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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IT Infrastructure Specialist

💰 $ - $

ITInfrastructureNetworkingSystems Administration

🎯 Role Definition

The IT Infrastructure Specialist is a hands-on technical professional responsible for designing, deploying, maintaining, and optimizing the organization's on-premises and cloud infrastructure. This role ensures high availability, security, and performance of servers, networking equipment, virtualization platforms, storage, backups, and related services while collaborating with application owners, security, and operations teams. The ideal candidate blends systems and network administration experience, automation skills (PowerShell, Bash, Ansible, Terraform), and a security-first mindset to support 24/7 business operations and digital transformation initiatives.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • IT Support / Help Desk Technician transitioning into infrastructure-focused tasks
  • Systems Administrator with Windows/Linux server administration experience
  • Network Administrator experienced in routing, switching, and firewall management

Advancement To:

  • Senior Infrastructure Engineer / Senior Systems Engineer
  • IT Infrastructure Manager or IT Operations Manager
  • Cloud Infrastructure Architect or Cloud Engineer
  • Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) / DevOps Engineer

Lateral Moves:

  • DevOps Engineer (automation and CI/CD focus)
  • Security Analyst or Cybersecurity Engineer (infrastructure security)
  • Storage/Backup Engineer or Database Infrastructure Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Architect, deploy and maintain Windows Server and Linux server environments, including Active Directory design and administration, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, and file services to ensure reliable authentication and resource access across the enterprise.
  • Design, configure and troubleshoot LAN/WAN network infrastructure (routers, switches, VLANs, OSPF/BGP as applicable) to guarantee optimal connectivity and performance for on-premises, remote office, and hybrid-cloud users.
  • Manage virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, or KVM) — provisioning VMs, performing host maintenance, capacity planning, and applying cluster-level updates with minimal disruption.
  • Implement and operate cloud infrastructure on AWS, Azure, or GCP including VPC/subnet design, IAM, networking, cloud VM instances, and integration with on-premises resources for hybrid architectures.
  • Administer enterprise firewalls, VPN concentrators, and remote access solutions (SSL/IPsec) to secure inter-site and remote user connectivity while balancing performance and security requirements.
  • Plan, implement and validate backup and disaster recovery solutions (Veeam, Commvault, native cloud backup services), including backup schedules, retention policies, recovery testing, and recovery time objectives (RTO/RPO).
  • Lead patch management across servers, network devices, and endpoints using SCCM/WSUS, vendor tools, or automated scripting to maintain security posture and compliance with maintenance windows.
  • Monitor infrastructure health and performance using monitoring and observability tools (Nagios, Zabbix, Prometheus, SolarWinds, Datadog) and proactively remediate capacity, latency, or availability issues.
  • Troubleshoot complex incidents across multi-tier infrastructure stacks, perform root cause analysis, document findings, and implement long-term corrective actions to reduce recurrence.
  • Maintain and optimize SAN/NAS storage systems and connectivity (iSCSI, Fibre Channel) including LUN provisioning, performance tuning, and lifecycle management.
  • Deploy and maintain centralized configuration management and automation using Ansible, Puppet, Chef, or PowerShell DSC to standardize builds and reduce manual operational effort.
  • Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices with Terraform or CloudFormation for reproducible, version-controlled cloud and network deployments.
  • Ensure compliance with security standards (CIS benchmarks, PCI, HIPAA as applicable), participate in vulnerability remediation, and coordinate with security teams for scanning, patching, and configuration hardening.
  • Manage hardware lifecycle for servers, network devices, and peripherals including procurement coordination, rack-and-stack, firmware upgrades, warranty claims, and decommissioning workflows.
  • Serve as on-call or rotation lead for infrastructure incidents, respond to outages, coordinate incident response across teams, and communicate status updates to stakeholders until service restoration.
  • Integrate and maintain centralized logging, SIEM ingestion, and alerting pipelines to support security monitoring, operational troubleshooting, and audit/log retention policies.
  • Perform network segmentation, ACL and policy updates to enforce zero-trust principles, least-privilege access, and micro-segmentation strategies where applicable.
  • Collaborate with application owners and development teams to size and deploy infrastructure for new services, ensuring appropriate resiliency, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
  • Drive capacity planning and forecasting for compute, storage, and network resources, presenting recommendations and budget implications to IT management.
  • Manage vendor relationships for support contracts, escalations, SLA tracking, and software/hardware renewals to ensure timely service and cost-effective procurement.
  • Create and maintain runbooks, SOPs, and technical documentation for operational procedures, change windows, and recovery steps to enable consistent on-call and handover operations.
  • Lead or actively contribute to infrastructure migration projects (data center consolidation, cloud migrations, OS migrations) ensuring minimal customer impact and thorough testing.
  • Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and patch verification, partnering with cybersecurity teams to quickly remediate critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.
  • Implement centralized endpoint management for servers and infrastructure endpoints and enforce configuration baselines, anti-malware measures, and secure configuration standards.

