Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IT Engineer

🎯 Role Definition

An IT Engineer is a technically proficient, client-facing professional who owns deployment, configuration, optimization, and support of servers, network devices, cloud resources, storage, backup, monitoring, and security tooling. The role focuses on delivering stable and secure infrastructure services through hands-on administration, automation, incident response, and collaborative project work with application and business teams. Responsibilities include troubleshooting complex infrastructure issues, implementing change and release activities, improving operational runbooks, and ensuring compliance with security and disaster recovery standards.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Systems Administrator / Helpdesk Technician
Network Support Engineer / Desktop Support
Cloud Support Associate / DevOps Support

Advancement To:

Senior IT Engineer / Senior Systems Engineer
Cloud Engineer / Network Architect
IT Infrastructure Manager / Technical Lead

Lateral Moves:

DevOps Engineer
Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)
Security Engineer / IAM Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, deploy, and maintain Windows Server and Linux server environments including install/configuration, patch management, role-based services (Active Directory, DNS, DHCP), and ongoing performance tuning to meet SLA requirements.
Configure, manage, and troubleshoot enterprise networking equipment (routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers) including VLANs, routing protocols, ACLs, NAT, and QoS to ensure reliable connectivity and secure segmentation.
Implement and manage virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere, Hyper-V) and containerization solutions (Docker, Kubernetes) to enable scalable, efficient compute resource consumption and lifecycle management.
Administer cloud infrastructure across AWS, Azure, or GCP including provisioning IaaS resources, configuring VPCs/virtual networks, security groups, IAM, cost optimization, and hybrid-cloud integration.
Develop and maintain automation and configuration management using PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible, or Terraform to accelerate deployments, reduce configuration drift, and improve repeatability.
Design and operate backup, replication, and disaster recovery solutions using enterprise backup tools, snapshots, and replication strategies, regularly testing recovery procedures to meet RTO/RPO targets.
Monitor infrastructure health and application performance using observability and monitoring stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Nagios, Splunk), establish alerts, and drive remediation of recurring incidents.
Lead incident response for infrastructure outages and service degradations, perform root cause analysis, document corrective actions, and implement mitigations to prevent recurrence.
Manage identity and access management (IAM), Active Directory forests, group policies, single sign-on (SSO), multifactor authentication, and service accounts to ensure least-privilege access and compliance.
Configure and administer enterprise storage systems (SAN, NAS) and ensure proper LUN mapping, capacity planning, and performance tuning to meet application requirements.
Harden systems and network devices according to security best practices and frameworks (CIS benchmarks, NIST), implement patching strategies, vulnerability remediation, and coordinate with security teams on incident investigations.
Plan and execute infrastructure migrations, upgrades, and major change activities with minimal downtime through careful design, testing, rollback plans, and stakeholder communication.
Manage endpoint and workstation environments including imaging, OS deployments, SCCM/MECM or Intune management, software distribution, and lifecycle refresh planning.
Maintain and optimize firewall rules, VPNs, and remote access technologies to support secure, reliable remote connectivity for employees and third-party vendors.
Implement logging, centralized event collection, and SIEM integration to support security monitoring, compliance audits, and forensic investigations.
Support database platform operations at an infrastructure level (backup, restore, storage, connectivity and high-availability patterns) and coordinate with DBAs for schema and performance issues.
Produce and maintain runbooks, architecture diagrams, configuration documentation, and operational playbooks to support knowledge transfer and on-call teams.
Participate in capacity planning and cost management exercises for compute, storage, and cloud resources to meet forecasted business growth and control expenses.
Collaborate cross-functionally with software engineering, product, security, and business teams to gather requirements, scope infrastructure projects, and deliver reliable production services.
Implement CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code workflows with Git-based tooling, contribution to build/release automation for infrastructure and platform components.
Perform hardware diagnostics, vendor management, warranty escalations, and datacenter coordination including racking, power, and cabling activities.
Conduct regular audits and compliance checks, respond to internal and external audit requests, and implement remediation actions tied to regulatory standards (PCI, HIPAA, ISO).
Provide subject matter expertise and mentoring to junior engineers and operations staff, contribute to hiring assessments, and help build a learning culture within the IT organization.
Maintain an on-call rotation and provide after-hours support as needed, documenting incidents and ensuring continuous improvement through post-incident reviews.

