Experis is actively recruiting an experienced Windows Engineer for a contract to hire role in north suburban Chicago. Candidates will have the opportunity to work on a number of projects relating to technology infrastructure for an enterprise organization and specifically, these projects surround physical/virtual server builds, application deployment/integration. There will also be daily support tasks, troubleshooting and configuration too. Resoponsibilities will include: - Install, configure and maintain Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008R2 Operating Systems - Troubleshoot and provide technical analysis concerning operating system, network, and application performance issues to resolution - Maintain operating system and application software patch levels on all servers - Create detailed technical documentation relating to operating system, application build, server build, performance, and stability recommendations - Provide timely and effective communication on technical matters SKILLS / KNOWLEDGE / EXPERIENCE Required - Ideal candidate is to have five or more years of systems experience, including three or more years of systems and implementation engineering experience in complex large-scale IT environments. - Domain expertise in midrange engineering with Microsoft and/or storage and networking. Technology experience must be current. ADDITIONAL DESIRED SKILLS: - Engineering expertise for DMZ environments optional. - Hands-on engineering and implementation expertise with TCP/IP networks. - Demonstrable expertise with functional requirements assurance, complex project activities and project coordination. - Domain expert for Microsoft and/or storage networks. - Experience working within systems life cycle processes. - Strong quality assurance and systems testing experience. - Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Windows Server Operating Systems - Intermediate knowledge of IIS 6.0 and IIS 7.0 - Intermediate knowledge of Microsoft Active Directory - Intermediate knowledge VMWare technology and ESX server - Experience and/or exposure to working with Citrix or in Citrix enviornments desirable. - Intermediate knowledge of the following 3rd party application software desirable: Symantec Anti-Virus, Symantec ESM - TCP/IP security domain expertise, e.g., host-based firewalls, intrusion detection or VPNs. - Storage networking expertise. - Past service provider engineering experience. - 5 + years Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008R2 support experience - 3 + years IIS 6.0 and 7.0 experience - 2+ years VMWare experience and/or Citrix experience - 2+ years Active Directory experience