Job Summary

In order to be considered for this position, please also submit your application to our careers site by following this link: https://careers.umich.edu/job_detail/276212/it-infrastructure-administrator

Come join Merit Network, Inc. - The nation's premier Research and Education Network, providing technology services to Michigan's public universities, colleges, K-12 organizations, libraries, state government, healthcare and other Michigan non-profit organizations!

This senior-level position is an excellent opportunity for an experienced server administrator to work in a flexible, growth-focused organization. You will be empowered to make decisions and guide projects in implementing, maintaining, managing, and automating application and infrastructure servers and services while working directly with passionate professionals. As an IT Infrastructure Administrator, you'll work on building, tuning, and upgrading servers, evaluating new technologies, performing security evaluations and improvements, and supporting team, department, and organizational goals. Join our experienced, inclusive team and be a part of the future of technology in Michigan and beyond!

Reporting to the IT Manager, you will be instrumental within the Information Technology Team with providing large-scale, high-volume infrastructure and end-user services in support of Network, Security, and Community services for the higher education and public sector community. Some of those services include Broadband Internet Service, GIS & Data Analysis, the Routing Assets Database (RADb), and Network Research.

To learn more about Merit Network, please visit our website: https://www.merit.edu/

Have questions about the role or want to learn more before applying?

Join our informal, open-forum Zoom sessions to connect with the hiring team! Drop in at any time during the hour and stay as long as you'd like - whether you have specific questions or just want to listen in.

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 | 12pm-1pm EST | Click Here to Join The Zoom Meeting

*This is a full-time, hybrid position based in Ann Arbor, MI. During your 6-month probationary period, you will be required to work on-site for at least 3 days per week. Following, working on-site will be required for a minimum of 2 days per week.

Responsibilities*

Essential functions for this position are followed by an (E).

As the IT Infrastructure Administrator, this position's key responsibilities include:

Operational Support Activity (60%):

Support, maintain, and secure our core server infrastructure and applications, including Puppet configuration automation, Nagios, Active Directory, MSSQL, and other application servers. This will include performing OS upgrades and deployments, patching, automation, monitoring, configuring, performance and security tuning, documentation, and backups. (E)
Maintain and enhance the stability, security, and performance of our VMware environment to include maintaining software and hardware, evaluating performance, and enhancing the operational security and reliability. (E)
Develop, test, implement, and document scripts and tools for system management and automation. (E)
Evaluate, install, configure, test, debug, and document commercial and open source server and cloud applications. (E)
Participate in the rotating IT on-call for production systems/applications, including problem investigation, escalation, resolution, and communication both internally and with external stakeholders. (E)

IT Engineering and Service Development (30%):

Lead the technical planning and implementation of critical infrastructure projects. This includes developing comprehensive project plans, defining migration strategies, deployment and testing, and establishing rollback procedures. (E)
Design and implement configuration management and automation solutions to achieve consistency and scalability. (E)
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate, test, and roll out new network, security, and application services into the production environment. (E)

Miscellaneous (10%):

Establish group subject matter expertise in infrastructure platforms and participate in knowledge transfers with members of the IT Team and Merit as a whole. (E)
Remain current on new infrastructure and enterprise technologies.
Independent effort discovering and evaluating new tools, applications, and services to help improve team, department, and organization operations and to inform future technology use.
Participate in professional development activities to continually improve skills and knowledge in the areas of IT services and member support.

Required Qualifications*

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent combination of education, certification, and experience
5+ years systems/software support in a business environment with a comprehensive knowledge of software applications
5+ years prior experience administering and troubleshooting production servers using configuration automation tools (e.g., Puppet, Ansible or Microsoft Configuration Manager, PowerShell, bash scripting, cron, or other system binaries)
Experience working with and troubleshooting end-user issues
Experience with administration, tuning, and maintenance of Windows Server and Debian Linux
Experience with administration, tuning, and maintenance of VMware or similar hypervisor platforms
Experience administering, maintaining, and optimizing databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MSSQL, Oracle)
Experience configuring and managing infrastructure monitoring/analysis systems (e.g., Nagios, Zenoss) and reporting and collection tools (e.g., Grafana, Graylog)
Experience maintaining and managing enterprise and public DNS services
Working knowledge of TCP/IP networking concepts and troubleshooting, to include analyzing packet dumps, configuring and troubleshooting firewalls (host and edge), and managing L2 & L3 networks
Ability to participate in a rotating on-call schedule and perform incident response duties

Additional Information

Starting salary range is $90,000 - $95,000, depending on experience and credentials.

Enjoy comprehensive benefits that support your health, well-being, and future, including:

Full access to medical and dental insurance for you and your eligible dependents
Generous 2:1 retirement matching to help you plan for your long-term goals
Paid vacation, sick time, holidays, and additional paid time off to support work-life balance
Access to a variety of well-being programs, resources, and campus perks
Professional development opportunities and educational assistance to further your career
And more-discover the complete benefits package at careers.umich.edu/benefits

If you have any other questions regarding this role, please contact hr@merit.edu.

Merit Network

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