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.
Assist application teams with infrastructure provisioning and environment cloning for development, testing, and staging.
Provide guidance on licensing, procurement, and vendor selection for infrastructure components.
Coordinate with telecommunications providers and manage WAN/MPLS/SD-WAN circuits to maintain enterprise connectivity.
Evaluate and pilot emerging technologies, recommend POCs, and assess impact on architecture and operations.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Windows Server Administration (2012/2016/2019/2022): Active Directory, Group Policy, IIS, RDS.
Linux System Administration (Ubuntu, CentOS, RHEL): package management, systemd, kernel tuning, security.
Cloud Platforms: AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform — EC2/VMs, VPC/VNet, IAM, S3/Blob storage.
Virtualization & Containers: VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Docker, Kubernetes (k8s) fundamentals.
Networking: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, BGP, OSPF, VLANs, subnetting, firewall policy and NAT configuration.
Scripting & Automation: PowerShell, Bash, Python, and infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible).
Monitoring & Logging: Experience with Datadog, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/EFK stacks, Splunk, or Nagios.
Backup & Disaster Recovery: Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik or native cloud backup/replication strategies.
Security & Compliance: Hardening, vulnerability management, patching lifecycle, IAM, MFA, encryption, SIEM integration.
Configuration Management & CI/CD: Ansible, Puppet, Chef, Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions.
Storage & SAN/NAS fundamentals, RAID, iSCSI, NFS, and performance troubleshooting.
Endpoint Management: SCCM/MECM, Intune, JAMF, or equivalent.
Database Infrastructure Support: Basic SQL troubleshooting, high-availability patterns (replication, clustering).
Hardware Troubleshooting & Datacenter Operations: rack/power/cabling knowledge and vendor coordination.
Network Security Appliances: Experience with firewalls and VPN solutions (Cisco ASA/Firepower, Palo Alto, Fortinet).
Identity & Access Management: SSO, SAML, OAuth, LDAP, and managing service accounts.
Observability & Performance Tuning: Profiling system bottlenecks, tuning OS and kernel parameters.
Cost Optimization & Capacity Planning for cloud and on-prem resources.

Soft Skills

Strong problem-solving with structured troubleshooting and RCA methodology.
Clear written and verbal communication for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Client-focused mindset with proven customer service and escalation handling.
Ability to prioritize in high-pressure incident situations and to own issues end-to-end.
Collaborative team player, comfortable working in cross-functional Agile environments.
Continuous learner mindset with ability to evaluate and adopt new technologies pragmatically.
Time management and planning skills to coordinate projects and operational workstreams.
Mentoring and knowledge transfer capability to uplift junior team members.
Attention to detail and a disciplined approach to documentation and change control.
Ethical and security-aware decision making to protect data and infrastructure integrity.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Associate degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related technical field OR equivalent practical experience (2+ years) in systems/network administration.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related discipline.
Relevant certifications (examples below) in lieu of or in addition to degree.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Information Technology
Network Engineering
Cybersecurity
Systems Engineering

Common certifications often requested:

CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator / Azure Solutions Architect
AWS Certified Solutions Architect / AWS SysOps Administrator
VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Cisco CCNA / CCNP
Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
ITIL Foundation

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years for mid-level IT Engineer; 5+ years for senior positions; 0–2 years for junior/entry-level variants with demonstrable skills.

Preferred:

3–7 years managing enterprise infrastructure across on-prem and cloud.
Proven track record of automation, incident management, and cross-functional project delivery.
Demonstrated experience with at least two major cloud platforms or a combination of cloud and virtualization technologies.