Principal Systems Engineer (IT Operations)

Job Description:

Principal Systems Engineer (IT Operations)

Description

THE POSITION

Please Note: a candidate may be required to successfully pass a thorough background investigation, including a criminal history check for job-related convictions, fingerprinting, polygraph test, and a drug use history to be considered for this position .

With supervisor approval, incumbents may be eligible for intermittent remote work; however, they must physically reside within the Sacramento region or have the ability to regularly report to a City of Sacramento physical worksite with little notice.

This position is under the Information Technology (IT) Department, which serves as the technical expert and lead network engineer overseeing complex projects and assigning work to senior engineers and systems engineers in the group. This highly technical lead position requires highly specialized skills in the designing, configuring, and maintaining the City's network. The position operates with extensive discretion and oversight of Citywide network routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, and wireless systems. This position provides leadership, training, mentoring, and assigning work and direction to lower-level staff.

IDEAL CANDIDATE STATEMENT

The ideal candidate will be an effective, articulate and persuasive leader and can communicate concepts to a broad range of technical and non-technical staff. The incumbent will also have the technical acumen to work on multiple projects in various stages, technologies and environments. The candidate will have excellent communication skills to articulate and collaborate with stakeholders on making critical decisions regarding implementing and integrating systems. The ideal candidate should have project management experience, strategy development and execution, and equipped to optimize operating systems while leading multi-functional teams.

Under general direction, the Principal Systems Engineer performs a variety of professional, technical, and systems programming and/or network administration duties involving the design, development, testing, implementation and maintenance of the software and hardware infrastructure and connectivity capability between different platforms that manage information technology resources and/or support the execution of automated applications. The scope of systems includes all computing platforms from PCs to mainframes and associated networks. Incumbents may be assigned to duties in any one or a combination of platforms, operating systems and associated products.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

This is an expert-professional-level classification and may be populated with multiple incumbents. The Principal Systems Engineer provides the highest level of technical expertise and knowledge in performing network design, administration and tuning, mainframe operating systems programming, and cross-platform system security. Incumbents provide technical leadership, training and informal work direction to lower-level staff and serve as technical experts who exercise discretion and have latitude in resolving complex technical issues. This classification is distinguished from the lower-level classification of Senior Systems Engineer by the highly complex nature of the duties performed including multi-platform system design, design and implementation of sophisticated security measures, complex technical specification development, technical project management and by the advanced level of knowledge and experience required.

Principal Systems Engineer is distinguished from Information Technology Supervisor in that the latter is the first full-supervisory level while the former, who may supervise as an incidental assignment, is the highest-level technical expert.

SUPERVISION RECEIVED AND EXERCISED

General direction is provided by an Information Technology Supervisor, an Information Technology Manager or higher-level management staff. Responsibilities may include supervision of technical and/or administrative staff

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following duties are typical for this classification. Incumbents may not perform all the listed duties and/or may be required to perform related duties as needed.

• Identifies and manages Citywide and/or large scale network needs through workload forecasting, response time evaluation, LAN/WAN throughput analysis.
• Defines, designs and implements WAN/LAN connectivity solutions to meet departmental and Citywide business needs.
• Writes system level programs and micro-code as needed; performs systems software installation, debugging, testing, and maintenance.
• Integrate system software and conduct integration testing for internal and external interfaces.
• Develops and monitors Citywide security programs; implements and monitors security tools.
• Performs Citywide security audits.
• Supports departmental database applications and configures appropriate computing platform.
• Configures, troubleshoots and performs maintenance on servers, routers, switches, hubs, and related equipment.
• Evaluates and recommends vendor hardware and software products for purchase; coordinates problem resolution with outside vendors including outside consultants; tracks and documents software product licensing agreements.
• Supervises other technical staff by training, assigning tasks, monitoring progress, resolving problems, and conducting performance evaluations; develops hardware and software training programs for direct report, end-users and other City staff.
• Develops project plans, defines project scope and timeline, identifies potential risks, develops contingency plans, provides cost estimates, identifies resource needs, tracks project progress, reviews milestones, resolves issues and conflicts, monitors and manages change, and prepares and presents status reports to management.
• Performs related or other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Knowledge of :

• Principles of and current trends in information technology design and implementation across all platforms from PCs to mainframes.
• Mainframe and network operating systems, programming languages, utilities and tools.
• Database administration.
• Project management techniques.
• Communication protocols, telecommunications and information processing environments.
• General programming and compilation techniques.
• Wired and wireless network design and implementation.
• Firewall architecture.
• Web architecture, protocols and languages.
• Network backup and recovery techniques.
• Security trends, risk assessment and products.

Skill in :

• Project management.
• Troubleshooting complex technical problems.
• Developing and implementing complex technical solutions on multiple hardware and software platforms.
• Managing change, time, financial, technical and human resources.
• Vendor negotiations.

Ability to :

• Communicate effectively with technical and non-technical personnel including the ability to provide fact-based details to support ideas, recommendations, and analysis.
• Reason logically in order to solve problems.
• Manage multiple projects concurrently.
• Supervise others by motivating, mentoring, training and guiding.

