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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IT Officer

💰 $ - $

Information TechnologyIT SupportSystems Administration

🎯 Role Definition

The IT Officer is a hands-on technical and operational role responsible for ensuring reliable, secure and performant IT services across the organization. This position blends systems and network administration, service desk leadership, endpoint and cloud management, vendor coordination, and IT policy enforcement to maintain business continuity, meet SLA targets, and drive incremental improvements in infrastructure and user experience. The IT Officer works closely with business stakeholders, vendors and cross-functional teams to plan, implement and support IT initiatives while maintaining strong operational documentation and security posture.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Helpdesk Technician / Service Desk Analyst
  • Desktop Support Technician
  • Junior Systems Administrator

Advancement To:

  • Senior IT Officer / Senior Systems Administrator
  • IT Manager / IT Operations Manager
  • Infrastructure Manager or Head of IT

Lateral Moves:

  • Network Administrator
  • Cloud Engineer
  • Cybersecurity Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Provide first- and second-line technical support to internal users for Windows, macOS and common business applications, diagnosing and resolving complex hardware, software and connectivity issues while maintaining SLA compliance and clear communication with end users.
  • Administer and maintain Active Directory, Azure AD and Microsoft 365 environments, including user provisioning, group policy management, mailbox administration, license allocation and Microsoft 365 security configurations to ensure timely onboarding/offboarding and least-privilege access.
  • Manage server and virtualization platforms (Windows Server, Linux, VMware, Hyper-V), performing patch management, performance tuning, routine maintenance, capacity planning and lifecycle upgrades to meet availability and performance targets.
  • Configure, monitor and maintain network infrastructure components including switches, routers, firewalls, load balancers and VPN concentrators; implement segmentation, VLANs and QoS where required to optimize traffic and secure communications.
  • Implement and maintain endpoint management solutions (Microsoft Intune, SCCM, JAMF or equivalent), ensuring device compliance, automated patching, remote troubleshooting and standardized imaging for desktops, laptops and mobile devices.
  • Design and operate backup, restore and disaster recovery procedures using enterprise backup tools (Veeam, Commvault, Azure Backup, etc.); test recovery plans regularly and report on RTO/RPO metrics to stakeholders.
  • Monitor infrastructure health and incidents using observability and SIEM tools (e.g., Nagios, Zabbix, SolarWinds, Splunk, Azure Monitor); triage alerts, perform root-cause analysis and drive remediation to reduce mean time to repair (MTTR).
  • Maintain and enforce IT security controls including endpoint protection, EDR solutions, patch compliance, firewall rules, VPN policies and MFA; coordinate incident response activities and escalate security incidents to the security team or external vendors as required.
  • Manage software licensing, procurement and vendor relationships; evaluate proposals, negotiate contracts, track renewals and maintain accurate asset and license inventories to optimize costs and compliance.
  • Execute IT change management processes, documenting change requests, risk assessments, rollback plans and communication to impacted parties while minimizing downtime and adhering to approval workflows.
  • Implement and maintain network and application access controls (VPN, SSO, conditional access policies) to secure remote and hybrid workforce access and support business continuity.
  • Maintain thorough technical documentation, runbooks and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for support, maintenance and disaster recovery activities; keep documentation current to enable on-call coverage and knowledge transfer.
  • Lead or participate in medium-sized IT projects (hardware refreshes, network upgrades, cloud migrations, M365 rollouts), including scoping, timelines, resource coordination and post-implementation reviews to deliver projects on time and within budget.
  • Perform periodic vulnerability assessments and patch prioritization in collaboration with security teams; shepherd remediation activities to close critical and high exposures.
  • Support business applications data integrations and basic SQL troubleshooting — assist application owners with connectivity, database performance checks and regular data backups.
  • Manage IT asset lifecycle from procurement to disposal, ensuring asset tagging, warranty tracking, secure data erasure and environmentally compliant disposal processes.
  • Provide training and onboarding to end-users on new systems, security best practices and company IT policies to reduce repeat incidents and improve user adoption.
  • Maintain phone systems, unified communications and collaboration tools (Teams, Zoom, VoIP systems), ensuring configuration, troubleshooting and usage monitoring meet business needs.
  • Respond to on-call rotation incidents and after-hours critical events; coordinate cross-functional resources during outages and provide timely communication to stakeholders until resolution.
  • Drive continuous improvement by analyzing incident and ticket trends, proposing automation of repetitive tasks (PowerShell/Bash scripts, RPA) and implementing workflow enhancements to reduce ticket volume and resolution time.
  • Ensure regulatory and industry compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI-DSS where applicable) by implementing controls, performing audits and supporting compliance reporting and external assessments.

