Job Details

Department Summary
The End User Compute (EUC) Engineering Solutions team within the IT department at Consumers Energy is responsible for conceptualizing and designing detailed solutions for specific projects enabling the organization to meet business objectives. With an emphasis on infrastructure (both hardware and software), the team provides technical leadership to ensure technical design and implementation are aligned with business requirements.

Job Description/Responsibilities
The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Engineer has a primary task to provide enterprise-level engineering and design through the design, engineering, configuration, of the selected VDI solution. Currently, VDI has roughly 600 virtual desktops across two environments. Additionally, we expect this role to assume the same level of engineering ownership of our MDM solutions; MDM solutions handle roughly 3,000 mobile devices. The VDI/MDM Solution Engineer is the primary point of contact between the project team and the architecture delivery organization. As such, the Solution Engineer ensures compliance of technology solutions with architectural standards, validates technical design and implementation are aligned with business requirements, and actively participates in the full development life cycle of the delivered capability. Working on multiple projects simultaneously as the subject matter expert is expected. Further, the Solution Engineer will: - Gather requirements: o Partner with business technology partners/analysts, systems analysts, and other engineers to gather and review non-functional requirements o Manage and address changes / business needs through a ticket system o Identify key business and technology drivers that impact architectures, including end-user requirements o Collaborate with application and infrastructure teams to develop scope / requirements o Develop technical design and implementation artifacts that aid in overall project delivery and ongoing support in a Plan, Build, and Run model o Provide guidance with additional solutions - Assess technology: o Conduct assessments of current business and technology architectures including: functional assessments and functional overlaps/gaps; technical assessments, such as platforms, tool proliferation, age of underlying technologies; uptime/availability; and business processes o Identify and document any risks, issues or critical success factors that may require immediate action - Design technical solutions: o Translate project requirements into detailed designs consistent with current and future platform strategy and roadmap while influencing requirements and balancing needs for immediate action and the point of arrival o Design infrastructure architecture that includes appropriate application of industry best practices and standards o Maintain and promote use of appropriate design techniques and methodologies o Actively participate in testing design and execution to validate coverage of requirements and perform causal analysis for any identified gaps - Carefully consider risk and governance implications: o Create effective and efficient design patterns, conducting risk evaluations and enforcing policies and standards to enable the enterprise to conduct business at an appropriate and known risk level o Ensure capabilities are reviewed and compliant within defined risk levels, while considering hardware/software currency, performance/availability, security and information/transaction integrity and drive the awareness of required improvements o Communicate and manage governance parameters that take into account stakeholders* interests and processes with measurable results - Reinforce Best Practices by researching and maintaining a deep understanding of current and emerging technologies and solutions to solve business problems The Solution Engineer role demands technical skill, a focus on internal customer service, critical thinking skills, and the ability to communicate and document technical subject matter for audiences of varying technical knowledge.

Requirements/Qualification
- A bachelor*s degree is required; preferred field of study in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems or other IT-related area, Business or related - 2+ years of in-depth VDI knowledge in engineering and design of systems that support 1000+ users - Proven experience in architecting and designing Enterprise Remote Access solutions - Expertise in designing and deploying large-scale Mobility Infrastructure solutions - Expert knowledge in designing and deploying large scale environments with High Availability and Disaster Recovery capabilities - Extensive knowledge in all facets of virtualization (application and desktop) and the different platforms available - Extensive knowledge of computer/network systems infrastructure requirements and standards, standard software package and patch deployment methodologies, standard change control processes within large-to-enterprise size corporations - Experience with Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems - Familiarity and understanding of Active Directory, Windows GPO, WINS, DNS, DHCP, and TCP/IP - Proven ability to work effectively in a team setting as well as independently with minimal error and guidance - Exceptional verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate with all levels of associates in the organization - Excellent planning and organizational skills with an ability to understand the long-term ("big picture") - Ability to think strategically and implement iteratively - Experience delivering concurrent, large infrastructure projects at all phases*from project definition through design and delivery The following skills and experience will set you apart from others: - One or more of the following certifications is strongly preferred: VCD, VCPx-DT - Ability to initiate new processes and/or enhance existing process - Strong leadership skills with an ability to lead cross-functional teams in a collaborative way - Windows Desktop, Security and Network systems * Windows 7 and above, Active Directory, PKI / certificate services - Monitoring Applications * SolarWinds, Microsoft Service Center Operations Manager (SCOM), - Knowledge of ITIL best practices and use of issue/problem tracking systems - Energy industry background that includes a working knowledge of effectively mapping technology to business challenges Position will be filled at the appropriate salary grade based upon the skills, knowledge, and experience of the selected candidate Essential Functions Works closely with department managers and users to define and analyze business and operational problems, process improvement opportunities and requirements; analyzes operational and business mandates and legal requirements; identifies and analyzes complex, ambiguous and/or conflicting business process issues; advises department managers on applications development, enhancement and maintenance issues; explains technology and process options and assists managers in analysis and decision making; analyzes management information needs and recommends data and reporting processes; coordinates the development of department priorities and works within IT to align initiatives to these priorities; facilitates user meetings and joint development sessions. Develops and refines business models and relationship diagrams; evaluates methods of improving efficiency and cost effectiveness of business, technical and operational processes; works with users to reengineer work processes; analyzes functional business requirements and translates user expectations into detailed business requirements, specifications and success criteria; works with Information Systems to develop conceptual proposals for business process automation i