Principal Infrastructure Engineer (Windows)

 Principal Infrastructure Engineer (Windows)

12+ Months Contract

ONSITE - Palm Beach Gardens or Miami, FL

Principal Engineer, Windows Infrastructure

Job Overview

The Principal Engineer, Windows Infrastructure will provide senior-level engineering leadership for enterprise Windows Server platforms. This role is focused on deep Windows Server operating system engineering, including server build standards, automation, hardening, performance, troubleshooting, monitoring, lifecycle management, and operational support.
This is a senior engineering role focused on platform standards, automation, lifecycle strategy, and complex infrastructure delivery rather than day-to-day server administration. The Principal Engineer will help define the strategy, roadmap, standards, and service model for Windows Server infrastructure.
The role requires someone comfortable with both solution design and hands-on implementation. The Principal Engineer will work closely with architects, infrastructure teams, security, operations, application teams, Active Directory, backup, resiliency, and project stakeholders to deliver reliable, secure, and supportable Windows Server solutions.
This role reports directly to the infrastructure leadership team and may provide technical direction to indirect project resources. The position is based in either Palm Beach Gardens or Miami.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Lead the design, engineering, and implementation of enterprise Windows Server infrastructure solutions across physical and virtual environments.
• Act as the technical product owner for Windows Server infrastructure services, including standards, roadmap development, lifecycle planning, and platform improvement opportunities.
• Develop and maintain Windows Server build standards, golden images, hardened templates, security baselines, and configuration standards using tools such as Packer.
• Define and implement Windows Server automation using PowerShell, Terraform, Ansible, Git, and CI/CD practices.
• Own server-focused Group Policy standards in partnership with the Active Directory team.
• Define Windows Server lifecycle, patching, and maintenance standards, including cadence, prioritization, exception handling, and coordination with operations teams.
• Support Windows Server security hardening, vulnerability remediation, and compliance alignment with CIS, NIST, and enterprise security standards.
• Provide advanced troubleshooting for Windows Server performance, stability, security, and operational issues.
• Define standard Windows Server hosting patterns for enterprise applications, including configuration, monitoring, backup, recovery, security, and support requirements.
• Define monitoring standards, alerting requirements, operational thresholds, service catalog offerings, knowledge management, and CMDB standards for Windows Server services.
• Partner with backup, resiliency, security, application, SQL Server, Citrix, Active Directory, infrastructure, cloud, and operations teams on cross-functional projects and recovery requirements.
• Participate in architecture reviews, design reviews, change planning, and technical governance processes; create technical documentation, implementation plans, diagrams, and executive-ready materials.
• Lead technical workstreams, provide direction to indirect project resources, and work with vendors or managed service providers to resolve complex issues and improve platform operations.

Required Skills, Experience, and Education

Required Skills and Experience

• 10+ years of infrastructure engineering experience, including 5+ years of hands-on Windows Server engineering in enterprise environments.
• Deep technical experience with Windows Server operating systems, including build, configuration, troubleshooting, patching, hardening, lifecycle management, and operational support.
• Experience supporting both physical and virtual Windows Server environments.
• Advanced troubleshooting experience with Windows Server internals, event logs, services, registry, certificates, networking, storage integration, and performance tools.
• Strong PowerShell scripting and automation experience.
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code patterns for server provisioning and configuration using tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Packer, Git, and CI/CD practices.
• Experience building and maintaining Windows Server golden images, hardened templates, automated deployment patterns, and configuration baselines.
• Experience with Windows Server security hardening, vulnerability remediation, endpoint controls, configuration compliance, and CIS or NIST standards.
• Experience developing or managing server-focused Group Policy Objects in partnership with Active Directory teams.
• Experience defining monitoring requirements, alert thresholds, operational metrics, service catalog offerings, knowledge management, CMDB standards, and related ServiceNow processes.
• Experience developing standards, roadmaps, documentation, service models, and operational procedures.
• Experience leading technical workstreams, working with indirect project resources, and communicating with technical teams, stakeholders, and senior leadership.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience with Azure or Azure Local.
• Experience supporting SQL Server infrastructure requirements from a Windows Server perspective.
• Experience with Citrix environments.
• Experience with Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, and common Windows Server roles.
• Experience with Rubrik backup and recovery processes.
• Experience with Windows Failover Clustering, IIS, Windows Admin Center, PerfMon, ProcMon, Wireshark, or similar troubleshooting tools.
• Experience with enterprise monitoring platforms and observability tools.
• Experience working in regulated or security-focused enterprise environments.

Education and Certifications

• Bachelor''s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Relevant Microsoft, automation, cloud, security, or infrastructure certifications are preferred.
• Preferred certifications may include Microsoft Windows Server, Azure, Terraform, Ansible, ITIL, security, or related infrastructure certifications.