Junior Systems & IT Infrastructure Engineer

BECOME OUR BEST INGREDIENT...

Bring your talent to the mix at Empire Merchants, a world-class distributor of fine wines and spirits. Quality people are our best ingredient for success in this thriving, established industry. We are currently seeking a few exceptional people looking to grow their careers at a premier Distributor of Choice that serves more than 10,000 NY Metro area restaurants, hotels, clubs and retail outlets. In return, Empire Merchants can offer you the perfect combination of exceptional benefits and compensation, superior industry training on all levels along in a fun, high-energy environment.  Want to look forward to Mondays?

Position Summary

The Junior Systems & IT Infrastructure Engineer will support the day-to-day operation, maintenance, and improvement of the organization’s IT infrastructure. This role is ideal for an early-career engineer with hands-on experience in VMware, backup software, and core Windows-based infrastructure who is looking to grow their skills in enterprise systems, virtualization, and disaster recovery.

The successful candidate will work closely with senior engineers to support servers, virtual environments, backups, monitoring, and infrastructure projects while ensuring reliability, security, and performance of systems.

Key Responsibilities

Systems & Infrastructure Support

•          Assist in the administration and support of Windows Server environments (physical and virtual)

•          Support VMware infrastructure (ESXi, vCenter), including monitoring, basic VM provisioning, and maintenance

•          Assist with snapshots, resource allocation, and troubleshooting

•          Perform routine system checks and health monitoring

Backup & Recovery

•          Support enterprise backup solutions (e.g., Veeam, Commvault, Rubrik, Barracuda, or similar)

•          Monitor backup jobs and investigate failures

•          Assist with restore testing and data recovery requests

•          Help maintain backup retention and documentation standards

Operational & Project Support

•          Assist with server builds, upgrades, patching, and decommissioning

•          Support disaster recovery and business continuity procedures

•          Participate in infrastructure projects under supervision

•          Maintain system documentation and diagrams

Incident & Support Escalation

•          Provide Tier 2/3 escalation support to the Helpdesk team

•          Troubleshoot server, virtualization, and backup-related issues

•          Work with vendors and senior engineers to resolve infrastructure incidents

Security & Best Practices

•          Follow IT security standards and change management procedures

•          Assist with system hardening, patching, and access reviews

•          Support monitoring and alerting platforms

Minimum Qualifications

Technical Skills

•          1–3 years of hands-on experience in systems or infrastructure support

•          Working knowledge of VMware virtualization (ESXi / vCenter)

•          Working knowledge of backup and recovery software

•          Experience supporting Windows Server environments

•          Basic understanding of Active Directory, DNS, DHCP

•          Fundamental understanding of networking (IP addressing, VLANs, firewalls)

General Skills

•          Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills

•          Ability to follow documented procedures and escalate appropriately

•          Good written and verbal communication skills

•          Willingness to learn and grow under senior engineering guidance

Preferred Qualifications

•          Exposure to cloud platforms (Azure or AWS)

•          Familiarity with monitoring tools (Nagios, PRTG, SolarWinds, etc.)

•          Basic PowerShell scripting experience

•          Experience with endpoint security or EDR tools

•          Relevant IT certifications (or actively pursuing): VMware, Microsoft, CompTIA

What We Offer

•          Hands-on exposure to enterprise-grade infrastructure

•          Mentorship and career growth within the Infrastructure team

•          Opportunities to work with virtualization, backups, and disaster recovery

Supervisor Responsibilities

None.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS 

Empire Merchants offers a competitive compensation package including:

• Salary Range: $75,000 - $95,000 plus annual bonus potential 
• 16 Observed Holidays, PTO, vacation accrual
• Health Plan options (medical, dental, vision, disability coverage, life insurance, parental leave, and other voluntary plans), 401K (with Company Contributions).
• Flexible Spending Account and Pre-Tax Transit Commuter Program, industry certifications (WSET), tuition reimbursement and more.
• The range is an estimate for this position.  The company will evaluate a specific candidate's education, skills and experience when making an offer

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand, walk, sit, and climb or balance. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to fifty pounds. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to ten pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions

WORKING CONDITIONS AND ENVIRONMENT

This work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounter while performing the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to a normal business office environment and is occasionally exposed to work near moving mechanical parts and high precarious locations. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.