Penn State University

Facilities Automation Systems Administrator

Penn State University • $91K — $137K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
  • 6+ years of relevant experience or equivalent education and experience.
  • Proficiency in Windows and Linux environments.
  • Comprehensive knowledge of BAS, SCADA, and OT infrastructure.
  • Strong troubleshooting and project coordination skills.

Responsibilities

  • Lead administration and maintenance of facility automation systems.
  • Supervise a team, assigning work and establishing priorities.
  • Monitor system performance and identify operational anomalies.
  • Design and maintain integrations among various systems.
  • Support troubleshooting of operational technology infrastructure.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Generous paid time off including holidays, vacation, and sick leave.
  • Robust retirement plans for employees.
  • 75% tuition discount for employees, spouses, and children.
Full Job Description
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
  • CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please to complete the. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.
  • CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, pleaselogin to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.
  • If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete .

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see .

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POSITION SPECIFICS​

The Office of Physical Plant (OPP) is an organization driven by its mission to “Provide Excellent Facilities Services for Penn State.” 

 

OPP is seeking an experienced Facilities Automation Systems Administrator Supervisor to lead the administration, maintenance, security, integration, and lifecycle management of facility automation systems supporting critical University facilities. 

 

Reporting to the Manager, Operational Technology Infrastructure and Security, this position provides technical leadership for facilities automation systems and supervises a team of Facilities Automation Systems Administrators.

 

This position offers a flexible work arrangement that combines remote and on-campus work. Questions related to flexible work should be directed to the hiring manager during the interview process.

 

The successful candidate will establish priorities, coordinate daily work, develop staff capability, and ensure that automation systems are secure, reliable, resilient, and aligned with University requirements. 

 

Technical Responsibilities 

  • Administer and support BAS, Environmental Control Systems, LMS, SCADA platforms, servers, databases, controllers, field devices, and related OT infrastructure. 
  • Administer and troubleshoot virtualization, storage, backup, and network environments supporting OT systems, including Proxmox VE, VMware vSphere/ESXi, Veeam, NetApp, and Juniper technologies. 
  • Management of Windows and Linux Operating Systems. 
  • Support Automated Logic/ALC and Johnson Controls systems, including supervisory workstations 
  • Monitor system/infrastructure performance, communications, alarms, trends, and operational data; identify anomalies and improve reliability. 
  • Design, maintain, and troubleshoot integrations among BAS, SCADA, LMS, energy management, maintenance management, and enterprise systems. 
  • Support BACnet/IP, BACnet MS/TP, Modbus TCP/RTU, SNMP, REST/API integrations, serial communications, and related protocols. 
  • Maintain OT infrastructure; DNS, DHCP, NTP, secure remote access, gateways, and protocol-conversion technologies. 
  • Develop standards for configuration, capacity planning, performance tuning, backup and recovery, business continuity, asset inventories, and infrastructure lifecycle management. 
  • Evaluate, test, validate, and deploy software, firmware, operating-system, and application updates through formal change-control processes. 
  • Diagnose complex hardware, software, networking, communications, and control-system issues. 
  • Coordinate incident response, outage recovery, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and system-health assessments. 
  • Maintain system architectures, network diagrams, configuration baselines, procedures, maintenance schedules, recovery plans, and other technical documentation. 
  • Support alignment with NIST SP 800-82, ISA/IEC 62443, University policies, and applicable safety, environmental, laboratory, and security requirements. 
  • Participate in commissioning, acceptance testing, inspections, audits, upgrades, and project implementation activities. 

 

Leadership/Supervisory  

  • Supervise a team of Facilities Automation Systems Administrators, including assigning work, establishing priorities, reviewing performance, coaching staff, supporting professional development, and participating in hiring and onboarding. 
  • Promote cross-training, knowledge sharing, consistent work practices, accountability, and a customer-focused culture. 
  • Collaborate with Facilities Operations, Operational Technology, Information Technology, Information Security, vendors, consultants, project teams, and campus stakeholders. 
  • Communicate technical information clearly to technical and nontechnical audiences. 

 

Preferred Skills and Knowledge 

  • Proficiency in Windows and Linux environments. 
  • Comprehensive knowledge of BAS, SCADA, and OT infrastructure. 
  • Familiarity with Proxmox, VMware, Veeam, NetApp, Juniper, Automated Logic/ALC, Johnson Controls, BACnet, Modbus, OPC UA, MQTT, and SNMP. 
  • Understanding of OT environments and their differences from traditional IT environments, including availability, safety, deterministic communications, long equipment lifecycles, vendor dependencies, and change-management risks. 
  • Knowledge of virtualization, storage, backup and recovery, network administration, cybersecurity, system integration, and infrastructure monitoring. 
  • Strong troubleshooting, documentation, analytical, organizational, and project-coordination skills. 
  • Demonstrated ability to supervise, coach, mentor, and develop technical staff. 
  • Experience in higher education, healthcare, research, laboratory, or large-scale facilities operations preferred. 

 

MINIMUM EDUCATION, WORK EXPERIENCE & REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor's Degree 6+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience accepted Required Certifications: None

 

 

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.

 

Penn State does not sponsor or take over sponsorship of a staff employment Visa. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.

 

SALARY & BENEFITS

The salary range for this position, including all possible grades, is $91,488.00 - $137,280.00.

 

Salary Structure - Information on Penn State's salary structure

 

Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional well-being. In addition to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, employees enjoy robust retirement plans and substantial paid time off which includes holidays, vacation and sick time. One of the standout benefits is the generous 75% tuition discount, available to employees as well as eligible spouses and children. For more detailed information, please visit our Benefits Page.

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS

Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Pennsylvania Act of 1988, Penn State publishes a combined Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report (ASR). The ASR includes crime statistics and institutional policies concerning campus security, such as those concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. The ASR is available for review here.

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