Secondary Functions

  • Provide Level 2/3 support for escalated incidents and complex requests from IT support teams, documenting knowledge articles and facilitating knowledge transfer.
  • Support procurement and asset management activities including BOM creation, equipment testing, and lifecycle tracking to optimize costs and compliance.
  • Assist in budget planning and cost optimization exercises, identifying opportunities to reduce cloud spend, consolidate infrastructure, or re-architect for efficiency.
  • Participate in architecture and change advisory board (CAB) reviews, presenting technical proposals and risk mitigations for planned infrastructure changes.
  • Deliver user-facing communication during planned maintenance windows and major incidents, ensuring transparency and alignment with business continuity plans.
  • Train junior administrators and cross-functional teams on infrastructure tools, automation frameworks, and security best practices to raise organizational capability.
  • Continuously research and recommend new tools, processes, and technologies (containerization, edge computing, SASE) that align with the enterprise roadmap and improve operational maturity.
  • Assist compliance and audit activities by providing evidence, implementing control improvements, and remediating findings related to infrastructure controls.
  • Support ad-hoc capacity and performance analysis requests for project teams; create dashboards and reports to inform project timeline and resource allocation.
  • Coordinate test plans and execute recovery drills (DR tests, failover/failback) to validate that RTO/RPO objectives are realistic and documented.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Windows Server administration (2012/2016/2019/2022), Active Directory design and Group Policy management.
  • Linux administration (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu) including shell scripting (Bash), package management, and system tuning.
  • Networking fundamentals and advanced configuration: TCP/IP, VLANs, routing, ACLs, OSPF/BGP basics, DNS, DHCP, and subnetting.
  • Virtualization technologies: VMware vSphere, ESXi, vCenter, Hyper-V — including HA, DRS, and cluster management.
  • Cloud platforms: hands-on experience with AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (compute, networking, storage).
  • Infrastructure as Code & automation: Terraform, Ansible, PowerShell, Bash scripting and familiarity with CI/CD integration.
  • Security controls for infrastructure: firewalls (Cisco/Juniper/Palo Alto), VPNs, NAC, patch management, hardening (CIS benchmarks), and vulnerability remediation.
  • Backup and disaster recovery solutions: Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, and native cloud backup tools with proven restore/test experience.
  • Monitoring and observability: Nagios, Zabbix, Prometheus, Grafana, SolarWinds, Datadog — with alert tuning and dashboarding skills.
  • Storage technologies and SAN/NAS administration (iSCSI, Fibre Channel), LUN provisioning, and performance troubleshooting.
  • Directory and identity services integration including Azure AD, AD Connect, SSO, and certificate management (PKI).
  • Hardware knowledge: server, storage, and network device lifecycle, firmware upgrades, vendor support and RMA processes.
  • Configuration management tools: Ansible, Puppet, Chef, or PowerShell DSC for automated deployments and compliance.
  • Database infrastructure basics (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MSSQL) operational awareness for supporting application owners.
  • Understanding of ITSM processes (Incident, Change, Problem Management) and familiarity with ITIL practices.

Soft Skills

  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to perform methodical root cause analysis under pressure.
  • Clear written and verbal communication to translate technical details for non-technical stakeholders and to document runbooks and incident reports.
  • Customer-focused mindset with a service orientation and the ability to manage expectations and escalations calmly.
  • Team player who collaborates across engineering, security, and business teams and mentors junior staff.
  • Time management and prioritization to balance operational tasks, projects, and on-call responsibilities.
  • Attention to detail for configuration, change control, and compliance documentation.
  • Initiative and continuous-learning attitude to evaluate new technologies and drive improvements.
  • Vendor management and negotiation skills for procuring support contracts and escalating hardware/software issues.
  • Adaptability and resilience in dynamic environments, including during migrations, outages, and evolving security threats.
  • Project management awareness to contribute to infrastructure projects, define requirements, and meet delivery timelines.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Associate degree in IT, Computer Networking, or equivalent technical certification and demonstrable hands-on experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology / Systems
  • Network Engineering
  • Cybersecurity / Information Security
  • Electrical or Computer Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of hands-on systems and network administration experience for mid-level roles.

Preferred: 3–7+ years of combined experience in server administration, networking, virtualization, cloud platforms and infrastructure automation in medium to large enterprises; experience participating in migrations, DR planning, and 24x7 support rotations.

Certifications that strengthen candidacy: CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Server+, Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate, Microsoft Certified: Windows Server, AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, VMware Certified Professional (VCP), Cisco CCNA, RHCSA/RHCE, ITIL Foundation, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) for senior/security-adjacent roles.

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