Penn State Job Catalog

Additional levels that exist for this job profile can be seen below.

The defined natural career progression within or between job profiles.

Systems Administration

Systems Administrators maintain the integrity of various computer systems including operating systems, physical servers, appliances, and specialized application environments; administer, install, and troubleshoot a variety of technical components, perform systems maintenance tasks such as resource utilization checks and back-up and recovery; perform configuration changes to address customer needs; schedule, install, and test system software upgrades; monitor and maintain software licensing and maintenance agreements.

• Install, configure, maintain, upgrade, and support systems and software
• Develop plans, schedules, and requirements for deployment of systems
• Create custom programs and scripts to aid in systems management
• Diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve system issues and/or respond to outages
• Resolve service-related issues; determine immediate economic and financial consequences of an incident
• Test and implement upgrades and patches to installed operating systems and software
• Maintain reliability of systems by monitoring, running tests, and troubleshooting
• Monitor backups and plans for installed systems; review adequacy of emergency response plans
• Monitor, maintain, and execute automation processes and procedures
• Monitor threats, alerts, security vulnerabilities; conduct regular reviews of security against policy goals
• Evaluate organizational vulnerabilities within assigned area of responsibility
• Manage, research, and resolve complex end-user escalation incidents
• Evaluate and recommend new or existing system improvements and/or solutions
• Create and maintain system documentation of departmental processes, procedures, plans, and configurations
• May supervise staff members, including hiring, development, and performance management

Level:

– Principal Professional

Base Description:

– Completes activities, tasks, and/or projects of a functional nature.

Level Summary:

– Displays mastery of defined skill areas/applications, principles, theories and practices. Evaluates and enhances existing practices. Recognizes emerging trends in area of expertise. Works independently on complex or strategic assignments. Directs and delegates appropriate tasks to others. Implements strategies to ensure achievement of initiatives. Prepares written and/or verbal presentations or proposals on complex issues and deliver to broad audiences. Identifies and implements innovative solutions to important, highly complex strategic and/or operational issues.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

– Indirect supervisor for other full–time employees
– May serve as direct supervisor for part–time, student, and/or temporary workers, volunteers, or a full–time employee

Fiscal Responsibilities:

– Validates and pays invoices
– Monitors and tracks budgets and funding
– May plan and forecast budgets

Problem Solving:

– Encounters complex and novel problems
– Applies policies, practices, specialized knowledge, and skills to resolve problems
– Understands benefits, limitations, and impact of potential solutions
– Anticipates potential problems and recommends possible solutions within general guidelines

Independence of Action:

– Works independently on complex or strategic assignments
– Uses existing practices as guidelines as well as working knowledge to determine specific work methods
– Carries out work activities independently, with supervisor available to resolve problems
– Reviews work of others to verify technical soundness

Communication and Collaboration:

– Communicates with both internal and external audiences
– Collaborates closely with team members and area leads across the University
– Prepares written and/or verbal presentations or proposals on complex issues and delivers to a broad variety of audiences
– Establishes and maintains networks to facilitate successful communication among units

• Comp Grade – 14
• Minimum – $97,100.00
• MidPoint – $121,400.00
• Maximum – $145,700.00