Systems Engineer - Enterprise Infrastructure

Who is Grand & Toy?

Grand & Toy is a digital, technology and e-commerce driven business with over 140 years of history; a strong brand and a great reputation.  We partner with our customers to deliver product and service solutions which maximize their efficiency and productivity. The result is a fast-paced, customer-centric, innovative and exciting organization where our employees depend on different types of technology to get work done. 

About the Role

In this role, you will work on a Team that oversees the enterprise infrastructure. You will provide technical leadership and subject matter expertise to members of the Infrastructure & Operations, Solutions/PMO and Ecommerce and ERP Application Development teams.

You will be responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining our network and enterprise infrastructure, ensuring seamless connectivity and optimal performance across the organization. To be successful, you require a solid understanding of network protocols, hardware, and software, along with strong problem-solving skills.

You bring detailed knowledge of Industry Standards and Best Practices to help move G&Ts technology stack and its underlying architecture forward and play a critical role in planning, designing, evaluating, and managing the implementation, operation, maintenance, and ongoing technical support of all applications that operate on, or connect to, our infrastructure. You will also onboard, mentor, and guide Infrastructure team members. 

The System Engineer works closely with Senior I&O teams and counsels IT Leadership on the use of existing and future infrastructure to deliver greater efficiencies, the refresh of legacy business solutions, and improved customer experience.  A key facet of this role will be related to collaboration with the Infrastructure Team and Project Planning and Delivery in addition to support of the Environment and Solutions in place.

What will I do?

Design & Implementation

• Function as a SME and Solutions lead within the department and represent IT in workflow, escalation discussions with others.
• Recommend systems integration required to support business applications needs.
• Develop business continuity planning and recovery procedures.
• Perform network support and analysis in a multi-site, multi-server environment focused primarily on Cisco Routers, Cisco Firewalls, MPLS, ASA's, MS LAN, and related technologies in a complex environment.
• Responsible for making changes to internetworking & telecommunications infrastructure.
• Analyze commercially available voice & data networking products and services to determine and recommend solutions which are best suited to Grand & Toy.
• Hands-on configuration, installation, and maintenance of the LAN/WAN infrastructure, network security, and servers.
• Responsible for coordinating implementation of internetworking projects and work with vendors & business partners to ensure that installations meet defined service level objectives.
• Prepare and maintain network engineering documents & procedures.
• Develop, maintain and communicate standards and documentation for use by IT support personnel.
• Daily monitoring, support, maintenance, tuning and health checks of the corporate systems, networks, and infrastructure.
• Participate in disaster recovery planning/testing activities.

Project Management

• Act as project leader for projects dealing with entirety of infrastructure ecosystem
• Responsible for the successful deployment of advanced infrastructure and associated systems and services.
• Responsible for executing technical projects across multiple stakeholders; developing analysis to support process and project improvements
• Troubleshoot
• Provide highest level troubleshooting on problems unanswered at lower levels
• Serves as point-of-contact across several areas or disciplines to solve major systems outages with high impact or visibility
• Act as technical contact for complex technology
• Work with IT teams to drive issue resolution
• Foresee problems in advance and proactively solutions early issues

Strategic Advisor

• Provide expert technical advice and counsel to management and to less experienced systems analysts.
• Help other team members understand the deployment strategy and how to support its implementation
• Consult with management, customers and staff and recommend system, process and procedural improvements
• Participate in budget planning exercises

Team Coaching and Knowledge Transfer

• Provide expert technical advice and counsel to management and to less experienced systems analysts.
• Help other team members understand the deployment strategy and how to support its implementation
• Participate in budget planning exercises

Security & Compliance

• Participate in compliance frameworks PCI, SOX and apply these requirements and concepts to G&T infrastructure environments
• Monitor, identify and remediate IT security issues in accordance with PCI and SOX security programs.
• Develop and deploy controls required for compliance with PCI and SOX data security standards
• Participate and help manage annual audit processes related to security compliance

What qualifications do I need?

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related field of study, or a combination of education, training and experience
• Minimum of 5-8 years experience supporting and managing IT infrastructure within an environment of 500+ users and multiple locations
• 5-8 years of experience installing, configuring and troubleshooting Cisco technologies, Microsoft Server Operating Systems, VMware vSphere and EMC Storage platforms.
• Information Security Experience (experience with PCI is an asset)
• Cisco CCN and/or CCNP certifications (or equivalent) preferred
• ITIL 4 certification is an asset
• Advanced level of analytical, troubleshooting and design skills
• Proficient project management and planning skills
• Strong documentation and/or technical writing skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Strong conflict resolution skills
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize workload
• Ability to train and mentor junior team members
• Advanced understanding of IT security best practice
• Ability to communicate with technical and non-technical users is essential

Technical competencies required:

• Server Hardware, Microsoft & VMware Hypervisors, EMC Storage platforms.
• Microsoft Windows Servers – Install/Configure/Troubleshoot.
• Microsoft Active Directory administration (GPO, Exchange)
• Extensive experience with Cisco core network technologies (Nexus 9000, 5000, Catalyst 6500, 4600 series) including a deep knowledge of the Cisco IOS platform
• EIGRP/BGP routing concepts, IP/ARP/MAC/Spanning-tree issues and configurations, troubleshooting VLAN or physical connectivity for servers and other devices, troubleshooting Cisco access-list, NAT, VSS, QOS
• Intermediate/senior knowledge of Cisco ASA firewall configuration and management.
• Cisco VPN, F5 traffic load balancer and web application firewall management experience preferred.
• Hands on experience supporting a multi-site Cisco VoIP environment (Call Manager).
• Practical experience implementing and managing Cisco wireless infrastructure using Cisco Controllers and AP’s.
• Experience implementing and managing two-factor authentication technologies.
• Network security technologies such as Firewall, IDS, IPS, cyber security and malware protection.  
• In depth knowledge of networking protocols & services such as TCP/IP, SMTP, SNMP, NTP, DNS, DHCP
• Network availability and disaster recovery planning. (load balancing, replication and recovery)
• IP and MPLS networking familiarity
• Data center network services
• WAN and SD-WAN
• Wired and Wireless access
• Firewalls and Cyber Security
• Virtualization and cloud technologies

Additional preferred experience:

• Cloud (Azure, AWS, Google) experience is an asset
• Scripting (PowerShell, VBS, etc.)
• Avamar / Data Domain
• Checkpoint Firewall Design and Administration
• F5 BIG IP Administration
• PCI compliance knowledge

What does Grand & Toy offer?

Grand & Toy offers a competitive salary and benefits package based on education and experience, along with other perks such as our associate/corporate discounts and reward programs for management positions. We proudly provide comprehensive training for all new associates.

We celebrate employment equity and diversity. We are committed to providing accommodations for persons with disabilities. If you require accommodation, we will work with you to meet your needs.