Systems Engineer, Products and Platforms

American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meaningful change in the world. Learn more about American University

Department:

Products & Platforms

Time Type:

Full time

Job Type:

Regular

FLSA Status:

Exempt

Work Modality:

Hybrid 01 (On Campus 3-4 Days/Week)

Union:

Job Description:

Summary:

The Systems Engineer, Products and Platforms position is responsible for for designing, managing, and monitoring the technical infrastructure and performance of the systems that power WAMU's digital products and platforms. This role will perform web and app infrastructure and content management systems tasks, and is responsible for configuring vendor integrations including but not limited to podcasting, advertising, and fundraising systems that are built on WordPress, Amazon Web Services, AdsWizz, NPR, and many other integrated systems. This incumbent is accountable for service reliability and application performance as key performance indicators for success in providing consistent service to internal partners and external stakeholders such as listeners, donors and station affiliates. Incumbent will collaborate directly with product stakeholders, developers, broadcast engineers, and other partners to deliver results that satisfy business objectives. 

Essential Functions:

1.) Systems Administration

• Management, maintenance, monitoring of an array of web, audio, and internal platforms.

• This role acts as the chief user of digital platforms, maintaining expertise on the most productive, secure, and sustainable ways to leverage our digital publishing, planning, and fundraising tools to maximum effect.

• Day-to-day responsibilities includes administrating web, podcasting, and audio streaming services, managing, and validating backups, testing and patching for security, optimizing caching layers and database performance, migrating and converting data, and configuring DNS.

• Escalate time sensitive and business impact issues to support business continuity and service. 

2.) Collaboration & Communication

• Collaborate with digital media stakeholders such as journalists, producers, fundraisers, and Advertising teams to deeply understand system operation workflows and expectations.

• Monitor and read systems release notes, test, and respond with direct actions, training, and communications to impacted users as necessary.

• Regularly review messages from various systems to promptly respond to emerging and changing needs.

• Act as system expert and respond to end user requests for help and support. 

3.) Systems Design

• Architect creative and reliable solutions to business needs by improving existing services and systems integrations and developing new ones.

• Use cloud platforms (including "serverless" cloud functions / lambdas) to engineer the technology infrastructure required by digital product goals.

• Use expertise to design and configuration AWS or Google systems, develop APIs, scripting of service functions, testing, and implementation to resolve issues or enhance performance.

4.) Other Technical Support As Required

• Expected duties include creating and improving logging, metrics, and telemetry systems for product improvement, creating reports, documenting work, estimating, and coordinating system billing, and optimizing the software development experience with tooling and automation.

Competencies:

• Acquiring and Analyzing Information.

• Evaluating and Implementing Ideas.

• Displaying Creativity.

• Developi