Distributed Systems Supervisor

About Us

At North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance, we take pride in our strong, community-oriented roots that began right here in North Carolina. In 1953, our company was born out of the need to provide insurance coverage to our farmers and rural communities. Now, with local offices in each of the 100 counties, we provide services to all North Carolinians across the state. Here at NCFB we are a familiar face in the community with a service oriented mindset that truly sets us apart. Guided by our mission, we are deeply committed to both our neighbors and employees. Helping you is what we do best! If you are passionate about making a meaningful impact and value a people-centered culture, we invite you to join us!

About the Role

The Distributed Systems Supervisor directs the operation, support, and technical planning of North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance's distributed infrastructure environment. The position supervises Server Administrators, Middleware Administrators, and remains actively involved in complex technical work, architecture planning, project leadership, and operational support.

Primary areas of responsibility include Windows Server and Linux environments, Active Directory, on-premises Exchange, M365/O365, VMware, NetApp storage, Red Hat OpenShift, middleware platforms, physical server infrastructure, backup and recovery, and associated monitoring technologies. The supervisor provides technical guidance to Information Systems management, establishes infrastructure standards, coordinates major implementations, and helps ensure the availability, security, performance, and recoverability of supported systems.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field preferred; equivalent technical education and relevant work experience may be considered.
• Five to seven years of progressively responsible experience supporting enterprise distributed systems and infrastructure.
• Experience with Windows Server, Active Directory, virtualization, storage, Linux, middleware, or related enterprise infrastructure technologies.
• Prior supervisory, team-lead, or technical leadership experience preferred.
• Experience supporting highly available enterprise systems and participating in disaster recovery planning and testing preferred.
• Experience with Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes, Docker, or comparable container technologies preferred.

Required Skills and Abilities

• Strong technical knowledge of enterprise server, virtualization, storage, directory services, messaging, middleware, and container platforms.
• Working knowledge of Windows Server, Active Directory, on-premises Exchange, M365/O365, Linux, VMware, NetApp storage, Red Hat OpenShift, and related infrastructure technologies.
• Ability to lead and prioritize technical projects while remaining capable of participating directly in complex troubleshooting, implementation, and support activities.
• Ability to provide technical analysis, recommendations, and architectural guidance to Information Systems management regarding infrastructure technologies, standards, capacity, lifecycle, and modernization initiatives.
• Knowledge of server and infrastructure security practices including patching, vulnerability remediation, hardening, privileged access, certificates, identity integration, and configuration standards.
• Knowledge of disaster recovery, backup and recovery, system availability, performance management, and capacity planning practices.
• Ability to establish and maintain technical standards, operational procedures, documentation, and support processes.
• Strong personnel management skills, including hiring, performance management, coaching, workload assignment, staff development, and succession planning.
• Strong project-management, problem-solving, decision-making, and organizational skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with technical staff, management, application teams, vendors, and internal customers.
• Familiarity with Galileo Access Monitor, VMware vCenter, Rubrik, and related infrastructure monitoring and recovery tools is beneficial.

Location & Commitments

• Reports to the Information Systems Division III Manager.
• Supervises approximately seven Server Administrators and Middleware Administrators.
• Supports an enterprise infrastructure environment requiring 24/7 availability and timely problem resolution.
• Participates as backup for staff assigned to the rotating 24/7 on-call schedule and participates in scheduled evening or weekend maintenance activities as required.
• Participates in disaster recovery planning, testing, and recovery activities for distributed infrastructure and middleware platforms.

Responsibilities of the Role

• Direct and coordinate the daily operation, maintenance, support, and technical planning of the distributed systems environment. Establish priorities, schedules, and operating procedures for projects and ongoing operational work, and ensure technical documentation, recovery procedures, system standards, and support records remain current and usable.
• Supervise, coach, and develop Server Administrators and Middleware Administrators, including hiring, performance reviews, workload assignment, cross-training, and succession planning.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership and backup support for complex infrastructure issues. Monitor infrastructure health using tools such as Galileo Access Monitor and VMware vCenter, and work in tandem with application development and support teams to diagnose and resolve significant server, middleware, and application-hosting incidents.
• Oversee the administration and support of Microsoft Windows Server, Active Directory, on-premises Exchange, Linux, VMware, NetApp storage (including capacity, availability, performance, and lifecycle planning), and associated physical server infrastructure. Provide supervisory oversight of Red Hat OpenShift, container platforms, and middleware platforms including WebSphere, Apache, and Tomcat, and maintain enough knowledge of Kubernetes, Docker, or equivalent technologies to guide staff and support platform planning.
• Establish and maintain infrastructure standards for server operating systems, virtualization, storage, middleware, and security configuration. Plan and oversee installation, upgrades, patching, vulnerability remediation, configuration hardening, certificate management, and lifecycle activities for supported infrastructure.
• Oversee distributed systems backup and recovery capabilities, including Rubrik. Plan, maintain, and execute the distributed systems portion of the Information Systems disaster recovery program, including architecture, documentation, testing, recovery procedures, and coordination of recovery objectives.
• Lead or coordinate the infrastructure portions of major Information Systems initiatives, including application implementations, server modernization, container platform initiatives, hardware refreshes, and disaster recovery projects. Provide technical analysis, architectural guidance, and recommendations on infrastructure technologies, capacity, lifecycle, and emerging technologies that improve reliability, performance, supportability, or operational efficiency.
• Coordinate and participate in technical evaluation of vendor proposals, licensing options, maintenance renewals, and procurement recommendations for distributed systems technologies.
• Maintain productive working relationships with Information Systems management, technical teams, users, and external technical resources, and provide regular status, project, risk, and technical updates to the Information Systems Division III Manager.

This document is intended to outline the essential responsibilities of the position, and does not limit the tasks that may be assigned or amended by the supervisor.

Pay: $100,000.00 - $130,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person