Platform and Infrastructure Manager

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Job Title:
Platform and Infrastructure Manager
Agency:

Student Finance Commission

Job Requisition ID:
JR0000006325
Shift:
Not Applicable (United States of America)
Compensation Details:

Job Description:

OUR MISSION

The mission of the Georgia Student Finance Commission is to promote and increase access to education beyond high school for Georgians. To achieve this mission the commission administers state and lottery-funded student financial aid programs including the HOPE Scholarship and HOPE Grant and provides college planning and other educational services to more than 2 million Georgians through GAfutures.org. The commission seeks to improve its own operations and inform policymakers and other stakeholders through analysis, interpretation and publication of information using the extensive data collected in support of its programs.

WE OFFER

We offer excellent benefits including 13 paid holidays, 3 weeks annual + 3 weeks sick leave per year, health/life/disability benefits after 30 days, employer 401k match, medical/childcare spending account options, and deferred compensation plan. Our standard business hours are Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm. We also offer employee recognition and a great place to work! Our office is conveniently located in Tucker only 2 minutes from I-285.

DESCRIPTION

We are seeking a detail-oriented and customer-focused Transcript Specialist to support Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship and Grant programs. This position supports both high school (STARS) and postsecondary (CHECS/PSI) transcript processes, scholarship academic eligibility evaluations, and technical support.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Under limited supervision, the Platform and Infrastructure Manager leads the Georgia Student Finance Commission’s (GSFC) platform and infrastructure operations, including cloud environments, networks, servers, storage systems, and core technology services. This role manages a team of engineers responsible for delivering secure, reliable, scalable, and cost-effective infrastructure that supports the agency's business applications and technology initiatives.

Working closely with application development, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders, the Platform and Infrastructure Manager oversees infrastructure planning, operational support, automation, and continuous improvement efforts to ensure high service availability, performance, and security across both cloud and on-premises environments.

A key responsibility of this role is advancing GSFC's transition to an Infrastructure as a Product operating model. Through platform standardization, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), automation, and self-service capabilities, the manager enables faster service delivery, reduces operational bottlenecks, and provides development teams with consistent, scalable, and secure infrastructure solutions.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Network Communication and Administration

- Oversee Office Networks: Manage the physical footprint of network closets, switches, firewalls, and Wi-Fi access points to keep the office traffic moving safely.
- Monitor Health: Oversee performance monitoring tools to catch and fix system issues early.
- Hybrid Connectivity and VPNs: Design and administer remote-access VPN architectures and establish secure, high-performance connections linking office hardware safely to AWS cloud resources.
- Network Security Routing: Oversee DNS management, WAN/LAN stability, circuit troubleshooting, configuration rollbacks, and firewall change requests.

Operating System Administration

- Technical Experience: Knowledge and hands-on experience administering, patching, and securing Linux distributions and Windows Server operating systems.
- Management: Oversee baseline configurations, security patching scheduling, and licensing to ensure compatibility across both cloud and local environments.

Platform Engineering and Self-Service Automation

- Establish Golden Paths: Deliver automated, self-service hosting environments ("Golden Paths") that enable developers in Product and Engineering to deploy .NET and Python applications seamlessly.
- Infrastructure as a Product: Shift from manual, ticket-based infrastructure delivery to standardized product catalog (e.g., pre-built load balancing or server instances) that developers can consume on demand.
- API-First Operations: Transition the network from Command Line Interface (CLI)-heavy configurations to programmable, API-driven software and hardware routing interfaces.
- Standardize and Automate: Champion the use of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) libraries and shared templates (utilizing Terraform or Ansible) to deploy, replicate, and scale systems instantly.
- Reverse the Operational Flow: Transition user interactions from "downstream" free-text helpdesk tickets to "upstream" self-serve, data-validated inputs that trigger real-time, automated delivery.

Developer and Application Pipeline Support

- CI/CD Pipeline Architecture: Build, maintain, and secure AWS code pipeline workflows to act as an automated flow that tests and launches software updates swiftly.
- Code Versioning Integration: Securely connect and manage code repositories using GitHub for robust version control and tracking.
- Application Hosting: Directly assist Product and Engineering teams with hosting, optimizing, and troubleshooting applications within AWS.

Database Administration and Integrations

- Database Governance: Oversee the security, performance, and scaling of legacy and migrated Oracle database systems.
- Modern Backup and Recovery: Formulate, test, and execute modern backup and disaster recovery plans engineered for both cloud storage and Oracle databases to prevent data loss.
- Integrations: Partner across the agency's functional branches to support complex integrations.

Security-by-Design and State Compliance

- Data Protection Shield: Automate security policies directly into data pipelines, protecting highly sensitive student Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
- Enhance Security: Partner with security teams to protect cloud networks and manage access rights.
- State Audits and Compliance: Adhere strictly to federal and state privacy laws, prepare systems for official technology security audits, and swiftly implement recommended security fixes.

Team Leadership and Financial Operations

- Supervise Specialized Pods: Manage, coach, and grow a multi-disciplinary team, including Cloud Engineers, DevOps Engineers, Systems Administrators, and Network Engineers.
- SLA and Incident Management: Act as the escalation point for major cloud or network outages, direct the response team, and lead root-cause reviews to ensure systems meet official reliability SLAs.
- Capacity and Cost Control: Utilize performance monitoring tools to establish visual dashboards, deduplicate alerts, and actively track/optimize monthly cloud spend to eliminate waste and control budgets.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

- Associate degree in a related field from an accredited college or university and six (6) years of experience within information technology, which involved planning, organizing, coordinating, and evaluating high-level systems or large-scale critical information technology projects from conception to implementation.
- Or a Bachelor’s degree in business, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field with 7+ years of related network administration experience, with 3+ cloud administration.
- Leadership: 2+ years of experience directly managing technical engineering teams.
- Proven background in network administration, including firewalls, edge routing, VPN tunnels, and WAN/LAN stability.
- Deep knowledge and hands-on experience configuring and managing major cloud platforms like Azure, Google Cloud, and specifically AWS.
- Experience managing hybrid environments, including linking physical office hardware safely to cloud networks.
- Deep Knowledge and experience of data security and backup and recovery platforms.
- Strong background in CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation tools.
- Direct experience supporting and troubleshooting .NET or Python applications.
- Hands-on experience administering or supporting Oracle databases.

- Ability to translate complex cloud metrics into clear business updates.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Deep knowledge and hands-on experience of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Tools, such as AWS CloudFormation.
- Solid understanding of container platforms for microservices, such as Docker and Amazon ECS.
- Hands-on experience administering Rubrik
- Hands-on experience administering monitoring, such as Datadog.
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect
- AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
- CCNA / CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Associate/Professional) or equivalent network administration credential.
- Prior experience working inside a local or state government agency

Minimum Qualifications:
Associate degree in a related field from an accredited college or university and six (6) years of experience within information technology, which involved planning, organizing, coordinating, and evaluating high-level systems or large-scale critical information technology projects from conception to implementation.--Note: Applicants must also have supervised technical staff experience related to network management and network help desk settings.

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

The State of Georgia does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, or other protected categories in employment or the provision of services.
Qualified applicants may request reasonable accommodation when needed during the application and/or screening process by contacting the appropriate agency Human Resources department.