Information Technology Architect

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Information Technology Architect

Job Profile Title

Information Technology Architect

Job Description Summary

Information Systems & Computing (ISC) is the University of Pennsylvania’s central IT organization, providing the core network, data, voice, video, and enterprise application infrastructure and services upon which Penn’s numerous Schools and Centers build their unique tools and capabilities.
ISC’s 270-plus employees work closely with the University’s IT organizations in order to create, deliver and support products and services that help Schools and Centers operate efficiently and effectively. We strive to be easy to work with, and to serve as a trusted advisor to Penn’s IT community, faculty, staff and students in support of an environment of discovery and progress.
ISC’s focus on customer service and the high-quality, cost-effective, reliable implementation of modern IT solutions advances the mission of the University, as well as that of each individual School and Center. At Penn, technological freedom and departmental autonomy represent dearly held core values. ISC supports those ideas by providing foundational services and cogent counsel, empowering individuals and departments to employ their distinct strengths in support of their goals.
Learn more about us by visiting https://www.isc.upenn.edu/about or www.linkedin.com/company/penn-information-systems-computing/.
ISC Technology Services Engineering is seeking an IT Architect with excellent interpersonal and technical skills to join our team. This position will play a key role in enabling use of Microsoft Azure on campus. The IT Architect will engage with technology leaders and technical staff across business units in key administrative areas to facilitate their use of cloud services, and to align that usage with best practices, University policies, and regulations. This is a hands-on position that involves design and implementation of the necessary configuration, code, documentation and communications to ensure that workloads are securely and effectively deployed and monitored.

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

• Provide guidance and direction for ISC’s Azure at Penn service offering.  

• Enable the migration of existing workloads to cloud, provide expertise on redesign and deployment.

• Create infrastructure configuration and/or code, designs, documentation, and presentations.

• Define approach to effectively implementing standards and best practices for use of cloud services.

• Translate business requirements into process designs.

• Review, evaluate, and implement proof of concept products and services.

• Support existing solutions, including incident response and change management processes.

• Provide leadership and technical expertise for design and product evaluations.

• Coordinate with technical staff and other stakeholders.

• Work directly with Microsoft employees to receive technical support and architectural guidance.

• Configure Azure policies and other security controls.  

• Build cloud resources using tools such as Terraform, Bicep, and/or PowerShell.

• Troubleshoot issues with cloud applications.

• Develop CI/CD jobs and pipelines.

• Schedule, coordinate, and apply changes to cloud infrastructure.

• Consult within ISC and across the Penn community and develop cloud-based technology solutions.  

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Computer Science, Software Engineering and 3 to 5 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.

• Expert-level experience administering Microsoft Azure in a distributed IT environment is required.

• Extensive knowledge of Azure platform and infrastructure security concepts and capabilities is required.

• Significant understanding of deploying containerized applications through App Service-related components is required.

• Significant understanding of Microsoft Entra ID / Active Directory Domain Services is required.

• Significant understanding of identity and access management in Azure is required.

• Significant understanding of data security, encryption, and storage is required.

• Understanding of various compute products, including Azure Virtual Desktop and Lab Services is required.

• Understanding of various Azure storage products, Key Vault, and Azure Backup is required.

• Understanding of cloud network fundamentals and Azure network service components including Load Balancer, Application Gateway, NAT Gateway, VPN Gateway, and ExpressRoute is required.

• Understanding of monitoring and alerting capabilities of Azure is required.

• Familiarity with a wide range of Azure services and hands-on experience configuring core services is required.

• Understanding of Azure AI service offerings is preferred.

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Information Systems and Computing

Pay Range

$74,476.00 - $135,000.00 Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, as well as internal and market factors and grade profile. 

Affirmative Action Statement 
Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.

Special Requirements 
Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

• Tuition: Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.

• Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.

• Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be.

• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.

• Wellness and Work-life Resources: Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.

• Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.

• University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.

• Discounts and Special Services: From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.

• Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.

• Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.

• Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.

​

To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay