An opportunity is available for a Principal Systems Administrator at BAE Systems (ESS – Shared Services), where the mission is to “Protect Those That Protect Us.” This role will join the VDI team and is responsible for the design, security, and maintenance of the company’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments, with a primary focus on Omnissa Horizon (formerly VMware Horizon) and knowledge of Citrix systems.

This is a full-time position with options for hybrid or remote work and flexible schedules (5/40 or 9/80). The salary range is $115,779 – $196,825.

Role Summary and VDI Architecture Mandate

This Principal Systems Administrator will lead projects and provide advanced technical solutions to standardize and automate the IT infrastructure, specializing in remote access, application delivery, and virtual desktop solutions. The role requires strong technical knowledge, project leadership, and participation in an on-call rotation.

What You’ll Do:

• VDI Design & Maintenance: Responsible for the design, engineering, deployment, and maintenance of highly available and secure Omnissa Horizon Operating environments.
• Citrix Support: Support Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop environments, including Citrix Application Delivery Controllers (NetScaler) (experience with these is a plus).
• Technical Leadership: Provide technical and project leadership for advanced solutions, including milestone planning and completion. Assist with the VDI service roadmaps and service lifecycle management.
• Operational Excellence: Work includes technical planning (cost, capacity, logistics), architecture, design, implementation, configuration management, maintenance, troubleshooting, and root cause analysis.
• Continuous Improvement: Continuous evaluation of currently deployed and emerging Remote Desktop and Access solutions. Define process and success criteria for new technology proof of concepts.
• Security & Compliance: Adhere to strict Information Systems security guidelines. (Familiarity with DISA STIG and DOD Information Assurance practices is a plus).
• Documentation & Metrics: Document technical processes and procedures. Assist with the creation of KPIs and metrics reports/dashboards to represent service health and user experience.
• On-Call: Maintain a regular and predictable work schedule and participate in on-call rotations.

Required Experience and Technical Qualifications

The ideal candidate is a highly experienced VDI professional with strong expertise in VMware Horizon, fundamental networking and security concepts, and excellent communication skills.

• Experience (Required):
  • Bachelor’s degree in a related technical field plus 6 or more years of related experience (equivalent experience or certifications may be considered).
  • 4+ Years of experience supporting a VMWare Horizon environment.
• Networking & Security: Functional knowledge of core networking concepts, including TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, routers, switches, firewalls, load balancing, VLAN segmentation, etc.
• Windows Administration: Functional knowledge of Group Policy creation, application, and inheritance.
• Communication: Superb communication skills with the ability to translate highly technical details into easy-to-understand concepts.
• Project Skills: Excellent organization and project management/project coordination skills.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Citrix Expertise: Experience managing Citrix virtual desktops and application delivery environments.
• Platform Knowledge: Experience with migrating from Citrix to Horizon platforms.
• Cloud & Automation: Familiarity with Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services core components. Proficiency in Scripting/Automation technologies (PowerShell, JSON, Ansible, Terraform).
• Specialized Tools: Experience with Splunk and user profile management (DEM, FSLogix, etc.).
• Certifications (Preferred): VCP-DTM, VCAP-DTM Deploy/Design, CCE-V, CCP-N, OCPD, OCAP.