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 procurement with technical evaluations of new hardware and SaaS solutions to align purchases with architecture and security standards.
  • Provide vendor escalation and coordination for warranty, support and professional services issues to ensure timely incident resolution.
  • Help maintain IT budget forecasts by reporting on recurring costs, upcoming renewals and proposed capital expenditures.
  • Participate in user acceptance testing (UAT) for new systems, documenting issues and validating fixes before deployment.
  • Conduct periodic user satisfaction and SLA performance reviews and recommend changes to improve service delivery.
  • Contribute to corporate continuity planning by supporting business impact analyses (BIAs) and validating alternative operations during disruptions.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Windows Server administration (2016/2019/2022), Group Policy, AD DS and AD replication.
  • Microsoft 365 administration (Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online) and Azure AD conditional access.
  • Virtualization: VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V configuration and management.
  • Networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, switching, VLANs, ACLs and VPNs.
  • Firewall and perimeter security administration (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco ASA/Firepower, or equivalent).
  • Endpoint management and MDM: Microsoft Intune, SCCM, JAMF or similar tools.
  • Backup, restore and DR technologies (Veeam, Commvault, Azure Backup) and testing procedures.
  • Monitoring and logging tools (Nagios, Zabbix, SolarWinds, Prometheus, Splunk, Azure Monitor).
  • Scripting and automation: PowerShell, Bash, basic Python for automation and task scheduling.
  • Basic SQL for troubleshooting and supporting business applications (queries, joins, simple optimization).
  • Cloud platform experience: Azure and/or AWS — resource provisioning, cost awareness, hybrid connectivity.
  • Email security and DLP tools, MFA implementation and identity management best practices.
  • Mobile device management and secure remote access configuration.
  • ITSM and ticketing systems (ServiceNow, Jira Service Desk, Freshservice) and familiarity with ITIL processes.
  • Hardware lifecycle knowledge: servers, storage, UPS, desktops, laptops, and peripheral troubleshooting.

Soft Skills

  • Strong customer service mindset with the ability to communicate technical information clearly to non-technical users.
  • Analytical problem-solving and troubleshooting under pressure with attention to root cause.
  • Prioritization and time management skills to handle concurrent incidents, projects and requests.
  • Collaboration and stakeholder management across technical and business teams.
  • Initiative and continuous improvement mindset, identifying automation and efficiency opportunities.
  • Clear written documentation skills for SOPs, runbooks and change records.
  • Ability to work independently and escalate appropriately during critical incidents.
  • Adaptability to changing technologies and business needs in a hybrid on-prem/cloud environment.
  • Professionalism and discretion when handling sensitive data and compliance-related tasks.
  • Project coordination and basic vendor negotiation skills.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Associate degree, diploma or equivalent technical certification in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field.

Preferred Education:

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

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Network Engineering
  • Cybersecurity
  • Systems Administration

Recommended certifications: CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+; Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator / Microsoft 365; Cisco CCNA; VMware Certified Professional; ITIL Foundation. Advanced/role-preferred: CISSP, CISM or AWS/Azure specialty certifications.

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of progressive IT operations, systems or network support experience.

Preferred: 3–7 years supporting medium-sized enterprise environments with evidence of managing servers, networks, cloud services, backups and IT projects; prior experience with Active Directory, Microsoft 365, virtualization and endpoint management. Experience working within ITIL-based processes and demonstrated incident and change management success is a plus.

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