Lead Systems Engineer; CCIE Required

What We Do

We calm the confusion of IT by guiding the connection between people and technology. If a customer is looking for a better way to manage their warehouse inventory, equip their workforce, or secure their data, we make it happen. All it takes is finding the right combination of tech hardware, software, cloud solutions, and support services. That’s what we do. We’re the IT Department’s IT Department.

Who We Are

Our team is made stronger by a multitude of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. It’s what makes Connection unique—what drives us to innovate and create technology solutions that stand apart from the crowd. We’d love for you to be a part of that fabric, to share your ideas and experiences with a team that thrives on fresh thinking, creativity, and helping others.

Why You Should Join Us

You’ll find supportive teammates and a rewarding career at Connection—plus great benefits. We take pride in supporting employees with a total rewards package that provides financial, emotional, and physical resources for you and your family.  Our compensation, 401k plans, medical insurance, and other benefits are progressive and competitive.  We value the importance of our employees’ emotional wellbeing. To support employees, we provide free therapy visits, mental health coaching and tools, and meditation resources. You’ll also enjoy a generous paid time off package that includes not only vacation and sick time, but also Wellness and Volunteer Time Off days. 

This role is HYBRID (3 days a week) in the Schaumburg Il Office.

The Lead Systems Engineer handles a combination of post-sales field deployable engineering activities as well as pre-sales design and consulting activities; to maintain skills and certifications and to engage in engineering laboratory research and technology development. The Lead Systems Engineer provides guidance and mentoring in line with the team goals and objectives. The Lead Systems Engineer works to maintain a high level of billable utilization, which is a combination of customer onsite and remote installation and system deployment, configuration, system troubleshooting, performance optimization and documentation. This Lead System Engineer position is focused on one or more of the following: networking, security, cloud, or mobility technology, but must also possess and maintain competency in certain adjacent technologies such as operating systems and business applications. The Lead Systems Engineer maintains the required level of competency and certifications in relevant product and technology.

• Lead the design, architecture, and implementation of complex IT infrastructure solutions (servers, storage, networking, cloud, security, and virtualization).
• Provide pre-sales support including technical assessments, solution design, and customer consultations.
• Deliver post-sales services including installation, configuration, troubleshooting, performance optimization, and documentation.
• Oversee and mentor a team of 2–4 Systems Engineers, supporting career development, training, and certification goals.
• Ensure project delivery excellence by meeting deadlines, budgets, and customer satisfaction goals.
• Create and maintain professional documentation (design diagrams, installation plans, reports).
• Act as a liaison with vendors and partners to support service delivery and enablement.
• Contribute to practice development initiatives, internal process improvements, and strategic goals.
• Maintain certifications and core technical competencies through ongoing training.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.
• 15+ years of IT engineering experience; 17+ years to reach full proficiency.
• Active CCIE required.
• Advanced proficiency in servers, storage, networking, virtualization, and data protection.
• Strong troubleshooting skills in complex technology environments.
• Pre-sales and post-sales consulting experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to explain technical solutions to diverse audiences.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical thinking, and decision-making skills.
• Proven leadership, mentoring, and project management ability.
• Organized and adaptable with a focus on delivering results under shifting priorities.