IT Support Senior Technician

The Senior IT Support Technician has  an expert level of technical knowledge and experience in one or more IT-related areas.  This position's scope of responsibility includes providing technical support and assistance to departments, faculty, staff, and students with the use of hardware and some software support and maintenance. The Senior IT Support Technician will also specialize in hardware and software that support institutional strategic initiatives, and manage area or unit IT projects that impact multiple departments or units.In this position you will provide advanced technical support and systems management for the Whitacre College of Engineering. This position plays a vital role in supporting the college's academic, research, and administrative missions by ensuring reliable, secure, and efficient technology operations. The successful candidate will serve as a lead technical resource, collaborating with faculty, staff, researchers, and students to maintain high standards of performance, innovation, and customer service across a complex computing environment.

• Provide advanced hardware and software support for faculty, researchers, staff, and students. This includes diagnosing/troubleshooting, maintaining, repairing and resolving complex issues with desktops, laptops, printers, audio/visual equipment, active directory/group policies, mobile devices, and servers running a variety of operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux).
• Identify, manage, troubleshoot and fix network issues within the various environments, including wired and wireless connections, and address file-sharing and access control problems.
• Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot networks, including VLANs, firewalls, VPNs, and wireless access.
• Implement and monitor cybersecurity protocols in accordance with university and federal research standards and funding-agency requirements (e.g., HIPAA, FERPA, NIST).
• Act as a liaison between the College of Engineering and Central University IT departments (e.g., networking, security, data center, HPCC) to resolve complex issues and implement new solutions.
• Lead or support IT-related projects (e.g., lab expansions, system upgrades, migrations).
• Coordinate with central IT, vendors, and external collaborators.
• Conduct regular audits and vulnerability assessments.
• Monitor and mitigate potential security risks, including data breaches, malware, or unauthorized access.
• Provide technical consultation on new equipment, software needs and IT purchases.
• Coordinate with central university IT, HPC, and networking teams for large-scale projects or infrastructure upgrades.
• Ensure system uptime, reliability, and performance through proactive monitoring and maintenance.
• Manage backups, disaster recovery plans, and system updates.
• Monitor performance and up time of critical systems.
• Assist faculty, researchers, staff and students with high-performance computing (HPC) clusters, cloud computing resources, and data storage solutions tailored to their research needs.
• Manage user accounts, permissions, and data access controls in accordance with university IT policies.
• Manage access controls, encryption, and secure data storage for sensitive research data.
• Manage and maintain a detailed inventory of all IT equipment, including workstations, mobile devices and specialized peripherals, from procurement and deployment to decommissioning.
• Track and report on support metrics, system performance, and incident resolution.
• Recommend improvements to enhance reliability, efficiency, and user experience.
• Utilize asset management tools for software and hardware maintenance and support.
• Develop clear, concise technical documentation and knowledge base articles for users and other IT staff to facilitate problem-solving and knowledge transfer.
• Advanced technical skillsets kept current by reviewing market trends and product development.
• Adhere to all appropriate Institutional policies (including IT Ops) and other relevant internal departmental policies.

Bachelor's degree with coursework in computer science, MIS, IT, or other related area plus seven years related full-time paid experience OR a combination of related education and/or experience. Applicants for this Security Sensitive Level II position will be subject to a criminal background check and must pass a drug and alcohol test after a conditional offer of employment has been extended, but before employment can be confirmed.

This position is designated as involving access to critical infrastructure systems and/or research, as defined by Texas Executive Order GA-48. As such, candidates must successfully complete a comprehensive background check prior to employment. Employees are required to comply with all applicable state and federal regulations related to the protection of critical infrastructure. Ongoing employment is dependent upon maintaining eligibility for access and successfully passing periodic security and compliance reviews.