ABOUT US:

Valent North America LLC is the shared services organization of Valent U.S.A. LLC and Valent BioSciences LLC, which are part of the Valent group of companies. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Valent North America unites the corporate Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal, and Environmental Health & Safety functions to maximize service delivery practices across the Valent group of companies.
Valent U.S.A. engages in the development, registration, sales, and marketing of integrated technological solutions for crop production and pest management that deliver value for customers and stakeholders. Valent BioSciences is a worldwide leader in the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of biorational products for the agriculture, public health, and forest health markets. Sumitomo Chemical is one of Japan’s leading chemical companies, offering a diverse range of products globally that support a wide variety of industries and help enhance peoples’ daily lives.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

Acts as the lead, seniormost technical resource and infrastructure architect for both the IT Service Desk and Infrastructure Teams across all Valent Group of Companies (VGC). Leads, strategizes, and designs all Service Desk and Infrastructure Team initiatives and projects and is ultimately responsible for all ticket resolution, SLAs, KPIs, and infrastructure design and operations companywide. Manages and maintains dashboards in ServiceNow by identifying and addressing trends for efficiencies. Works closely with the Sr. Mgr of IT Service Delivery/Operations to ensure all Service Desk and infrastructure goals and initiatives are met. Provides on-site and remote technical support, along with architectural designs for all IT systems and applications, including laptops, desktops, servers (both onsite and cloud), printers, networks, peripherals, and vendor software. Maintains knowledge of all company IT infrastructure and systems. This position is ultimately a combination of a team lead, and an enterprise/infrastructure architect rolled into one.

REQUIRED SKILLS/EXPERIENCE:

• Advanced IT troubleshooting experience for both end users and IT infrastructure – Windows laptops, Windows servers, cell phones (iPhones), cloud (AWS), network.
• Infrastructure architecture experience and skills – designing, implementing, and maintaining large, enterprise sized company networks including on-prem servers, cloud servers (AWS), hybrid environments, and complex networks
• Advanced understanding of networking
• AWS and/or Azure Cloud experience
• Active Directory (GPOs, DNS, DHCP, Domains/Trusts) experience
• Microsoft O365 experience
• VMWare and/or Hyper-V experience
• Experience with Change Management Boards, and change process in an enterprise environment
• Ability to participate in an on-call schedule on a rotating basis
• Excellent communication skills with a focus on customer service

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

• ServiceNow, CyberArk, LastPass, Okta, Maas360, Tanium, smtp.com
• Apple/Mac, Unix/Linux experience

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s in computer science or relevant IT certifications: MCITP, MCSE/MCSA, CCNA, CCNP
• 12+ years of related experience, 15+ years preferred
  Travel: 15% as required

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Leads, strategizes, and designs Service Desk and infrastructure initiatives and projects as the seniormost IT resource and leading the team from a technical perspective
• Triages incoming Service Desk tickets and infrastructure tickets, assigning to appropriate resources as needed
• Ensures all SLAs, KPIs, Uptime, and Service Desk metrics are met
• Takes ownership of IT issues and drives them to a timely resolution; ensures deadlines are met
• Acts as an escalation point for all Service Desk and Infrastructure alerts
• Works closely with the Sr. Mgr of IT Service Delivery/Operations to meet all Service Desk and infrastructure initiatives and goals
• Provides an extraordinary IT customer service experience to all users, and upholds the highest degree of professionalism and follow-through
• Communicates on a frequent basis with all end users as tickets and issues are resolved
• Provides hands-on L1, L2, and L3 IT support for all service desk and infrastructure tickets (including enterprise HW/SW)
• Strategizes, designs, implements, and maintains various IT systems including O365, Okta, Active Directory, Amazon AWS, MaaS360, Tanium, ServiceNow, etc.
• Strategizes, designs, implements, and maintains all physical user hardware including laptops, desktops, printers, and cell phones
• Strategizes, designs, implements, and maintains all physical enterprise hardware including servers, switches, routers, and storage devices
• Strategizes, designs, implements, and maintains all cloud infrastructure (mostly AWS)
• Strategizes, implements, and maintains all company cell phones (currently iPhones)
• Strategizes, implements, and maintains 3rd party lab equipment software
• Implements and maintains the company network including firewalls, routers, switches, etc.
• Manages Windows OS patching process for all workstations, servers, labs, and network devices to ensure IT security compliance
• Facilitates employee onboarding and offboarding, including computer provisioning/repurposing and account management
• Designs remote access solutions such as VPN and RDP
• Utilizes our IT service desk ticketing tool (ServiceNow) to provide support and consistently achieve SLA commitments
• Maintains IT systems knowledge base articles; documents various IT systems and processes
• Participates in and support cyber security incidents and initiatives, and acts always with a security mindset
• Documents IT assets, and keeps asset database current
• Disposes of old and unneeded IT assets, following the company’s e-waste recycling process
• Monitors and reports licensing to ensure compliance on a periodic basis
• Attends CAB meetings and submit change requests for all planned project work
• Carries out other such duties as may be assigned or requested

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical Demands include constant sitting, walking, standing, simple grasping and fine manipulation with hands; frequent bending at the neck and waist; and occasional squatting, climbing, kneeling, crawling, twisting at the neck and waist, power grasping, pushing and pulling with hands, reaching above shoulder level, lifting and carrying up to 25 lbs.
• Work Environment includes exposure to or working in or around equipment and machinery including lab equipment, agriculture, and computer equipment
• Frequency Definitions: Constant = Over 40% / Frequent = Up to 40% / Occasional = Up to 10