Senior Virtual Desktop Engineer

Senior Virtual Desktop Engineer

Serve as a senior engineer within the virtual desktop architecture team, helping ensure the performance, reliability, security, and continuous improvement of the environment.

• Provide immediate full-time engineering and operational support for active Citrix and AVD ticket queues, escalations, platform migrations, and improvement initiatives.
• Actively manage and work operational ticket queues, including incidents, service requests, problems, and escalations related to Citrix, Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows, user profiles, application delivery, and associated end-user computing technologies.
• Prioritize and resolve operational tickets within established service-level expectations while balancing project, engineering, and platform-improvement responsibilities.
• Partner closely with the Senior Manager and internal engineering teams to lead the architecture, design, implementation, and optimization of virtual desktop environments, with a focus on scalability, performance, resiliency, and security.
• Support the strategy and execution of the migration from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) on-premises to Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and Citrix DaaS, while minimizing business disruption and maintaining an optimal user experience.
• Evaluate and implement end-user computing technologies, including Azure Virtual Desktop, Citrix DaaS, FSLogix, Citrix User Profile Management, and related profile, personalization, and application-control solutions.
• Rapidly assess the current virtual desktop environment, active initiatives, technical risks, and operational priorities.
• Take ownership of assigned operational and engineering workstreams and deliver agreed-upon milestones during the engagement.
• Work closely with Infrastructure, Network, Security, Application, Service Delivery, and other IT teams to design and deliver integrated enterprise solutions.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues involving virtual desktops, user profiles, application delivery, authentication, networking, performance, and end-user computing technologies.
• Provide advanced engineering support for escalated issues involving virtual desktop platforms, Windows operating systems, enterprise applications, and related endpoint technologies.
• Develop and maintain PowerShell scripts and other automation solutions to improve operational efficiency, consistency, monitoring, and reporting.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, architectural diagrams, operational procedures, implementation standards, and documented recommendations.
• Provide effective knowledge transfer to internal engineering and support teams throughout the engagement.
• Participate in system upgrades, platform migrations, disaster recovery testing, maintenance activities, and other scheduled work outside normal business hours when required.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to other engineers and support teams.
• Communicate progress, risks, dependencies, and deliverable status clearly and regularly to management and project stakeholders.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field required, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Minimum of seven years of experience designing, managing, and supporting large-scale enterprise virtual desktop environments.
• Strong experience with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, including the architecture, administration, performance optimization, and troubleshooting of on-premises CVAD environments.
• Experience with Azure Virtual Desktop and Citrix DaaS, including host pools, session hosts, application groups, workspaces, Cloud Connectors, resource locations, Machine Creation Services, application and desktop delivery, and hybrid deployments.
• Strong knowledge of Azure Virtual Desktop, including host pools, session hosts, application groups, workspaces, image management, scaling, identity, networking, and profile integration.
• Experience planning or executing migrations from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops on-premises to Azure Virtual Desktop and Citrix DaaS.
• Strong knowledge of profile management and user-personalization technologies, including FSLogix, Citrix User Profile Management, and Ivanti Workspace Control, formerly AppSense.
• Experience with application-control and endpoint-security technologies, including Ivanti Application Control and Windows Defender Application Control.
• Familiarity with Nerdio Manager for Enterprise or similar management and automation platforms for Azure Virtual Desktop.
• Extensive experience with Windows desktop and server operating systems, Active Directory, Group Policy, PowerShell, and enterprise automation.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Hyper-V and experience managing and optimizing virtualized infrastructure.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Azure and other cloud or virtualization platforms, including AWS and VMware.
• Experience with Citrix ADC, Citrix Gateway, StoreFront, Delivery Controllers, Machine Creation Services, Provisioning Services, and Citrix Cloud integrations.
• Demonstrated experience working enterprise operational support queues and independently troubleshooting, managing, documenting, and resolving incidents, service requests, problems, and escalations.
• Ability to balance day-to-day operational responsibilities with concurrent engineering projects, platform enhancements, and strategic initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to enter complex enterprise environments and become productive quickly.
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple workstreams, and deliver results with limited supervision.
• Strong documentation, knowledge-transfer, and stakeholder-communication skills.
• Prior consulting or contract experience in a large enterprise environment is preferred.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, organizational, documentation, and communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work effectively both independently and as part of a collaborative team.
• Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop and Citrix certifications, including CCP-V or CCE-V, are highly regarded.