Senior Systems Engineer

Job Description

Position Purpose:

UW Information Technology (UWIT) is the central information technology organization for the University of Washington, responsible for strategic planning, oversight, and direction of the UW’s IT infrastructure, resources, and services. UWIT provides critical technology support to all three campuses, UW medical centers, and research operations around the world. UWIT partners with the UW community to enable innovation, learning, discovery, and service.

IT Infrastructure provides knowledgeable system design and administration, software engineering, and operational support for academic systems, administrative systems, and research computing.  The Computing and Storage team designs, implements, and operates enterprise-level virtual and physical servers, as well as data storage services (storage area networks, network-attached storage, backups, and archiving).

The position is responsible for delivering ongoing operational support for Azure resources and managed server environments, ensuring reliability and performance for customers while building “you get me” relationships.

The position participates directly on migration project teams as part of the University’s Azure Migration Program (AMP), ensuring that newly migrated workloads meet operational, security, monitoring, and governance standards prior to handoff into steady-state operations. As more customers transition their workloads to Azure, this position provides proactive expert lifecycle support to ensure reliable, secure, and scalable managed and cloud services for customers across the University.

An invested, compassionate, team-oriented IT professional, this position directly supports the research, teaching, and administrative missions of the University to ensure trusted solutions are delivered.

Position Complexities:

Oversees complex and innovative engineering efforts, ensuring technical quality and consistency across solutions. Member of the Cloud Center of Excellence, contributing to inform cloud architecture decisions, providing technical expertise, and helping drive adoption of best practices across engineering and external application teams.

• Manage and optimize Azure IaaS, PaaS, and hybrid workloads.

• Support active migration project efforts, assisting in requirements gathering, readiness validation, operational configuration, and post-migration stabilization.

• Establish and maintain governance, monitoring, cost-management, and compliance baselines.

• Support customers with differing cloud maturity levels, many of whom rely on UW-IT to fully operate their cloud-hosted systems.

• Apply automation-first approaches (PowerShell, Terraform, Azure Automation) to manage operations at scale.

• Collaborate with technical and non-technical staff and work effectively across distributed teams.

Position Dimensions and Impact to the University:

This position manages, builds new, and sustains critical cloud infrastructure supporting administrative, research, clinical, and academic functions across the University. The work performed directly affects the reliability, security, and performance of University services. As the cloud footprint grows, this position plays a critical role in ensuring:

• High availability and resilience for Azure-hosted workloads.

• Secure and compliant configurations aligned with enterprise standards.

• Smooth transitions from on-premises systems into Azure through coordinated migration support.

• Scalable, cost-effective, and predictable managed-service operations for customers across the institution.

• Proactively makes technical decisions on design, implementation, performance, and reliability.

Position Responsibilities:

Cloud/Systems Engineer (70%)

• Design, configure, and manage Azure virtual machines, storage, networking, identity integrations, and monitoring configurations.

• Support active Azure migration project work, including workload validation, operational readiness, post-migration stabilization, and documentation of new environments.

• Implement and maintain automation pipelines for configuration management, patching, compliance, backup, and deployments.

• Manage and optimize cloud-native data platforms, including Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance.

• Troubleshoot complex cloud infrastructure issues and ensure resilient operations.

• Maintain DR and business continuity readiness for managed workloads.

• Provide lifecycle operational support for customers relying on UW-IT’s managed cloud server services.

• Proactively monitors and optimizes the performance and cost of the Managed Azure environment; conducts regular ‘well-architected’ reviews to ensure workloads are right-sized and leveraging the most cost-effective Azure services.

• Participate in on-call rotations and provide after-hours support as required.

• Communicate openly and effectively with all project teams, partners, and stakeholders.

Technical Leadership (20%)

• Anticipates technical debt and advocates for long-term fixes that benefit the unit’s productivity.

• Mentors junior staff, offers technical support where needed to build team cohesion and trust.

• Advocates for accessible, business value-driven, and innovative design in all technical solutions that promotes standardization and consolidation.

• Navigates technical disagreements with respect. Facilitates collaboration between different sub-teams.

Service Team Member (10%)

• Leads complex operational tasks and provides expert-level support.

• Acts as a technical escalation point where applicable.

• Contribute to documentation, continuous improvement, and service optimization efforts.

Position Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field or equivalent experience

Requirements:

• Five years of experience as an engineer supporting enterprise IT infrastructure, including cloud-based systems.

• Expertise in Microsoft Azure, including VM management, networking, storage, indentity, and governance.

• Strong understanding of automation tools and infrastructure as code (PowerShell, Terraform).

Desired Qualification:

• Hands-on experience migrating, configuring, and tuning Azure SQL Database or Managed Instances.

• Familiarity with FinOps principles including the ability to utilize Azure Cost Management to drive right-sizing and reserved instance (RI) strategies.

Working Environmental Conditions:

• Hybrid role, 2 days on-site per week.

• Standard business hours with participation in an on-call rotation is required; must be responsive during off-hours for critical incidents. 

Other comments

A satisfactory outcome from a criminal history verification may be required prior to hire.

Compensation, Benefits and Position Details

Pay Range Minimum:

$110,328.00 annual

Pay Range Maximum:

$156,000.00 annual

Other Compensation:

-

Benefits:

For information about benefits for this position, visit https://www.washington.edu/jobs/benefits-for-uw-staff/

Shift:

First Shift (United States of America)

Temporary or Regular?

This is a regular position

FTE (Full-Time Equivalent):

100.00%

Union/Bargaining Unit:

Not Applicable

About the UW 

Working at the University of Washington provides a unique opportunity to change lives – on our campuses, in our state and around the world.  

UW employees bring their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to building stronger minds and a healthier world. In return, they enjoy outstanding benefits, opportunities for professional growth and the chance to work in an environment known for its diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. 

Our Commitment 

The University of Washington is committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful and welcoming community for all. As an equal opportunity employer, the University considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability, or veteran status consistent with UW Executive Order No. 81.

To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu. 

Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law.