview is booked and we will do our best to meet your needs.

Please note that all candidates have to be legally eligible to work in Canada.

Any offer of employment will be conditional upon a criminal record check.

GlassHouse Systems thanks all candidates for their interest, however only those selected to continue in the process will be contacted.