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****Strong Preference for Prospects in the Vernon Hills, IL Area****

Job Summary

The Senior System Engineer II is a technical leader specializing in the design, deployment, and operations of enterprise systems platforms. This role centers on deep expertise across multiple hypervisors—including Red Hat OpenShift, Azure Local (Azure Stack HCI), and VMware ESXi—to support scalable, secure, and resilient compute environments. The engineer will also manage HPE server hardware, administer Windows and Red Hat operating systems, and lead vulnerability remediation efforts across the infrastructure stack. As a senior contributor, this role provides project leadership, mentors engineering teams, and drives strategic initiatives to enhance performance, security, and operational excellence across hybrid on‑prem and cloud platforms.
What you will do:

Key Responsibilities:

Virtualization & Hypervisor Engineering

• Engineer, deploy, and manage enterprise hypervisor platforms (VMware ESXi/vCenter, Azure Local, OpenShift/KVM) across CDW data centers and hybrid cloud.
• Own cluster design standards, lifecycle management, capacity planning, and performance optimization.
• Troubleshoot complex virtualization issues spanning compute, storage, and network layers.
• Lead modernization assessments and recommend platform enhancements aligned to CDW’s infrastructure strategy.

Compute & Operating System Engineering

• Support and maintain HPE ProLiant servers, iLO, firmware/driver baselines, and hardware health.
• Administer Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems running on virtual platforms.
• Implement automation for provisioning, configuration, and lifecycle operations (PowerShell, Ansible, Terraform).

Security, Vulnerability & Compliance

• Lead remediation for hypervisor, OS, and compute vulnerabilities.
• Evaluate CVEs impacting virtualization platforms and prioritize risk‑based remediation plans.
• Apply hardening standards across ESXi, Azure Local, and OpenShift clusters.
• Partner with Security to ensure compliance with CDW policies and audit requirements.

Hybrid Cloud & Platform Integration

• Support Azure Local/Azure hybrid deployments including VM provisioning, workload placement, and cluster connectivity.
• Contribute to virtualization initiatives within OpenShift platforms with Ansible automation skills

Leadership & Project Delivery

• Serve as technical lead for virtualization upgrades, platform expansions, migrations, and DR initiatives.
• Mentor junior engineers and operational support teams.
• Develop design documents, SOPs, runbooks, and knowledge transfer materials.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across Security, Networking, Storage, Applications, and PMO.

Operational Excellence

• Drive RCA and corrective actions for virtualization‑related incidents.
• Maintain monitoring, alerting, and performance baselines for all compute and hypervisor platforms.
• Participate in on‑call rotation to ensure enterprise availability.

What we expect of you:

• Bachelor’s Degree and 7 years in systems engineering with a strong emphasis on virtualization technologies; OR 11 years in systems engineering with strong emphasis on virtualization technologies.
• Expert experience with VMware ESXi, Azure Local/Azure Stack HCI, and OpenShift/KVM virtualization.
• Strong competency in HPE server platforms, Windows Server, and RHEL.
• Proven experience leading vulnerability remediation and platform hardening efforts.
• Demonstrated success leading complex technical projects and mentoring engineering teams.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.
• Certifications such as Azure Administrator/Architect, RHCSA/RHCE, VCP, a plus.
• Experience with PowerShell, Ansible, or Terraform automation, a plus.
• Experience with storage, data protection, and disaster recovery practices, a plus.
• Understanding of enterprise networking, storage (FC, iSCSI, vSAN), and monitoring tools, a plus.
• Proven experience as a key technical resource leading the implementation and cross-functional solutions, a plus.
• Experience with SAFE Agile, a plus.
• ServiceNow experience, a plus.
• Patch Management experience, a plus.

Pay range: $123,000 - $190,600 depending on experience and skill set
Annual bonus target of 10% subject to terms and conditions of plan
Benefits overview: https://cdw.benefit-info.com/
Salary ranges may be subject to geographic differentials 

We make technology work so people can do great things.     

CDW is a leading multi-brand provider of information technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. A Fortune 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Index, CDW helps its customers to navigate an increasingly complex IT market and maximize return on their technology investments. Together, we unite. Together, we win. Together, we thrive.

CDW is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by state and local law.      

CDW is committed to fostering an equitable, transparent, and respectful hiring process for all applicants. During our application process, CDW’s goal is to get to know you as an applicant and understand your experience, strengths, skills, and qualifications. While AI can help you present yourself more clearly and effectively, the essence of your application should be authentically yours. To learn more, please review CDW's AI Applicant Notice.