Technical Engineer

Location: Hybrid-Hartford AreaPosition SummaryThe Technical Engineer Lead serves as the senior technical consultant and guide for the Advanced Analytics Engineering team within Enterprise Technology Solutions (ETS) at our client Insurance. This role is responsible for the management, upgrade, and support of the enterprise analytical platform serving 500 analytics users across all our client lines of business. The position combines deep technical expertise in multi-platform analytics infrastructure with team leadership, business stakeholder engagement, and strategic technology planning. The role also encompasses organizational responsibilities including Disaster Recovery (DR) coordination, production pipeline signoff governance, and AI tool advocacy to modernize team workflows.Core Platform ResponsibilitiesMiniforge Python "Condaplus" - Linux, macOS, Windows, and AWS Manage and maintain the Condaplus Python distribution across all enterprise platforms. This includes version upgrades and rollouts (desktop, Linux server, Windows server, macOS), coordinating security vulnerability remediation across devices, managing Conda virtual environments for application deployments, integrating with Nexus IQ firewall for automated security scanning of packages, and supporting AWS-based analytics environments including EC2 AMIs. Condaplus serves as the foundation for Python-based analytics, data science workflows, and internal tool development across the organization. SAS - Linux and Windows Across 9 Physical Servers Oversee the SAS analytics platform including SAS 9.4 on RHEL 8 Linux servers and SAS Enterprise Guide on Windows. Responsibilities include planning and executing major SAS version upgrades (e.g., SAS 9.4M8, SAS Enterprise Guide 8.5), managing SAS/ACCESS client connectivity to enterprise databases (Teradata, DB2, Oracle) via ODBC configurations, coordinating user migration communications and timelines, troubleshooting SAS server performance and connectivity issues, and managing SAS web services and IIS integration for business-facing applications. This includes maintaining SAS environments across multiple lines of business including Claims, BI, and PI. R Tools - Windows and 5 Physical Servers Manage the R analytics ecosystem including RStudio Server (transitioned from Commercial to Opensource, saving $66K annually), R version upgrades across platforms (Linux, Windows Desktop, AWS AMIs), Rtools for Windows package compilation, CRAN repository management and Nexus proxy configuration, and GitLab Copilot integration with RStudio Server for version control workflows. Ensure R environments are consistent and accessible for the analytics user community. Software Products & Technologies ManagedThe following is a comprehensive inventory of the software products, platforms, and technologies that this role is responsible for managing, supporting, and maintaining across the enterprise.Analytics PlatformsSAS 9.4 (M8) - Enterprise analytics platform on RHEL 8 Linux (Claims, BI, PI environments)SAS Enterprise Guide 8.5 - Windows desktop analytics client for 500 usersSAS/ACCESS Clients - Database connectivity modules for Teradata, DB2, Oracle, and other data sourcesSAS Web Services / SAS Mid-Tier - Web-based SAS application delivery via IIS integrationSAS Stored Processes - Server-side SAS programs invoked via web or application interfacesRStudio Server (Opensource) - R development environment on Linux serversR (multiple versions: 3.6.3, 4.4.3) - Statistical computing across Linux, Windows Desktop, and AWS AMIsRtools - Windows-based R package compilation toolchainCondaplus (Miniforge Python) - Custom Python distribution on Linux, Windows, macOS, and AWSIBM SPSS - Statistical analysis software for business analytics usersPyCharm - Professional Python IDE for analytics developmentKNIME Analytics Platform (Desktop) - Visual data science and analytics workflow toolInfrastructure & Operating SystemsRHEL 8 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) - Primary Linux platform across 14 serversUbuntu 22.04 - AWS EC2 instances and GPU AMI environmentsWindows Server - SAS and R platform hosting, IIS web servicesGPFS (General Parallel File System) - High-performance shared storage (/gpfs2/PI_SharedData)IIS (Internet Information Services) - SAS web application hosting on Windows serversAWS Cloud ServicesAWS EC2 - Elastic compute instances for analytics workloads and ML environmentsAWS S3 - Object storage for data lakes with security governanceAWS Athena - Serverless SQL query serviceAWS AMI Management - Custom analytics AMIs (Cloudex) with R, Condaplus, encrypted EBSAWS Tagging Compliance - ICS-V2 Cloud Tagging Standard enforcement (AppId, SystemNumber, Owner, CapabilityId)Amazon Bedrock - Generative AI service (enabled for UConn project)Terraform Enterprise (TFE) - Infrastructure as Code for AWS resource provisioningPredictive Modeling Competition Infrastructure - Annual competition environment: 33 EC2 instances, dedicated GitLab server, S3 security governance (31 teams, 100 participants)Authentication & SecurityQuest Authentication