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

Any combination of education and experience that would provide the required knowledge and abilities would be qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:

Experience :
Six years progressively responsible operating systems programming experience in an IT environment consisting of multiple platforms, large-scale applications with multiple operating systems with a minimum of two years of supervisory or project leader experience.

Education :
A Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science or a related degree.

Substitution :
Additional experience may substitute for education on a year-for-year basis.

PROOF OF EDUCATION

Should education be used to qualify for this position, then proof of education such as, but not limited to, university/college transcripts and degrees should be submitted with your application and will be required at the time of appointment . Unofficial documents and/or copies are acceptable.

An applicant with a college degree obtained outside the United States must have education records evaluated by a credentials evaluation service. Evaluation of education records will be due at time of appointment.

SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS

Driver License :
Possession of a valid California Class C Driver License at the time of appointment. Individuals who do not meet this requirement due to physical disability will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

THE SELECTION PROCEDURE

Please note, the City of Sacramento's preferred method of communication with applicants is via e-mail. As such, please ensure you verify the e-mail address on your application, and check your e-mail frequently , including your spam and junk folders. All e-mail notifications can also be accessed through the governmentjobs.com applicant inbox.

1. Application: (Pass/Fail) - All applicants must complete and submit online a City of Sacramento employment application by the final filing deadline ;

• Employment applications must be submitted online; paper applications will not be accepted.
  

• Employment applications will be considered incomplete and will be disqualified:
  

• If applicants do not list current and past job-related experience in the duties area of the "Work Experience" section. Note: Qualifying experience is based on full-time experience (40 hours per week). Qualifying experience is calculated to the full-time equivalent (pro-rated if less than 40 hours/week ).
  

• If "see resume" is noted in the "Work Experience" section; a resume will not substitute for the information required in the "Work Experience" section.
  

• Position/job titles will not be considered in determining eligibility for meeting the minimum qualifications for this position.
  

• Proof of education such as, but not limited to, university/college transcripts and degrees should be submitted online with your application. Proof of education will be required at time of appointment.
  

2. Supplemental Questionnaire: (Pass/Fail) - In addition to the City of Sacramento employment application, all applicants must complete and submit online responses to the supplemental questionnaire to the City of Sacramento Employment Office by the final filing deadline ;

• Responses to the supplemental questionnaire must be submitted online; paper questionnaire will not be accepted.
  

• Incomplete supplemental questionnaire will not pass the review process; omitted information cannot be considered or assumed.
  

• A resume will not substitute for the information required in the supplemental questionnaire.
  

• Possession of the minimum qualifications is not necessarily a guarantee for further advancement in the selection process.
  

3. Screening Committee: (Pass/Fail) - All applications received by the final filing deadline will be forwarded to the hiring department for review. The hiring department will select the most competitive applications for further consideration. Human Resources will only evaluate employment applications for the minimum qualifications, as stated on the job announcement, for applications selected by the hiring department.

4. Interview Process: Human Resources will forward applications to the hiring department. Those determined to be the most qualified candidates will be invited to participate in an interview process.

5. Background Process: If considered for appointment, candidates may be required to pass a background investigation, which includes a criminal history check, fingerprinting, polygraph test, and drug use history.

6. Conditional Hire: Upon receipt of a conditional offer, the selected candidate must complete and pass Live Scan/fingerprinting . If applicable, candidates may also need to pass a pre-employment medical exam, controlled substance and/or alcohol test, and possess any required licensure or certification prior to receiving a start date from the Department. Failure to meet these prerequisites will be grounds for withdrawal of your conditional offer of employment.

QUESTIONS:
For questions concerning this job announcement and the application process:

• Please visit https://www.governmentjobs.com/Home/ApplicationGuide for a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to the application process.
  

• For technical support between 6 AM - 5 PM PT, contact Live Application Support at 855-524-5627.
  

• Visit the City of Sacramento Human Resourc es Department website at https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/HR/employment ;
  

• Send an email to employment@cityofsacramento.org ; or
  

• Call the Human Resources Department at (916) 808-572 6
  

Bilingual Pay
Did you know that the City offers bilingual pay? That's right, most labor agreements offer the option of providing employees with bilingual pay if the department deems it to be operationally necessary.

Pension Reform Act
The City of Sacramento is covered by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, and as such, must adhere to the California Public Employee's Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) of 2013. Please note that the provisions within this act may affect or impact an applicant's eligibility and/or selection for open vacancies at the City of Sacramento.

Equal Opportunity Employer
The City of Sacramento is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.

Additional Information

Civil Service Rules: https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/content/dam/portal/hr/documentlibrary/CivilServiceBoardRules62012.pdf

Union Contracts: https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/HR/labor-agreements.html

Salary Schedule: https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/content/dam/portal/hr/documentlibrary/SalarySchedule.pdf

Closing Date/Time: 9/25/2024 11:59 PM Pacific

Salary:

$109,613.38 - $154,237.03 Annually