Senior Server Engineer (Security)

About Kirkland & Ellis

At Kirkland & Ellis, we are united in our ambition and drive to move forward. We share core values that help us achieve excellence: collaboration, talent empowerment, service, inclusion, respect and gratitude. Our people are our greatest asset, and we invest in the brightest talent and encourage a diversity of perspectives and strengths to create dynamic teams that operate at the pinnacle of their field. Our talented professionals show up every day knowing they will engage in meaningful work, continuous learning and professional development.
 
As one of the world’s leading law firms, we serve a broad range of clients with market-leading practices in private equity, M&A and other complex corporate transactions; investment fund formation and alternative asset management; restructurings; high-stakes commercial and intellectual property litigation; and government, regulatory and internal investigations. We handle the most complicated and sophisticated legal matters because we don’t just meet industry standards, we create them. We bring innovation and entrepreneurialism to every engagement and, as a result, have long-standing client relationships with leading global corporations and financial sponsors. With 6,500 employees (including 3,500 lawyers) operating from 20 offices across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, we are one of the largest law firms in the world and a top financial performer.

Essential Job Functions

As a member of the Server Operations team, provide day-to-day support for the global Kirkland & Ellis server infrastructure (on-premises & Azure cloud). Daily activities include Security Audit Findings Remediation, Security Vulnerability Remediation, Azure Landing Zone Engineering & Operations, Project Coordination and Planning, Server Operations PSPG's (Policies Standards Procedures Guidelines), Project Deployment, Server Environment Provisioning, Analysis & Reports, Administrative Support, Perform Data Center Analysis and Execution, and Vendor Management & Coordination. Deep understanding of Microsoft Technologies & Security, Nutanix Hardware, Acropolis, VMWare and Hyper-V hypervisors are required for this position.

This position has a strong focus on Windows, Linux, Active Directory and Azure Cloud security findings and remediation including using Vendor Provided Patches, Group Policies, Active Directory changes, and infrastructure changes to stay ahead and react to constant security threats.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Plan:

• Plans and executes new areas of opportunities, techniques, and approaches.
• Demonstrates expert technical skills within technical specialty.
• Creates technology strategies and contributes to road maps.
• Develops complex project plans and manages projects across multiple IT teams.
• Develops complex financial models and project budgets.

Build:

• Coordinates and manages complex Change Control Requests across multiple teams.
• Develops and executes complex test plans for integrated, cross application solutions.
• Effectively communicates to or instructs other personnel on operational and project documentation.

Run:

• Provides expert Level 3 technical support to troubleshoot, diagnose and resolve complex issues.
• Coordinates and leads operational activities across multiple teams.
• Demonstrate strong financial, vendor and contract management skills.
• Develops and executes complex production maturity plans.
• Develops and executes complex capacity and performance plans.
• Coaches, mentors, and develops team members.
• Demonstrates expert client service skills, manages complex issues end-to-end across multiple teams and exceeds IT Service Desk, other team, and client expectations for resolving issues.

Qualifications & Requirements

Education, Work Experience, Skills

The Server Engineer Senior 1 must have a BA/BS in computer science, related field, or equivalent experience.  Must have 10+ years of overall technology experience along with 3+ years supporting major implementations in large scale Windows, Linux, Acropolis, VMWare, Hyper-V and Azure environments.

Communication

• Listening, understanding, and articulating technical and non-technical information (both written and oral formats) to customers, peers and/or management in a one-on-one or team context with some oversight. 
• Effective production support activities, including advanced technical writing.
• Documenting small to medium scale projects with some supervision and is involved in developing and delivering presentation.

Decision Making

• Ability to solicit input from internal and external sources, including the ability to investigate and weigh best practices from other firms, analyze input and use sound judgment.   
• Is required to make decisions or communicate across organizational boundaries. 
• Involved in anticipating problem troubleshooting scenarios and analyzing ways in which to avoid the problem completely or greatly mitigate its risk. The goal is to minimize the trade-offs between cost containment and/or timeliness of service so that both are somewhat achievable.

Interpersonal Skills

• Does "whatever it takes" to support the tactical and strategic goals of the team and in the Firm.
• Recognized as a positive and motivational force on the team. 
• Recognizes and defuses complex interpersonal issues effectively while managing customer expectations.  Sets follow up steps in accordance with best practices. 
• Negotiates skillfully and compromises in very difficult situations to build relationships internally and externally for the team.

