System Administrator - Microsoft Active Directory

Job Description

Job Title: System Administrator - Microsoft Active Directory

Location: Calgary &Edmonton


Work Model: Hybrid – 3 days onsite per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday)

Role Summary

We are seeking an experienced System Administrator with strong expertise in Microsoft Active Directory (AD), Group Policy Management, DNS, and Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS/PKI). The ideal candidate will have 7+ years of hands-on experience administering and supporting enterprise on-premises Active Directory environments, including multi-domain and multi-forest infrastructures.

This role will be responsible for maintaining the health, security, availability, and performance of Active Directory services while supporting enterprise authentication and directory-dependent services.

Key Responsibilities:

Active Directory Administration

Design, configure, administer, and support on-premises Active Directory environments, including multi-domain and multi-forest configurations.

Perform Active Directory trust creation, validation, and troubleshooting across domains and forests.

Maintain overall Active Directory health, including replication, DNS integration, SYSVOL, and time synchronization.

Install, configure, administer, and troubleshoot Windows Server Active Directory environments.

Group Policy & Directory Services

Manage, troubleshoot, and optimize Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to meet enterprise operational and governance requirements.

Administer Organizational Units (OUs), user and computer objects, security groups, permissions delegation, and inheritance.

Perform schema updates and manage object lifecycle activities.

Support directory services maintenance, upgrades, patching, and planned changes.

PKI / Certificate Services Administration

Administer and support Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS / PKI).

Manage CA hierarchy environments, including Root and Issuing Certificate Authorities.

Configure and maintain certificate templates.

Manage certificate issuance, renewal, revocation, and lifecycle processes.

Support PKI trust models and Active Directory integration.

Monitoring, Support & Automation

Handle Active Directory-related incidents, service requests, and problem management activities.

Perform root cause analysis and ensure timely issue resolution.

Monitor and report on directory service availability, performance, and reliability.

Develop and maintain PowerShell scripts for Active Directory administration, reporting, health checks, and operational automation.

Support change, release, audit, and compliance activities related to directory services.

Documentation & Collaboration

Maintain technical documentation, SOPs, architecture diagrams, and configuration standards for Active Directory and PKI services.

Collaborate with infrastructure, application, and platform teams to support authentication and directory-dependent services.

Provide technical guidance and recommendations for Active Directory-related initiatives and enhancements.

Required Skills & Experience

7+ years of hands-on experience in on-premises Microsoft Active Directory administration and support.

Strong expertise in:

- Active Directory domain and forest design

- Trust relationships and troubleshooting

- FSMO roles

- Kerberos authentication and KDCs

- DNS integration

- Sites & Services

- SYSVOL management

- Replication topology and troubleshooting

Hands-on experience with Windows Server Active Directory (2008, 2012, and later versions).

Strong understanding of:

Organizational Unit (OU) design

Object lifecycle management

Schema updates

Permissions delegation

Security group design

Inheritance management

Expertise in Group Policy Management, including:

- GPO design

- Precedence

- Enforcement

- Blocking

- Troubleshooting

Strong experience with Active Directory-integrated DNS configuration and issue resolution.

Hands-on experience with Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS/PKI), including:

- CA hierarchy design (Root and Issuing CAs)

- Certificate templates

- Certificate lifecycle management (issuance, renewal, revocation)

- Trust models and AD integration

Experience with DFS/DFSR, SYSVOL health monitoring, and replication troubleshooting.

Strong PowerShell scripting experience for administration, reporting, health checks, and automation.