Systems Administrator

This position serves as the senior technical resource for the design, operation, security, and lifecycle management of the University's on-premises and cloud infrastructure, supporting approximately 9,000 students, faculty, and staff in a hybrid Microsoft environment. The role carries ownership of assigned systems — accountability for their reliability, security, and documentation, not task execution alone — and balances project delivery with day-to-day operations. This position has no direct reports and no supervisory authority; it serves as a senior technical resource for the team, the escalation point for complex infrastructure issues, and the technical lead on assigned projects. The position is expected to exercise independent judgment on production systems within established change management practices.

This position is filled on the basis of demonstrated ownership, judgment, and capacity to learn. Platform depth can be developed; the ability to take responsibility for production systems cannot. Candidates who meet the requirements below but are still building depth in specific platforms are encouraged to apply.

• Production systems ownership — A record of owning business-critical systems end to end in an enterprise environment, including accountability for availability, security, and documentation.
• Ownership and follow-through — Consistent delivery on commitments without prompting, and a record of driving issues to resolution rather than escalating and waiting.
• Operational discipline — Experience working within change management, documentation, and IT service management practices in production.
• Technical judgment — Sound assessment of risk in production, including knowing when to act, when to escalate, and when to slow down.
• Automation mindset — A habit of automating repetitive operational work, with proficiency in PowerShell or a comparable language.
• Communication — Clear written and verbal communication, including reporting and documentation for technical peers and non-technical leadership.
• Capacity to learn — Evidence of independently acquiring significant new technical capability, and willingness to do so again in this role.

These are core to the role. Candidates who bring them at hire are preferred; those who do not will be expected to reach working proficiency within twelve months, supported by a structured development plan, training, and mentoring.

• Hyper-V failover clustering and enterprise iSCSI/SAN storage
• Microsoft Azure IaaS: virtual machines, virtual networking, network security groups, and role-based access
• Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID hybrid identity, including directory sync and conditional
• Enterprise backup and disaster recovery ownership, including restore
• Microsoft 365 administration: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, and
• Microsoft SQL Server administration and support of business-critical web
• Endpoint management via Microsoft Intune and Apple School
• Microsoft certifications such as AZ-104 or AZ-305; ITIL
• Infrastructure-as-Code, particularly Bicep; Veeam or a comparable backup
• Freshservice or a comparable ITSM platform; higher education IT

• Own the health, reliability, and performance of assigned infrastructure: Hyper-V clusters, iSCSI storage, servers, virtual networks, databases, and web applications.
• Design, build, and maintain infrastructure in alignment with University standards and enterprise best
• Maintain timely deployment of system and software patches, and monitor uptime, capacity, and performance to resolve issues before they affect users.
• Maintain current documentation for all assigned systems, including architecture diagrams, configuration baselines, and operational runbooks.

• Maintain a strong security posture across all assigned systems, data, and services, applying least-privilege and current hardening standards.
• Maintain backup systems for all assigned servers and services; regularly test restoration and verify that recovery functions perform as expected.
• Contribute to disaster recovery planning and participate in recovery

• Develop and maintain automation — primarily PowerShell and the Microsoft Graph API — to eliminate manual, repetitive operational work.
• Apply Infrastructure-as-Code principles for consistent, repeatable deployments, and document automation so it remains maintainable by the team.

• Lead the technical execution of infrastructure projects from design through implementation and handoff, providing accurate scoping, estimates, and status reporting.
• Serve as senior escalation for complex infrastructure incidents and requests tracked in Freshservice, meeting established response expectations.
• Balance project commitments with day-to-day operational responsibilities, ensuring neither is
• Follow change management procedures for all system changes, including documented plans, testing, and
• Provide after-hours and weekend support for scheduled maintenance windows and critical
• Contribute to strategic planning, standards development, technology evaluation, and budget

• Serve as a senior technical resource for the team, and as the primary technical point of contact for infrastructure matters in the Director's absence.
• Support the technical growth of team members and student workers through knowledge sharing, documented procedures, and cross-training, actively reducing single points of knowledge.
• Meet agreed technical development milestones for any platform areas identified at hire, reviewed on a defined schedule with the Director.
• Take initiative: identify problems and improvements independently and move them forward without Support teammates during high-volume periods, outages, and project pushes, regardless of assignment.
• Deliver on commitments consistently, exercise sound judgment in a production environment, and model professionalism and accountability consistent with the mission and values of Dallas Baptist University.

• Provide regular operational reporting on assigned systems: availability, patch status, backup and restore verification, capacity, and open risks.
• Communicate planned changes, downtime, and service disruptions clearly and in advance, adjusting the message to the audience.

• Performs related duties as assigned.

This is a full-time position with regular office hours between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. This position requires flexibility to provide occasional after-hours and weekend support for scheduled maintenance and critical outages.

This position will work on the main campus, located at 3000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, TX 75211.

• Must be a Christian and a member of a church that holds to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, believing in the New and Old Testaments of the Holy Bible.
• Knowledge and competency commonly associated with a bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Minimum of 2-3 years of enterprise IT infrastructure experience across on-premises and cloud environments.