Company Description
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) manages the flow of electricity across the high-voltage, long-distance power lines that make up 80 percent of California’s power grid. We safeguard the economy and well-being of 30 million Californians by operating the grid reliably 24/7.
As the impartial grid operator, the California ISO opens access to the wholesale power market that is designed to diversify resources and lower prices. It also grants equal access to 25,865 circuit-miles of power lines and reduces barriers to diverse resources competing to bring power to customers.
The California ISO’s function is often compared to that of air traffic controllers. It would be grossly unfair for air traffic controllers to represent one airline and profit from allowing that company’s planes to go through before others. In the same way, the California ISO operates independently—managing the electron traffic on a power grid we do not own—making sure electricity is safely delivered to utilities and consumers on time and reliably.
The California ISO is committed to the health, safety, and work/life integration of its employees and is proud to offer flexible work arrangements. This position would be eligible to participate in a flexible hybrid schedule.
Relocation assistance is available.
Primary Purpose
Job Description
Under the general direction of the Manager, provides strategic input and resolves highly complex technical issues across multiple environments and redundant sites. Provides support for various application systems equipment, Windows and Virtual Servers, software installation and configuration. Monitors, maintains and upgrades servers and other supported systems to ensure the highest level of availability. Collects and distributes data for capacity planning and performance management review. Provides system testing and may oversee test lab configuration and participates in vendor management tasks.
Primary Duties And Responsibilities
- Develops and manages enterprise Microsoft technology roadmaps to create a stable and predictable investment. Ensures environments are current and supported to eliminate single points of failure. Defines schedules and oversees the execution of upgrades and proof of concepts. Provides leadership and input on technical strategies and architecture to improve the stability and reliability of systems across the organization and develops plans to resolve problems and prevent future incidents from occurring. Partners with various teams to identify and provide appropriate technical solutions to business needs and business case recommendations.
- Develops, customizes, integrates, installs, configures and administers ESX/Windows servers, databases and infrastructure supporting systems to ensure highest level of availability, performance and security for specific project initiatives. In response to incidents, exercising their independent judgement to create an effective solution, workaround, and strategies to quickly resolve the issue to minimize the impact to the reliability to the power grid and market. With minimum supervision, participates in technical teams, acting on own authority, establishing the working groups, to establish the short and long term solutions and plans, to prevent impacts to services, needed to run power grid reliability.
- Collaborates with various business units, project teams, and Architecture team to develop strategies and support requirements, provides technical support to ensure applications meet specified business needs during implementation, to meet the requirements of new functionality which is vital to the success and growth of the organization. Represents the department in various internal business meetings and related public forums as required, and proposes solutions to issues outside of assigned areas of responsibility. Collaborates with team members to analyze and resolve complex technical issues related to integrated hardware, servers, software and other supported systems issues in a time sensitive environment. Proactively identify issues, create workable solutions and provide recommendation to management.
- Collects and distributes data for supported systems capacity planning and performance management. Proactively identify issues, create workable solutions and provide recommendation to management, Uses data replication and other appropriate systems to ensure data integrity and to provide for superior uptime and accurate data collection. Provides daily maintenance and technical support to project teams on the development of application systems and coordinates and deploys approved production-ready applications into multiple environments. Participates and provides Windows administrative support, develop strategies and architecture artifacts to project teams for server/software installation and configuration, for both purchased and internally developed, during various phases of implementation or testing, to meet the requirements of new functionality which is vital to the success and growth of the organization. Coordinates associated vendor activities and ensures compliance with contracts and with ISO standards. Participates in creating and maintaining documentation, standards and procedures related to the operations and maintenance of supported systems and applications, coaches and mentors team members to develop/enhance their skill, growing their abilities. Coordinates with other team members to analyze and resolve complex technical issues related to systems development and integration.
- Attends business meetings, and collaborates with ISO colleagues to develop “best practices” policies and procedures, and to identify and resolve issues to help create a flexible and efficient organization.
- May perform related duties and activities as assigned.
- Adheres to and supports the Core Values of the ISO.
- Adheres to and supports the safety policies and programs of the ISO. Accountable for implementing the policies and procedures of the ISO Safety Program.
- Takes part in the team’s on-call rotation.
Qualifications
Level of Education and Discipline:
A Bachelor’s degree (BA, BS) or equivalent education, training or experience in Computer Science, Information Technology, Management of Information Systems, Engineering or related technical field. Advanced degree preferred.
Amount Of Experience
Equivalent years of education and training, plus five (5) or more years related experience.
Certifications
- VMWare Certification preferred.
- Windows Certification preferred.
Type Of Experience
Experience working in a corporate information technology ESX/Windows engineering and administration environment. IT ESX/Windows development, security and administration required. Proven ability to troubleshoot errors and determine their sources (OS, hardware, software, etc). Experience with Exchange, SCCM, SCOM, ESX/Windows Operating System Server, Virtualized systems, LDAP, Networking, Enterprise Backup and hardware – HP/Dell. Client server computer systems operations, functionality, backup & recovery to include coordination of disaster recovery preparedness planning required. Experience in common build tools and integration tools. Experience in LAN protocols, Storage implementation and Security.
Additional Skills And Abilities
- Demonstrates fundamental leadership skills with the ability to work effectively in a team environment as a leader, facilitator and team member. Ability to provide practical and feasible solutions to problems, keeping multiple conflicting considerations into account. Excellent interpersonal, communication, and writing skills required. Excellent analytical skills are required, including the ability to effectively communicate complex technical materials and concepts in a non-technical manner. Must be able to handle a dynamic and changing work environment, and work independently. Strong computer skills in Microsoft Office Suite. Self-motivated, problem solving skills and the ability to influence others without direct authority.
- Proven ability performing in a highly advanced and complex environment, making strategic recommendation on the evolution of new technology with a 1, 3 and 5-year time horizon. Proven track record on implementing relevant commonly-used concepts, best practices, security and procedures. Requires extensive knowledge of Operating System Server, Virtualized systems, Storage and Networking, in ESX and Windows. Advanced familiarity with client server computer systems operations, functionality, backup & recovery to include coordination of disaster recovery preparedness planning. Working knowledge of LAN protocols including DHCP, DNS, and WINS. Proven track record on implementing relevant commonly-used concepts, best practices, security and procedures. Able to develop and present training to staff on emerging technologies. Able to apply broad and comprehensive knowledge of principles, practices and procedures. Must be able to effectively document and convey technical information to non-technical audiences. Sound knowledge of computing concepts, hardware, software, networking, storage and related systems. ESX or Windows systems administration.
Additional Information
The pay range for this position is $49.98 – $83.29 / hour.
- We will also consider applicants for a Lead Windows Administrator position. This position requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Management of Information Systems, Engineering or related technical field. Master’s degree preferred.**