Aspire Public Schools is a nonprofit organization that currently operates 34 high-performing, open-enrollment public charter schools serving 12,000 students in underserved communities across California and will open schools in Memphis, TN in fall, 2013. Aspire is one of the highest-performing public school systems in California, delivering a rigorous ‘College for Certain’ education to students in grades K-12. An unrelenting focus on college preparedness led to 100 percent of graduating Aspire seniors being accepted to four year colleges or universities in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Aspire offers a high-quality education in six cities throughout California: Los Angeles, Oakland, Stockton, Sacramento, Modesto and East Palo Alto.  Visit Aspire Public Schools at www.aspirepublicschools.org.   

GENERAL SUMMARY:

The System Administrator will assist the Senior System Administrator to manage the Aspire Public Schools organization wide systems and networking operations to support Aspire’s achievement and operational goals. The Network and System Administrator will share responsibility with the Tech Ops Regional Managers for the effective operation of Aspire laptops, desktops, servers, and phone systems that are deployed throughout the Aspire network.  This role reports to the Senior System Administrator.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

1.  Contribute to a technology support function that delights its customers: Aspire teammates (Principals, teachers, staff, etc.) and students
2.  Manage and refine the application support queue process and participate in ticket management.
3.  Manage the Aspire systems and network infrastructure in a way that emphasizes collaboration, sparks innovation, and values customer service, technical proficiency and lifelong learning
4.  Manage implementation of complex and diverse technology projects that improve teaching, learning, and operating at Aspire.
5.  Share expertise and provide advice to help managers and directors from other teams (e.g., network, data infrastructure, school support, and teaching and learning technology) meet their technology and support needs
6.  Share responsibility with the Regional Managers for support of efficient and highly organized systems for asset tracking, management, and support.
7.  Mentor technology operations teammates so they continue to grow and develop their technical and professional skills.
8.  Support the Senior System Administrator with systems administrating for our human resources and talent management related systems.
9.  Support the identification of software training needs and provide input into training plans.
10.  Develop reporting tools to inform management and help decision-making about support activities, priorities, and performance.
11.  Collaborate with other technical and support staff to solve infrastructure, server, network, and security issues.
12.  Responsible for supporting current phone systems in addition to developing and migrating Aspire to VoIP systems.
13.  Perform data backups and disaster recovery operations.
14.  Plan, coordinate, and implement network security measures in order to protect data, software, and hardware.
15.  Operate master consoles in order to monitor the performance of computer systems and networks, and to coordinate computer network access and use.
16.  Perform routine network startup and shutdown procedures, and maintain control records
17.  Recommend changes to improve systems and network configurations, and determine hardware or software requirements related to such changes.
18.  Monitor network performance in order to determine whether adjustments need to be made, and to determine where changes will need to be made in the future.
19.  Gather data pertaining to customer needs, and use the information to identify, predict, interpret, and evaluate system and network requirements.
20.  Maintain logs related to network functions, as well as maintenance and repair records.
21.  Research new technology, and implement it or recommend its implementation.
22.  Maintain an inventory of parts for emergency repairs.
23.  Coordinate with vendors and with company personnel in order to facilitate purchases..
24.  Travel to Aspire school sites as needed.

1) Required knowledge, skills & abilities:

1.  Demonstrate strong customer service knowledge and skills, and the ability to develop those in others.
2.  Technical knowledge of current network and operating systems, hardware, protocols, network infrastructure and standards, including WANs, LANs, virtualization, cloud computing, network and systems security, and web-based applications.
3.  Experience configuring, managing and supporting Active Directory, Exchange, SSO, Google Apps, PBX, Windows, Mac, Aruba Wireless, Cisco routers.
4.  Experience configuring and maintaining a network with multicast strategies.
5.  Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new areas of knowledge, technology, and systems
6.  Track record of establishing effective relationships with business and technical staff.
7.  Excellent organization, time management and follow-up skills; high sense of urgency; demonstrated ability to successfully handle multiple projects concurrently; ability to work independently.
8.  Ability to research complex problems and develop cost effective solutions
9.  Demonstrated ability to document processes and improvement suggestions.
10.  Power user of software applications.
11.  Excellent organization and planning skills.

2) Minimum educational level:

•  Bachelor’s degree in computer science, educational technology/other systems and/or or equivalent work experience; master’s degree preferred.  
 
3) Experience required:

1.  Experience or strong interest in K-12 public education
2.  Three plus years work experience in network administration
3.  Two plus years work experience in systems administration
4.  Experience working in dynamic, high-performing environments and ideally in an educational environment. 

To learn more about our schools and this specific opening, please go to http://careers.aspirepublicschools.org Aspire Public Schools, where you can submit an online application.