Senior Systems Administrator

Title: Senior Systems Administrator

Location: Hybrid (Chandler, AZ)Reports to: Infrastructure ManagerEmployment Type: Exempt | Full-Time

About StrongMind

StrongMind is a remote-first education and technology company on a mission to transform learning for students, families, and educators across the country. For more than 25 years, we’ve partnered with schools and districts to deliver innovative, student-centered learning experiences powered by technology, compassion, and bold thinking.

We believe education should be flexible, human, and built for real life. That belief shapes how we design our products, support our partners, and work together as a team. At StrongMind, you’ll find smart people doing meaningful work, a culture rooted in trust and accountability, and leaders who genuinely care about both outcomes and people.

The Team You Will Join

You’ll be part of the Information Services team, working closely with Infrastructure, Service Desk, Engineering, Security & Compliance, People Success, Facilities, and the schools we support, including Primavera Online School, Valor Preparatory Academy, and American Virtual Academy.

This team is responsible for keeping the technology environment that supports our employees and schools secure, reliable, well-documented, and ready to scale. As the most senior technical role within IT, you’ll serve as the technical deputy to the Infrastructure Manager and provide architectural leadership across identity, endpoints, networking, telephony, and security tooling.

The team culture is collaborative, accountable, innovative, and focused on continuous improvement. You’ll have opportunities to influence technical standards, lead major infrastructure programs, mentor other IT professionals, and help shape how StrongMind operates its technology environment.

The Difference You Will Make

In this role, your work will directly impact StrongMind employees, school teams, and the students and families we support by ensuring the technology infrastructure they rely on is secure, reliable, scalable, and thoughtfully designed.

You’ll own the architecture of StrongMind’s corporate and school-facing technology environment while setting the standards that enable the broader IT team to operate effectively. You’ll also serve as the senior technical partner on security and compliance initiatives, helping ensure technical controls are implemented, documented, and audit-ready.

This role is especially important in three areas: networking, automation, and mentorship. You’ll design and maintain the network foundation that supports the organization, use scripting and automation to eliminate unnecessary manual work, and help develop the technical capabilities of the IT team around you.

A Typical Day Looks Like

While no two days are exactly the same, you can expect to:

Own and evolve the architecture across identity, endpoint, network, telephony, and security platforms.Establish technical standards, review significant technical changes, and evaluate platforms and vendors based on capability, cost, risk, and operational impact.Design and maintain identity and access architecture, including directory services, conditional access, multifactor authentication, entitlement models, and access reviews.Lead identity migrations, platform consolidations, and lifecycle automation connected to People Success systems.Own corporate network architecture, including VLANs, segmentation, firewalls, routing, wireless, VPNs, DNS, DHCP, certificates, and remote access.Monitor network health and capacity, lead major network changes, and maintain accurate topology documentation.Oversee endpoint management strategy across Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS, including configuration baselines, compliance policies, patching, application deployment, encryption, and device lifecycle management.Lead infrastructure programs such as platform migrations, office buildouts, decommissions, server room changes, and other major technology initiatives.Support backup, recovery, and business continuity planning and testing for systems within scope.Serve as the IT technical lead for security controls and provide technical evidence for SOC 2 and other compliance requirements.Lead technical response to security incidents affecting the corporate environment, including containment, remediation, and post-incident improvements.Develop and maintain scripts and automation using tools such as PowerShell, Bash, or Python to eliminate recurring manual work.Establish scripting standards, documentation practices, runbooks, and technical operating procedures.Lead the adoption of approved AI tools across the IT team, including workflows for documentation, scripting, log analysis, and research.Act as the technical escalation point of last resort and provide technical leadership during major incidents.Mentor Systems Administrators and Service Desk staff through technical coaching, cross-training, code/script reviews, and knowledge sharing.Lead projects that span teams, vendors, and school sites.Support Chromebook staging, student device loan programs, school events, and equipment logistics as needed.This position requires availability to work core business hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Arizona time, Monday through Friday.

This role balances technical architecture, hands-on execution, strategic thinking, and mentorship and is well-suited for someone who enjoys solving complex problems, building scalable systems, automating processes, and helping others grow.

Your Expertise Includes

We're looking for someone who brings:

5+ years of experience in systems administration, infrastructure engineering, or equivalent technical experience, including at least 2 years at a senior or lead level.Demonstrated experience owning the architecture and operations of multiple significant technology platforms.Deep networking expertise, including VLANs, segmentation, firewall policy, routing, wireless, VPNs, DNS, DHCP, certificates, remote access, and network monitoring.Strong experience with cloud identity and productivity administration, including directory services, groups, roles, licensing, conditional access, and multifactor authentication. Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365 experience preferred.Enterprise endpoint management experience using platforms such as Microsoft Intune and Jamf.Experience administering Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS in centrally managed environments, as well as Linux where applicable.Strong scripting and automation capabilities using PowerShell, Bash, Python, or similar technologies.Experience designing and maintaining endpoint protection and email security policies, including alert triage and remediation.Experience with change management, including written change records, maintenance windows, rollback plans, and stakeholder communication.Experience creating architecture documentation, runbooks, and standard operating procedures that can be used independently by other administrators.Experience supporting security audits or compliance frameworks and producing technical evidence.Demonstrated ability to use AI tools responsibly in a technical environment, including verifying AI-generated output before relying on it.Strong judgment, communication, organization, and problem-solving skills.Ability to handle confidential employee and student information appropriately and in accordance with company policy.

Bonus points if you also have:

Experience leading identity platform migrations or supporting multiple identity providers.Experience with cloud telephony platforms such as RingCentral.Experience administering physical security systems, including badging, cameras, and door access.Working knowledge of cloud infrastructure and infrastructure-as-code.Experience with backup, recovery, and business continuity planning and testing.Experience managing assets and hardware lifecycles at scale.Experience supporting standardized testing or large-scale seasonal device deployments.Experience leading audit preparation or serving as a technical point of contact during an audit.Experience mentoring IT professionals or leading a technical team without formal authority.Experience supporting a school, district, or education technology environment.

Our Commitment to Inclusion & Belonging

At StrongMind, we believe the best ideas come from bringing together people with different perspectives, experiences, and ways of thinking. A diverse and inclusive workplace fuels creativity, strengthens collaboration, and helps us build better solutions for the students, families, and communities we serve.

We are committed to welcoming a broad range of talent and encouraging all qualified individuals to apply. We strive to create an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging and is empowered to contribute, grow, and do meaningful work.

How We’ll Take Care of You

We believe that when people feel supported, they do their best work. At StrongMind, your well-being isn’t a perk—it’s part of our culture.

Our commitment to you includes:

A competitive total compensation package, including medical, dental, vision, and voluntary benefitsWell-being that works for real life—from an on-site gym, virtual wellness programs, and wellness coaching to flexible work options for select roles, because your well-being fuels your brillianceUnlimited PTO for exempt roles, plus additional "life happens" days when you need flexibilityA fully paid holiday week off at Christmas, so you can truly rest, reset, and reconnectRecognition and rewards that celebrate birthdays, meaningful milestones, legendary work, and community service hours that let you give backQuarterly Town Halls that keep communication transparent, honest, and humanAnnual social events and traditions we genuinely look forward to—like Halloween celebrations, Wellness Fairs, and other moments that bring our community together

We're intentional about building a workplace where people feel valued, connected, and empowered to thrive—at work and beyond.

Additional Info:

We welcome all qualified candidates eligible to work in the United States. At this time, we are unable to sponsor visas.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and provide consideration to all applicants regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender, national origin, age, veteran status, marital status, or disability protected by law.

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