IT System Manager – Avenues Shenzhen

Position: IT System Manager

Location: Shenzhen, China

Role type: Full-time

Reports to: Director of Technology, Director of Infrastructure Systems

About Avenues

Begin by thinking of Avenues New York, Avenues São Paulo, Avenues Shenzhen, Avenues Silicon Valley, Avenues Online. Avenues is one school with many campuses, providing transformative, world-focused learning experiences to students around the globe. Avenues prepares students for engaged global citizenship during a time of unprecedented complexity and accelerated change, combining language immersion, interdisciplinary learning, a global curriculum, and a culture of creativity and deep collaboration. Avenues is widely recognized for our sophisticated use of technology for learning, with campuses connected across multiple continents through technology.

Avenues Shenzhen

The newest campus of Avenues: The World School, and its first in China, Avenues Shenzhen opened in Fall 2019. It offers a unique early childhood program and is now expanding to serve all grades from toddler through grade 12. Suffused with light, surrounded by greenery and seamlessly integrating technology, the campus is an urban oasis where architecture inspires learning and curiosity. The curriculum features language immersion, learning through play and interdisciplinary study in a state-of-the-art facility.

The Opportunity

The IT System Manager is responsible for the continuous development, maintenance and management of our core IT infrastructure within the Avenues Shenzhen campuses, incl. network, servers, and core information systems. He/she will proactively facilitate a stable, performant, safe, secure and compliant IT environment that enables our staff, teachers and students to thrive and perform to the best of their abilities. Reporting to the Director of Technology and our global Director of Infrastructure Systems, the accepted candidate will work closely with our local IT Services Manager and our global Senior System Administrator to achieve local and global departmental goals.

The technology team at Avenues is comprised of outstanding professionals at the intersection of education and information technology.  We employ a world-class team of passionate technology professionals and technology integrators to provide students, faculty and families with a state-of-the-art technology environment and best in class support. 

Responsibilities

IT systems and server management

• Manage, maintain and troubleshoot all internal on-premise and cloud-based servers applying best security practices and following highest security standards.
• Install, configure, patch and regularly update server operating systems and other core infrastructure software.
• Manage user accounts in core IT information systems (incl. Active Directory, Microsoft 365, Managed Apple IDs, Zoom, FreshService and others, from provisioning to deprovisioning, ensuring that accounts are maintained timely, accurately and consistently.
• Manage Microsoft 365 groups, distribution lists, shared mailboxes and meeting rooms, incl. timely updating members and ownership.
• Manage Domain Controllers and Active Directory, incl. synchronization to Azure AD, and ensure consistent usage of AD fields and relevant naming conventions.
• Facilitate the usage of SharePoint as a platform for information access, group collaboration, and document sharing.
• Manage SharePoint sites, groups and document libraries, providing convenient and controlled, role-based access for different user groups.
• Monitor systems, servers and network health to quickly detect potential incidents, and setup automatic alerts based on monitoring thresholds.
• Facilitate single-sign-on (SSO) solutions where possible to enable a seamless user experience across systems.
• Troubleshoot technical issues and outages, and provide tech support during critical events.
• Manage software licenses and subscriptions, safeguarding licensing compliance at all times.

Device management

• Serve as the local owner and administrator of our global mobile device management (MDM) platform JamF Pro and Apple School Manager (ASM) for managing our growing fleet of iPads, Macbooks and other devices.
• Facilitate an efficient, consistent and role-based device configuration, policy deployment, and app distribution, supporting effective teaching and learning as well as ensuring full compliance with government regulations and school policies.
• Ensure devices can be easily identified at all times based on location, user, deployment type, and other criteria.
• Monitor device and application usage to quickly identify potential security threats and/or compliance concerns.
• Reconfigure and redeploy shared devices annually.

Network management

• Work closely with our global infrastructure team to manage all network appliances.
• Deploy Internet access control, bandwidth management, and content filtering to ensure a safe and user-friendly online experience for students, faculty, staff and guests.
• Streamline bandwidth utilization to balance cost and performance.
• Implement high availability (HA) where feasible to avoid single points of failure and ensure SLA-compliant continuity of service.
• Monitor campus network traffic and connectivity to ensure performance and service health.

Cyber security

• Practice a professional, secure password management, incl. secure storage, high complexity and regular changes.
• Enforce multi-factor-authentication (MFA) for all administrator and other high-risk accounts.
• Conduct an annual security review identifying potential security shortcomings and areas for improvement.
• Put in place a clear process for incident detection, response and remediation.

System automation and integration

• Enhance data integrity and minimize redundant data maintenance by automating data exchanges between our core information systems leveraging available APIs or other relevant technologies.

General responsibilities

• Maintain a safe, stable and compliant systems and network environment, ensuring compliance with applicable regulations and organizational policies, related to cyber security, data protection, child protection and other education industry-specific standards.
• Research and devise creative, innovative solutions to drive ongoing improvements to the IT infrastructure and strengthen our standing as a technology leader in education.
• Support our helpdesk as an escalation point for system- or network-related requests.
• Assist with network and system-related projects, tasks or other related responsibilities as instructed by the Director of Technology or Director of Infrastructure Systems.

Qualifications

We’re looking for a passionate technology professional with a world-class tech skillset, a team player by heart who is hungry to learn, ambitious to innovate and eager to contribute. Strong candidates for this role will match most of the following criteria:

• Energized by Avenues’ mission and opportunity for impact in education
• Approaches challenges and requests with a spirit of “yes” and provides excellent customer service that allows colleagues, campus and school s/he supports to be more productive and efficient.
• Proactive service-orientation and a predisposition to be helpful, thoughtful and considerate.
• In-depth experience in managing Apple devices, ideally using JAMF mobile device management (MDM).
• Administrator experience in the 21Vianet-hosted, China-specific Microsoft 365 suite, especially Exchange, OneDrive and SharePoint (ideally in a User-Admin, SharePoint-Admin or Global-Admin role).
• Solid experience in managing CISCO network equipment, ideally having administered the cloud-based Meraki product line.
• Work experience in an educational setting, ideally in a K12 bilingual school or school group, is a strong plus.
• Experience in managing cloud infrastructure on Azure’s China cloud and/or Alicloud.
• Experience with Microsoft Windows Server and Linux server administration.
• Experience with WeChat for Work (WeCom) is helpful but not required.
• Scripting experience in Python, Z-shell and/or Powershell advantageous but not required.
• Broad, general technology understanding and excellent troubleshooting skills.
• Ambition and ability to continuously learn new technologies and skills, and to apply technology innovations to steadily advance our IT infrastructure and services.
• Good verbal and written communication skills, in both English and Chinese.
• 8 years or more of work experience in an IT environment, ideally in an international and/or multi-site organization.
• Ability to meet the need for flexible working hours required for system administration.
• Bachelor Degree in computer science, information systems or equivalent major.

TO APPLY

Apply through the Careers section at https://www.avenues.org/en/careers. Be sure to include a letter of application, in English, in which you thoughtfully explain why you believe that this role at Avenues Shenzhen would be an excellent match for your experience, skills and passions. If you have any questions, please email careers-sz@avenueschina.cn.  

DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND SAFEGUARDING

Avenues is deeply committed to diversity, equity and inclusion throughout our organization. We strive to uphold a culture in which every colleague feels that they belong, are trusted, and are valued. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, and strongly encourage candidates from traditionally underrepresented communities or groups to apply. Avenues offers competitive compensation and a generous benefits package.

Avenues upholds the highest standards for safeguarding the physical and emotional wellbeing of children. As an essential aspect of this commitment, all offers are contingent upon successful completion of careful reference and background checks.