Services (VAS) - Active Directory integration for Linux/SAS via PAMSSSD (System Security Services Daemon) - Open-source AD integration (Ubuntu/RHEL)Kerberos - Authentication protocol for AD-integrated Linux environmentsPAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) - Linux authentication framework for SAS, SSH, and application accessNexus IQ / Nexus Repository - Package security scanning and repository proxy for Python, R, and Conda packagesIIQ (IdentityIQ) REST API - Automated EC2 access provisioning and AD group registrationSSL/TLS Certificate Management - Server certificate lifecycle managementMonitoring, Alerting & OperationsRAMMON (Resource and Memory Monitoring) - Custom web-based server monitoring dashboard for 14 serversConnect Direct - File transfer monitoring for RHEL 8 production job protectionOOM (Out of Memory) Protection Scripts - Automated memory management and process governanceCustom Email Alerting System - Proactive incident notification via smtpxfer.prodlb.travp.netServer Load Analysis Tools - CPU/RAM heatmap analysis for capacity planningFilesystem Health Check Scripts - Automated monitoring of GPFS and local filesystemsInternal Web Applications (Flask/Python)AA Engineering Portal - Central SSO-authenticated hub for all team applicationsTeam Accomplishments Tracker - Monthly/quarterly achievement tracking with email reports and Excel import/exportDocumentation Inventory - Searchable documentation reference system (migrated from SharePoint Excel)Server Monitoring Dashboard (RAMMON) - Real-time RAM, CPU, and process monitoring across all serversDevelopment & Version ControlGit / GitHub Enterprise - Version control and repository management for team code and configurationsGitHub Copilot - AI-assisted code development integrated with RStudio Server and development workflowsNginx - Reverse proxy and web server for Flask application routing and SSL terminationGunicorn - Python WSGI HTTP server for production Flask deploymentssystemd - Linux service management for all deployed applicationsProject Management & CollaborationServiceNow - Incident management, user stories, and Scrumban workflow adoptionSharePoint - Documentation hosting and team collaborationAgile/Scrumban - Sprint planning using ServiceNow Strategic Planning WorkspaceKey ResponsibilitiesTechnical Leadership & Team Guidance Serve as the senior technical consultant to the Advanced Analytics Engineering team, providing guidance on architecture decisions, troubleshooting complex infrastructure issues, and setting technical direction for platform evolution. Consult with and mentor team members on best practices for server administration, deployment automation, and cross-platform integration. Responsible for the overall technical output and delivery of the engineering team. Infrastructure Monitoring & Reliability Design and maintain comprehensive server monitoring and alerting solutions across 14 Linux servers supporting analytics workloads. This includes RAM and CPU usage monitoring dashboards (RAMMON), automated memory management and OOM protection scripts, filesystem health checks, proactive email alerting (which reduced incidents/outages by 90%), and server load analysis for capacity planning conversations with lines of business. Disaster Recovery Coordination Serve as the DR Coordinator for the Advanced Analytics organization. Ensure business continuity through proactive monitoring, documented recovery procedures, and regular DR testing. Coordinate with infrastructure teams and business stakeholders to maintain recovery readiness across all analytics platforms. Production Pipeline Governance Serve as the pipeline signoff individual for the organization, maintaining rigorous testing and validation protocols for all production deployments. Ensure zero-impact rollouts of database drivers (e.g., Teradata Vantage), platform upgrades (e.g., SAS 9.4M8, SAS EG 8.5), and security patches (e.g., Condaplus 3.0 across 93 devices) through structured testing, communication plans, and staged deployment strategies. Since 1995, iTech Solutions Inc., has been providing IT Consulting and Direct Hire Services to the Insurance, Financial, Communications, Manufacturing and Government sectors with local offices in Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, North Carolina, and New Jersey / Pennsylvania area.Our recruiting strategy is simple, if you want to find qualified IT professionals then use IT professionals to find them. So at iTech Solutions, our personnel are all career IT professionals with a wide range of IT experience. We can honestly say our staff understands the technologies, the complexities of finding and selecting the appropriate personnel and the pressures of running successful IT projects.Employer will not sponsor applicants for any employment visas, at hiring or in the future, including but not limited to H-1B visas. Corp-to-Corp or subcontract personnel will not be considered for this position.iTech Solutions, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify, national origin, age, protected veterans or individuals with disabilities.