"Windows Lead" - Fort Mill, SC (Fully Onsite)

Hello ,

Greetings for the day !

I hope you are doing well.

My name is Vinayak, and I am a Technical Recruiter from Empower Professionals Inc. I came across your profile and wanted to reach out regarding a "Windows Lead" role with one of our clients. And it’s Fort Mill, SC (Fully Onsite).

Please let me know if you are available in the market and interested in this role (see job description below) - if so, we can connect and speak further.

Role: Windows Lead

Locations: Fort Mill, SC (Fully Onsite)

Duration: 12+ Months Contract

F2F Interview Highly Preferred for Local Candidates

Job Description:

Role Summary:

• Responsible for administering Microsoft Windows Server and VMware virtualization platforms across onshore and offshore delivery models, ensuring reliability, security, and recoverability of enterprise services.

Must Have Skills:

• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019, and 2022.
• Hardware management experience across Dell, HPE, IBM, and Cisco UCS platforms.
• Core services: AD, DNS, DHCP, Sites & Services, Replication, GPO, SSL Certificates, IIS.
• Data Center operations across DMZ/PROD/DEV/TEST with DR readiness.
• Server lifecycle: provisioning, tuning, decommissioning.
• Patch Management using SCCM: baselines, deployment, compliance enforcement.
• Backup & Restore administration and testing.
• Windows Failover Cluster configuration and administration.
• Virtualization: VMware vSphere/vCenter administration, VM provisioning, templates, snapshots, vMotion, hot/cold migration.
• Cluster features: DRS, HA, FT management.
• Performance, capacity, and utilization trend analysis.
• Incident, Problem, and Queue management within ITSM (e.g., ServiceNow).
• Asset and inventory management; health check routines and reporting (daily/weekly/monthly).
• Stakeholder management and executive-ready communication.
• Experience leading change windows in mission‑critical environments.
• Strong VMware fundamentals; networking concepts (VLANs, trunking, HA/multipathing).
• Administer Cisco Intersight and UCS Manager; manage blade and rack profiles, policies, server ports, uplink/unified ports; HTTP/SSH; UCS domain failover and fabric interconnects.
• VMware SRM Administrator: monitoring and troubleshooting across vSphere/vCenter; Disaster Recovery using VMware Site Recovery Manager; configure protection groups and recovery plans; Storage DRS; Application HA; vRealize Operations (vROps).

Roles & Responsibilities

• Act as technical lead for Wintel and virtualization platforms, owning complex incidents and major changes.
• Coordinate with architecture, network, storage, and security teams for cross‑domain solutions.
• Own DR strategy and exercises; ensure runbooks are current and recovery objectives are met.
• Review and approve patch baselines, change plans, and production deployments.
• Capacity planning, forecasting, and cost optimization; present weekly/monthly service reports to stakeholders.
• Vendor and OEM coordination for escalations, RMAs, firmware/driver advisories, and support contracts.
• Governance for asset inventory accuracy, audit readiness, and compliance posture.
• Mentor offshore team, define SOPs, and drive automation and continuous improvement.

Good to Have Skills:

• PowerShell scripting and automation (patching, reporting, compliance).
• vRealize Operations (vROps) dashboards and alert tuning.
• Exposure to Azure/AWS for hybrid AD, backup, or DR scenarios.
• Knowledge of security baselines (CIS/SCB), vulnerability remediation, and compliance audits.
• TLS/PKI lifecycle management and certificate automation.
• Experience with monitoring tools (SCOM, SolarWinds, Nagios) and log analytics (Splunk).
• ITIL Foundation certification; experience with CAB/Change processes.