Principal Windows Server Engineer

Principal Windows Server Engineer

Job Summary

We are seeking a highly skilled Windows Server Engineer to join our Infrastructure Engineering team. This role is responsible for the engineering, administration, security, automation, and lifecycle management of enterprise Windows Server platforms supporting critical business applications and services. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Windows Server administration , patch management , operating system upgrades , performance optimization , infrastructure automation , software deployment , compliance reporting, and server lifecycle management. This position will collaborate with application owners, security teams, storage teams, virtualization teams, cloud engineers, and operations personnel to ensure a secure, reliable, and highly available server environment.

Primary Responsibilities

Windows Server Administration

Engineer, deploy, configure, and maintain enterprise Windows Server environments.

Manage server operating systems including Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022.

Perform server builds, provisioning, decommissioning, and lifecycle management activities.

Maintain server standards, hardening guidelines, and operational procedures.

Support physical, virtual, and cloud-based Windows infrastructure.

Patch & Vulnerability Management

Plan, schedule, and execute operating system patching activities.

Coordinate maintenance windows with application and business stakeholders.

Remediate security vulnerabilities identified through internal and external scans.

Ensure compliance with corporate security and regulatory requirements.

Produce patching compliance metrics and executive-level reporting.

Operating System Upgrades

Lead Windows Server upgrade and migration initiatives.

Develop migration strategies from legacy operating systems.

Perform impact assessments and compatibility analysis.

Coordinate application validation and testing activities.

Maintain upgrade roadmaps and lifecycle plans.

Software Deployment & Tooling Management

Install, configure, and maintain infrastructure software agents and management tools.

Support deployment of:

Monitoring agents

Backup agents

Security software

Endpoint management tools

Vulnerability scanning tools

Logging and observability platforms

Develop automated software deployment processes.

Automation & Infrastructure as Code

Develop automation using:

PowerShell

Desired State Configuration (DSC)

Ansible

Infrastructure-as-Code frameworks

Automate repetitive operational and administrative tasks.

Create self-service capabilities where appropriate.

Improve operational efficiency through workflow automation.

Performance & Capacity Management

Monitor and analyze Windows Server performance.

Identify CPU, memory, disk, and network bottlenecks.

Perform root cause analysis for performance issues.

Develop capacity forecasts and growth recommendations.

Optimize operating system configurations for performance and stability.

License & Asset Compliance

Maintain inventory of Windows Server assets.

Track software licensing consumption and compliance.

Produce audit support documentation and reports.

Partner with asset management and procurement teams.

Support internal and external compliance reviews.

Security & Compliance

Implement and maintain security baselines.

Support Active Directory and Group Policy administration.

Ensure compliance with SOX, security, and infrastructure standards.

Participate in security incident response activities.

Drive remediation efforts for identified risks and vulnerabilities.

Incident & Problem Management

Provide Level 3 engineering support for critical incidents.

Participate in outage investigations and root cause analyses.

Develop permanent corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

Support after-hours maintenance and incident response when required.

Documentation & Reporting

Maintain architecture diagrams and operational documentation.

Develop standard operating procedures and technical runbooks.

Create executive and operational dashboards.

Report on patch compliance, server health, vulnerability status, and lifecycle metrics.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent experience.

7+ years of Windows Server administration experience in a large enterprise environment.

Hands-on experience with:

Windows Server 2016/2019/2022

Active Directory

Group Policy

PowerShell scripting

Microsoft IIS

Windows Failover Clustering

DNS and DHCP

Experience with enterprise patching solutions.

Experience supporting virtualized environments using VMware or Hyper-V.

Strong troubleshooting and root cause analysis skills.

Experience managing infrastructure in regulated environments.

Preferred Qualifications

Microsoft certifications (AZ-800, AZ-801, Azure Administrator, etc.).

Experience with:

Azure

AWS

SCCM / MECM

Tanium

ServiceNow

Splunk

Dynatrace

SolarWinds

Ansible

Terraform

Experience with infrastructure security and vulnerability management programs.

Experience supporting large-scale environments consisting of hundreds or thousands of servers.

Familiarity with disaster recovery and business continuity processes.

Technical Skills

Operating Systems

Windows Server 2016/2019/2022

Windows Core Administration

Automation

PowerShell

DSC

Ansible

Terraform

Monitoring & Reporting

Splunk

Dynatrace

Grafana

SolarWinds

Virtualization & Cloud

VMware vSphere

Hyper-V

Microsoft Azure

AWS

Security