Strategic/Change Leadership

• Managing organizational development by dissecting complex situations and refocusing on the most critical technology tasks. 
• Contributes through a high degree of technical expertise/professional mastery in solving critical and complex problems or opportunities facing the team or group.
• Provides feedback to management on strategic recommendations. Fosters environment of innovation and change. 
• Aligns changes with the organization's strategic direction and objectives and customer expectations.
• Recognizes the scope of problems and understands the impact of changes on others. 
• Identifies short- and long-range organizational needs.
• Articulates the vision and strategic plan.
• Creates a clear focus on internal and external customer needs.
• Coaches and mentors.
• Delegates responsibility.
• Promotes cooperation.
• Encourages and rewards risk-taking.

Program/Project Management

• Develops small intra-team program and leads small to medium projects.
• Proficient in the use of project management software.
• Reports on progress and project milestones. 
• Frequently updates teams and management via formal presentations.
• Focuses on outcomes and achieves results.

Technical Ability

• Expert level knowledge of at least two technologies (e.g., architecture, design). 
• Understands multiple projects to integrate them into business solutions.

Technologies/Software

• Knowledge and ability configure/administer of cloud technology vendors (Azure) and the tools associated with selected vendors’ products.
• Able to configure & support Microsoft Windows and Linux Operating systems (RHEL, SUSE, CentOS, Ubuntu).
• Able to configure & support VMware, Hyper-V  and Nutanix hypervisors and their underlying technologies (Compute & Storage vMotion, DRS, HA, Clustering Services, Hyper-V Manager).
• Able to configure & support VMware, Hyper-V & Nutanix virtual machine managers (vCenter, SCVMM & Prism Central)
• Able to configure & support Container based technologies (Kubernetes, Docker, Rancher, etc).
• Able to configure & support Active Directory and it's underlying technologies such as DNS, DHCP, Certificate Services, Forest & Domain Trusts, Windows Clustering, GPOs, etc.
• Knowledge of Cisco UCS Hardware including blade, rack mount servers and Fiber Interconnects and server profiles. Understanding of Cisco UCS Manager and CIMC for Lights out management.
• Knowledge of Nutanix Hardware.
• Ability to install hardware in Data Center racks and ensure redundant power & networking and proper labeling (Rack & Stack).
• Knowledge of server monitoring and configuration baseline and patching tools and the ability to manage such tools such as SCCM and SCOM.
• Server security remediation including using tools such as Nexpose & Kenna to identify threats and ability to remediate such threats by installing patches or pushing out group policies to fix vulnerabilities.
• Strong coding knowledge (PowerShell & Bash) and the ability to automate processes to implement and manage the server environment effectively.
• Knowledge of networking and load balancing and fail over systems.
• Knowledge of hardware vendors and the tools associated with selected vendors’ products.
• Capable of interpreting messages/alerts from multiples systems to identify potential problems.
• Have worked with and adhered to Change Control Management policies and implementation standards.

Current K&E Server Infrastructure Technologies

• Microsoft Cloud Technologies (Azure)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2016 / 2019 / 2022
• VMware Virtual Center and ESXi v7.x
• Red Hat Linux, other Unix Variant Vendor Appliances
• Microsoft Active Directory/DNS/DHCP/DFS
• CISCO UCS Series Server Hardware
• Microsoft Hyper-V 2016, 2019
• Container Technologies (Kubernetes, Rancher, etc)
• Microsoft System Center (SCCM & SCOM, SCVMM)
• UCS Manager, UCS Director, CISCO Intersight
• PowerShell
• Turbonomic Virtualization Platform Tool
• Nutanix Technologies including Prism Central, LEAP, etc.

Tools and Equipment

• Required to carry a wireless device and respond to off hour emergencies. Availability to work nights and weekends as required for systems maintenance and support.

How to Apply

Thank you for your interest in Kirkland & Ellis LLP.  To complete an application and submit your resume, please click "Apply Now."

For applicants who are based in New York City, visit the following link for pay range information: http://staffjobsus.kirkland.com/pages/JOBID7510

Equal Employment Opportunity

All employment decisions, including the recruiting, hiring, placement, training availability, promotion, compensation, evaluation, disciplinary actions, and termination of employment (if necessary) are made without regard to the employee’s race, color, creed, religion, sex, pregnancy or childbirth, personal appearance, family responsibilities, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, political affiliation, source of income, place of residence, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military veteran status, unfavorable discharge from military service, physical or mental disability, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

Closing Statement

The www.kirkland.com job postings and recruiting mailbox are for candidates only. If you are a recruiter, search firm or employment agency, and do not have a signed contract with Kirkland & Ellis LLP ("K&E") and have not been asked specifically to submit candidates, you will not be compensated in any way for your referral of a candidate even if K&E hires the candidate. Direct contact with K&E employees in an attempt to present candidates is inappropriate and will be a factor in determining any future professional relationship with the Firm. #LI-Hybrid #LI-JN1