Senior Technical Operations Administrator in Libertyville, Illinois at Pharma Logistics

Position Summary

Pharma Logistics is seeking a customer-focused, hands-on Senior Technical Operations Administrator to join the Technology Operations team. This role will be heavy on systems administration, infrastructure support, Microsoft management, VMware, storage, network support, security, and application deployment support. The person will also serve as the face of Tech Ops for employees and business partners, delivering clear communication, strong ownership, dependable follow-through, and a support experience that delights customers.

Key Responsibilities

Customer-Facing Tech Ops Support

• Serve as a primary point of contact for IT support, infrastructure-related issues, and operational technology needs.
• Deliver a professional, responsive, and customer-focused support experience for warehouse, office, and remote users.
• Communicate technical information clearly to employees, leaders, vendors, and technical teams.
• Familiar with managing requests via a Helpdesk application and able to maintain active communication practices with customers.
• Build trust with business users by following through on issues, providing timely updates, and ensuring a positive support experience.
• Support critical early-morning operations to help ensure business continuity and operational readiness.

Systems Administration and Microsoft Management

• Administer, maintain, and support Microsoft-based infrastructure and enterprise technology services.
• Manage Active Directory, Group Policy, Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, Entra ID/Azure AD, and endpoint management tools.
• Perform server administration, patching, monitoring, performance tuning, upgrades, and routine maintenance.
• Maintain technical documentation, operational procedures, infrastructure diagrams, and support standards.
• Support backup, disaster recovery, retention, system health monitoring, and event log troubleshooting.

Application Deployment and DevOps Release Management

• Support application deployment activities using Azure Pipelines in coordination with development, QA, business, and Tech Ops stakeholders.
• Participate in DevOps release management processes, including release planning, deployment coordination, release readiness checks, validation support, and post-release monitoring.
• Assist with deployment troubleshooting, environment readiness, access issues, configuration validation, and escalation of release blockers.
• Maintain awareness of release approvals, change windows, rollback considerations, and documentation needed for controlled production deployments.
• Partner with application teams to improve deployment reliability, reduce manual steps, and support repeatable release practices.

VMware and Storage Administration

• Administer and support VMware vSphere and virtual machine environments.
• Monitor virtualization performance, capacity, high availability, and disaster recovery readiness.
• Administer and support Nimble Storage environments, including performance, redundancy, replication, capacity, and maintenance activities.
• Troubleshoot infrastructure issues across servers, storage, virtualization, and related systems.

Network and Security Support

• Support LAN, WAN, wireless, VPN, switching, routing, DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, and secure connectivity services.
• Troubleshoot network connectivity issues and coordinate with vendors or service providers as needed.
• Support cybersecurity initiatives, vulnerability remediation, security monitoring, system hardening, and access controls.
• Assist with incident response, audit support, security policy enforcement, and continuous improvement of cyber defense practices.

Desktop Support and Issue Resolution

• Provide advanced desktop support for Windows devices, printers, scanners, mobile devices, and business applications.
• Resolve escalated help desk tickets and complex technical issues with a strong ownership mindset.
• Support onboarding, offboarding, hardware deployment, software installation, user access, and endpoint troubleshooting.
• Assist users with training, adoption, and practical guidance to improve productivity.
• Partner with IT team members and vendors to resolve hardware, software, network, application deployment, and infrastructure issues.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years of proven experience in systems administration, infrastructure support, technical operations, or a similar IT role.
• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft administration, including Microsoft 365, Active Directory, Group Policy, Entra ID/Azure AD, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, and Windows Server.
• Experience supporting application deployment activities using Azure Pipelines or similar CI/CD tooling.
• Working awareness of DevOps release management processes, including release planning, approvals, deployment coordination, validation, rollback awareness, and production readiness.
• Experience supporting VMware environments and enterprise storage platforms, preferably Nimble Storage.
• Strong understanding of networking concepts, including LAN, WAN, VPN, DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, routing, switching, and network troubleshooting.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity concepts, endpoint security, access control, system hardening, monitoring, vulnerability remediation, and incident response support.
• Strong desktop support experience for Windows endpoints, printers, scanners, mobile devices, and end-user productivity tools.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to engage technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong customer service mindset with a demonstrated ability to delight customers through professionalism, responsiveness, and follow-through.
• Ability to prioritize multiple issues, work independently, document work clearly, and support urgent operational needs.
• Must be local to Libertyville, Illinois, or surrounding suburbs and able to work onsite five days per week.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in logistics, healthcare, pharmaceutical, distribution, or warehouse operations environments.
• Experience supporting application environments across development, QA, UAT, and production stages.
• Experience with Palo Alto firewalls or other next-generation firewall platforms.
• PowerShell scripting or automation experience.
• Microsoft, VMware, Cisco, networking, security, Azure, DevOps, or infrastructure-related certifications.
• Experience mentoring junior support staff or contributing to a structured knowledge base.

Physical and Work Requirements

• Onsite role based in Libertyville, Illinois, five days per week.
• Reliable early-morning availability with a start time between 5:30 AM and 6:00 AM.
• Ability to support after-hours maintenance of windows, deployment of windows, or urgent business needs when required.
• Ability to lift, move, and install IT equipment as needed, up to 50 pounds.