Systems And Monitoring Engineer - Wintel

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The IO Engineer - Senior Analyst is responsible for proactive queue management, infrastructure monitoring, and L1.5/L2 incident handling across enterprise infrastructure environments.

This role serves as a critical operational backbone-triaging alerts, managing incident queues, performing initial diagnostics, and coordinating escalations across compute, virtualization, and basic network domains. The position ensures service continuity, SLA adherence, and accurate problem escalation to engineering teams.

The ideal candidate has solid foundational experience with Windows/Linux systems, virtualization technologies, basic networking concepts, and hands on exposure to enterprise monitoring platforms such as WhatsUp Gold, SolarWinds, SCOM, and Nagios. Success in this role requires solid operational discipline, analytical thinking, and effective communication in a 24x7 production environment.

Primary Responsibilities

Queue Management & Incident Coordination

• Monitor, triage, and manage daily incident, request, and problem queues
• Validate ticket severity, categorization, prioritization, and routing to support SLA compliance
• Provide L1.5/L2 level troubleshooting for compute, virtualization, and basic network issues
• Escalate high severity or complex issues to L2/L3 engineering teams following defined runbooks
• Maintain clear, timely status updates to stakeholders during active incidents
• Ensure ticket quality, documentation accuracy, and proper closure
  
  

• Continuously monitor infrastructure alerts and dashboards using enterprise tools including:
• WhatsUp Gold
• SolarWinds
• System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
• Nagios
• Perform initial diagnostics for alerts related to:
• Server health
• Virtual machines
• Basic network performance
• Review logs, system metrics, and health indicators prior to escalation
• Identify recurring alerts and patterns and recommend alert tuning or noise reduction opportunities
• Escalate validated issues with appropriate diagnostic data and context
  

• Validate OS level health indicators including:
• CPU, memory, disk utilization
• Services and processes
• Assist with operational tasks such as:
• VM restarts (per runbook)
• Basic patch validation
• Log and diagnostic data collection
• Perform initial troubleshooting of:
• Service failures
• Access issues
• Account related incidents
  

• Monitor and validate VMware platform alerts such as:
• VM unresponsiveness
• Datastore space warnings
• vCenter or ESXi connectivity issues
• Support basic VM lifecycle activities under documented procedures
• Capture and provide diagnostic artifacts for virtualization related escalations
  

• Perform preliminary network diagnostics including:
• Ping
• Traceroute
• Nslookup
• Port connectivity checks
• Identify symptoms of connectivity, firewall, or routing issues
• Escalate efficiently with clear problem descriptions and diagnostic evidence
• Collaborate with network teams during active incident resolution
  

• Follow ITIL aligned processes for Incident, Change, and Problem Management.
• Maintain accurate documentation:
• SOPs
• Runbooks
• Escalation paths
• Participate in 24x7 operations and rotational shift schedules as required.
• Contribute to continuous improvement efforts, including:
• Alert reduction
• Workflow optimization
• Queue hygiene and operational efficiency
• Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so
  

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• 3+ years of experience in:
• Infrastructure monitoring
• Queue management
• Infrastructure or NOC operations
• Hands-on exposure to enterprise monitoring tools:
• WhatsUp Gold
• SolarWinds
• SCOM
• Nagios
• Experience using ticketing and ITSM tools, including:
• JIRA or Rally
• Working knowledge of:
• Windows Server fundamentals
• Linux OS fundamentals
• Familiarity with VMware vSphere concepts:
• vCenter
• ESXi
• Virtual machines
• Datastores
• Understanding of networking fundamentals:
• TCP/IP
• DNS
• Routing
• Ports and firewalls
• Proven solid analytical thinking, communication, and incident coordination skills
• Ability and willingness to support a global 24x7 production environment
  

• ITIL certification or formal ITIL process exposure
• Experience using ticketing and ITSM tools including ServiceNow
• Familiarity with cloud platforms:
• Microsoft Azure
• AWS
• GCP
• Exposure to scripting or automation:
• PowerShell
• Python
• Shell scripting