Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Information Technologist

🎯 Role Definition

The Information Technologist is a hands-on IT professional responsible for designing, deploying, securing, and maintaining enterprise technology infrastructure and services. This role combines systems administration, network engineering, cybersecurity practices, cloud platform management, and user-facing support to ensure high availability, performance, compliance, and continuous improvement of IT systems. Ideal candidates are experienced with Windows/Linux servers, virtualization, cloud services (AWS/Azure/GCP), identity management, automation (PowerShell/Python), incident response, and working within ITIL/process-driven environments.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Desktop Support Technician or Help Desk Analyst transitioning to systems administration.
Network Technician or Junior Systems Administrator with 1–3 years of infrastructure experience.
Cloud or DevOps Engineer with a focus on infrastructure and operations.

Advancement To:

Senior Systems/Infrastructure Engineer
IT Infrastructure Manager or IT Operations Manager
Cloud Architect / Senior DevOps Engineer
Cybersecurity Engineer / Information Security Manager

Lateral Moves:

Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
Network Architect
Application Support / Database Administrator

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, implement, and administer enterprise server and virtualization environments (VMware, Hyper-V, KVM) to ensure optimal performance, scalability, and redundancy across production and DR sites.
Manage cloud infrastructure and services (AWS, Azure, GCP) including provisioning, cost optimization, security hardening, IaC (Terraform/ARM/Bicep), and migration planning from on-prem to cloud.
Maintain and administer Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, and identity lifecycle processes, ensuring secure authentication, authorization, and role-based access control.
Lead patch management and configuration management processes for Windows and Linux systems, coordinating Windows Server and distribution updates, vulnerability remediation, and change window scheduling.
Implement and operate enterprise backup, replication, and disaster recovery solutions (Veeam, Commvault, native cloud backups), test failover plans, and document recovery procedures to meet RTO/RPO targets.
Build, configure, and monitor enterprise network infrastructure including LAN/WAN routing, switching, firewalls, VPNs, load balancers, and wireless controllers to maintain connectivity and secure segmentation.
Develop and execute cybersecurity controls, including endpoint protection, EDR/XDR deployment, vulnerability scanning (Qualys, Nessus), patch remediation workflows, and security incident detection and response.
Create and maintain automation and orchestration scripts (PowerShell, Python, Bash) to automate repetitive tasks, streamline deployments, and integrate monitoring and alerting with ticketing systems.
Administer and optimize enterprise monitoring, observability, and logging platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, Nagios, SolarWinds, Splunk) to provide SLA-based alerts and performance dashboards.
Manage IT asset lifecycle and configuration management database (CMDB) to track hardware/software inventory, license compliance, and to coordinate procurement and refresh cycles.
Serve as technical lead for medium-scale IT projects, including scoping, technical design, vendor selection, implementation, testing, and stakeholder communication using project management best practices.
Provide technical direction and hands-on support during major incidents and outages, lead root cause analysis, implement corrective actions, and maintain post-incident documentation and lessons learned.
Enforce and document IT policies, standards, and procedures for change control, release management, backup, retention, and access management to support regulatory compliance (HIPAA, SOX, PCI as applicable).
Configure and manage database server basics (SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL) in collaboration with DBAs: backups, security permissions, performance tuning, and patch cycles.
Implement and maintain endpoint management solutions (SCCM/Intune, JAMF) for OS deployment, application distribution, patching, and remote troubleshooting.
Integrate and maintain secure remote access solutions and zero-trust access controls (VPNs, SSO, MFA, conditional access) to support hybrid and remote workforce models.
Conduct capacity planning and resource forecasting for compute, storage, and network resources; present recommendations and cost estimates to leadership for future scaling.
Draft and maintain technical runbooks, architecture diagrams, configuration guides, and knowledge base articles for cross-team enablement and on-call support.
Coordinate with third-party vendors and managed service providers to manage escalations, SLA performance, contract renewals, and service integration.
Participate in the Change Advisory Board (CAB), review change requests, assess risk and rollback plans, and ensure changes are implemented with minimal business impact.
Support application teams in deployment pipelines and CI/CD processes for infrastructure-as-code, container orchestration (Kubernetes), and microservice readiness where applicable.
Maintain compliance artifacts, support audits, perform evidence collection, and implement remediation plans to address audit findings and security assessments.
Continuously evaluate new technologies, recommend improvements to architecture and operations, and lead pilots/proofs-of-concept to drive operational efficiency and modernize platforms.
Provide tier-2/tier-3 technical support and mentorship to junior engineers and support staff, elevating resolution processes and improving mean time to resolution (MTTR).

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Deliver end-user training sessions and create documentation to increase user adoption and reduce recurring tickets.
Assist finance and procurement teams with technical evaluation of RFPs, vendor bids, and platform cost comparisons.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Systems administration: Windows Server (2012/2016/2019/2022) and major Linux distributions (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu).
Virtualization and hyperconverged infrastructure: VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Nutanix.
Cloud platforms: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform — including compute, networking, storage, and IAM.
Scripting and automation: PowerShell, Bash, Python, and experience with configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef).
Networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, VLANs, routing, switching, firewall rules, VPN (IPSec/SSL), and load balancing.
Identity and access management: Active Directory, Azure AD, SSO/SAML/OAuth, MFA, and privileged access controls.
Security tooling and practices: EDR, IDS/IPS, vulnerability scanning, secure baselining, endpoint management and incident response processes.
Backup and disaster recovery solutions: Veeam, Commvault, native cloud snapshots, and DR orchestration.
Monitoring and observability: Prometheus, Grafana, Nagios, SolarWinds, Datadog, Splunk or ELK stack.
Containerization and orchestration basics: Docker, Kubernetes (Desirable).
Database fundamentals: SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL administration basics.
ITSM process tools: ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, or similar ticketing and change-control platforms.
Infrastructure-as-Code and CI/CD tools: Terraform, CloudFormation, Jenkins/GitLab CI.
Compliance standards and frameworks: HIPAA, SOX, PCI DSS, NIST, ISO 27001 familiarity.
Hardware and storage systems: SAN/NAS concepts, RAID, storage replication, and performance tuning.

Soft Skills

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a structured approach to root cause analysis.
Excellent verbal and written communication — able to translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders.
Customer-focused: commits to SLAs and a service-oriented mindset while troubleshooting and delivering solutions.
Project management and organizational skills; able to prioritize competing demands and manage multiple initiatives concurrently.
Collaborative team player who mentors others, participates in cross-functional teams, and escalates appropriately.
Adaptability and continuous learning mindset to keep pace with evolving cloud, security, and automation technologies.
Strong attention to detail and documentation discipline for compliance and operational continuity.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, or a related technical field — or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in IT, Cybersecurity, or Business Administration (MBA with IT focus) is a plus.
Specialized certifications in cloud, security, or networking (see below).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Information Technology / Systems
Cybersecurity / Information Assurance
Network Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of professional experience in systems, network, or cloud engineering roles; 5+ years preferred for senior-level positions.

Preferred:

Demonstrated experience managing enterprise IT infrastructure in hybrid (on-prem + cloud) environments.
Proven track record leading incident response, disaster recovery exercises, and cross-functional projects.

Recommended certifications (preferred but not always required): CompTIA Network+/Security+, Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator / Azure Solutions Architect, AWS Certified Solutions Architect / SysOps, Cisco CCNA, VMware VCP, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), ITIL Foundation.