Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Technical Engineer

🎯 Role Definition

The Technical Engineer is a cornerstone of our technology team, serving as a vital link between our infrastructure and our operational success. This role is not just about fixing problems; it's about proactively building, maintaining, and enhancing the complex systems that power our organization. The ideal individual is a hands-on problem-solver with a deep curiosity for how things work and a passion for creating robust, scalable, and secure technical environments. You will be responsible for the full lifecycle of our IT infrastructure, from initial design and deployment to ongoing maintenance, optimization, and advanced troubleshooting. This position requires a blend of deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, and a collaborative spirit to ensure our technology ecosystem is resilient, efficient, and aligned with our business goals.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

IT Support Specialist (Level 2/3)
Junior Systems Administrator
Field Service Technician
Network Technician

Advancement To:

Senior Technical Engineer / Lead Technical Engineer
Solutions Architect
IT Infrastructure Manager
DevOps Engineer

Lateral Moves:

Systems Administrator
Network Engineer
Cybersecurity Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, install, configure, and diligently maintain operating systems, enterprise application software, and system management tools to ensure optimal performance.
Act as a key escalation point, providing advanced (Level 2/3) technical support by diagnosing and resolving complex hardware, software, and network connectivity issues.
Proactively manage and monitor all installed systems and infrastructure, ensuring the highest levels of availability, performance, and security across the board.
Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation for system configurations, operational procedures, troubleshooting guides, and infrastructure architecture.
Lead and participate in the design, implementation, and management of new systems, services, and infrastructure projects, ensuring they meet business requirements.
Perform regular security monitoring and analysis to identify potential vulnerabilities, threats, and breaches, and implement remediation strategies.
Automate repetitive administrative tasks and streamline operational processes by developing and maintaining scripts using languages like PowerShell, Bash, or Python.
Manage and troubleshoot the network infrastructure, including firewalls, routers, switches, and VPNs, to ensure reliable and secure connectivity.
Implement, manage, and test backup and disaster recovery plans and solutions to guarantee business continuity and data integrity.
Conduct root cause analysis (RCA) for major incidents and system outages, documenting findings and implementing preventative measures to avoid recurrence.
Manage virtualization environments (such as VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V), including VM creation, resource allocation, and performance tuning.
Evaluate emerging technologies, hardware, and software; providing well-researched recommendations to leadership for strategic improvements.
Liaise effectively with vendors and third-party support partners to resolve technical problems and manage service-level agreements (SLAs).
Create, manage, and audit user accounts, permissions, and access rights in accordance with security policies and compliance requirements.
Perform regular system and performance tuning, ensuring the entire technology stack is optimized for speed, efficiency, and scalability.
Plan, test, and deploy system patches, security updates, and software upgrades across the IT environment while minimizing disruption to users.
Provide technical mentorship, training, and guidance to junior team members and help-desk personnel to foster skill development within the team.
Respond to, prioritize, and resolve system alerts from monitoring tools, taking ownership of issues from initial alert to final resolution.
Ensure all technical infrastructure and processes are in strict compliance with internal IT policies, security standards, and relevant industry regulations.
Participate in an on-call rotation schedule to provide after-hours support for critical system emergencies and incidents.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to assist business intelligence efforts.
Contribute to the organization's long-term data and technology strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with various business units to translate their data and operational needs into tangible engineering requirements.
Participate actively in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and other agile ceremonies within the engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep expertise in administering and troubleshooting server operating systems, including Windows Server and various Linux distributions (e.g., RHEL, Ubuntu).
Strong scripting and automation proficiency using PowerShell, Bash, and/or Python to streamline system administration and operational tasks.
Hands-on experience with virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or other hypervisors.
Solid understanding of core networking principles and protocols, including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, and VPN technologies.
Proven experience working with cloud computing platforms, primarily AWS (EC2, S3, VPC) and/or Azure (VMs, Azure AD, Storage).
Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Terraform.
Knowledge of monitoring and logging systems (e.g., Nagios, Zabbix, Splunk, ELK Stack) for proactive issue detection and analysis.
Experience managing and securing common enterprise services such as Active Directory, Group Policy, and Office 365.

Soft Skills

A natural-born problem-solver with exceptional analytical and critical thinking capabilities to deconstruct complex technical challenges.
Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to clearly explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
A high degree of self-motivation and the ability to work independently with minimal supervision while managing multiple priorities.
Strong sense of ownership and accountability, with a relentless drive to see issues through to their resolution.
A collaborative, team-oriented mindset with a proven ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams and mentor junior colleagues.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in a relevant technical field or equivalent demonstrated practical experience in the industry.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in a related field or possession of current, relevant industry certifications (e.g., CompTIA Network+/Security+, CCNA, MCSA, RHCE, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Information Technology
Computer Engineering
Management Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3-5 years of progressive experience in a technical role such as Systems Administration, Network Engineering, or advanced Technical Support.

Preferred:

5+ years of experience in an enterprise-level IT environment, with a proven track record of successfully leading and delivering complex technical projects from start to finish.