IT Systems Engineer Sr – Active Directory

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provides superior pediatric care in a setting that offers the latest benefits and innovations in medical technology, research and family-friendly design. As the largest pediatric provider in the region with a 140-year legacy of excellence, kids and their families are at the center of all we do. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is ranked in all 10 specialties by the U.S. News & World Report. Location 680 Lake Shore Drive Job Description The Active Directory Engineer is the enterprise lead for designing, securing, and modernizing the hospital’s identity infrastructure across on‑prem Active Directory and Azure AD (Entra ID). Responsible for engineering, and maintenance of AD forests, GPOs, PKI, privileged access, and hybrid identity services in alignment with security, audit, and IAM standards. The engineer leads identity remediation efforts, partners with security teams to strengthen controls, reports on identity risk and health, and mentors staff while advancing secure authentication and directory stability across the organization. Essential Job Functions: Design, maintain, and upgrade Active Directory forests, domains, trusts, sites, and services, ensuring scalable and resilient identity infrastructure. Implement and enforce AD Tiering (Tier 0/1/2) and privileged access boundaries, ensuring secure administrative practices. Own the engineering, deployment, optimization, and governance of Group Policy Objects (GPOs)—including secure baseline enforcement, lifecycle management, troubleshooting of processing issues, and cross‑team coordination to ensure reliable, conflict‑free configuration across the enterprise. Develop PowerShell scripts to automate user lifecycle management, privileged access workflows, and routine AD operational tasks. Manage synchronization between on‑premises AD and Azure Active Directory (Entra ID), including hybrid identity, AAD Connect, and authentication flows. Lead high-level troubleshooting for authentication, replication, DNS, and LDAP issues across multisite environments. Generate reports on system health, performance, and security, including privileged access, stale objects, replication status, and GPO compliance. Prepare and interpret technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, system configurations, runbooks, and operational procedures. Develops and manages complex projects related to network and server technologies, including desktop technology and deployments where indicated. Mentors junior technical staff and/or IM Applications and other IM team members. Participate in other department or organizational project tasks as required. Partner with the Authentication team leader and technology SMEs to drive adoption of compliant, enterprise-wide authentication solutions aligned to IAM standards. Harden AD infrastructure, monitor security events, manage PKI/certificate services, and ensure compliance with security baselines and regulatory requirements. Apply industry best practices and proactively identify and remediate identity and authentication gaps to continuously strengthen enterprise controls. Partners with IAM Governance and policy teams to measure, report, and improve authentication controls, and support audit remediation and sustainability. Provide transparent reporting to leadership on identity posture, risks, and mitigation strategies. Assumes on-call responsibility for data center equipment operations, per the schedule. Performs other duties as assigned. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems/Technology/Computer Science preferred (or equivalent work experience) 3–5+ years of hands-on experience engineering and supporting Active Directory in complex enterprise environments, including authentication, replication, GPOs, and directory security. Deep expertise in Active Directory architecture and services, including forests, domains, trusts, sites, replication, DNS integration, and Group Policy design, processing, and troubleshooting. Strong knowledge of identity and authentication principles and protocols, including Kerberos, NTLM, LDAP, SAML, OAuth, OpenID Connect, and modern authentication frameworks. Expertise in PKI and certificate lifecycle management, including certificate-based authentication. Experience with hybrid identity and cloud directory services, including Microsoft Entra ID, AAD Connect, SSO, and federation. Strong understanding of security best practices across identity and core infrastructure, including servers, networks, and application security. Hands-on experience with identity and access management (IAM) and privileged access management (PAM) solutions, including MFA, vaulting, and service integrations (e.g., Ping Identity, OpenLDAP, OpenDJ). Experience working across Windows, Linux, and cloud-based identity platforms. Demonstrated ability to lead and deliver complex technical projects in both individual contributor and team leadership roles. Strong analytical, problem-solving, and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to operate independently and make decisions under pressure. Excellent communication, documentation, and interpersonal skills, with a focus on collaboration and customer service. Education Bachelor's Degree Pay Range $93,600.00-$154,440.00 Salary At Lurie Children’s, we are committed to competitive and fair compensation aligned with market rates and internal equity, reflecting individual contributions, experience, and expertise. The pay range for this job indicates minimum and maximum targets for the position. Ranges are regularly reviewed to stay aligned with market conditions.   In addition to base salary, Lurie Children’s offer a comprehensive rewards package that may include differentials for some hourly employees, leadership incentives for select roles, health and retirement benefits, and wellbeing