Systems Administrator

Position: Systems Administrator

Position Type: Full time, Permanent (Existing Vacancy)

Location: Greater Toronto area, Canada (Hybrid with Regular Onsite Presence and Travel Requirements)

The Company:   

Postmedia is a Canadian news media company representing more than 110 brands across multiple print, online and mobile platforms. Award-winning journalists and innovative product development teams bring engaging content to millions of people every week whenever and wherever they want it.    

This exceptional content, reach and scope offers advertisers and marketers compelling solutions to effectively reach target audiences. We are always on the lookout for talented individuals to join our team.  

The Opportunity: 

The Systems Administrator, supporting Postmedia Distribution Services, provides leadership and hands-on support for enterprise applications, end-user services and related business technology. The role is responsible for improving how the organization works through process improvement, training, automation and practical technology solutions, while increasing service quality, strengthening security and controlling operating costs.

This position connects business departments, internal IT teams, senior leadership and external partners. The successful candidate will translate business requirements into supportable solutions, maintain reliable day-to-day services and lead technology change from discovery through implementation and ongoing support.

The position combines people leadership, business relationship management, operational support, application ownership and project delivery responsibilities in a fast-paced national environment.

Work Environment, Travel and Operational Support Requirements

Regular onsite attendance is an essential requirement of this position. The Systems Administrator is expected to maintain an active presence within company locations to support employees, build strong business relationships and provide leadership for operational, support and project activities.

This is a hybrid position. While remote-work flexibility is available, the successful candidate will be expected to work onsite regularly based on operational requirements, project demands, employee support needs and leadership priorities.

Periodic travel to company offices, production facilities, distribution locations, vendor sites and partner locations is required.

The role operates within a geographically distributed organization and supports multiple locations, business units, operating companies and external service providers across Canada.

As the senior escalation point for business applications, support services and operational technology issues, the Systems Administrator participates in an on-call rotation and must be available to respond to significant service disruptions, major incidents and business-critical issues when required.

Periodic after-hours work is expected to support upgrades, maintenance activities, technology deployments, migrations, cutovers, system testing, disaster recovery exercises and other activities that cannot be performed during normal business hours.

The position requires flexibility to work evenings and weekends when necessary to maintain service continuity, support operational requirements and deliver key business initiatives.

What you’ll do: 

Enterprise Applications and Business Systems

Provide ongoing support and lifecycle management for business applications and systems, including requirements, selection, implementation, configuration, integration, upgrades, support and retirement.

Manage application performance, availability and supportability so business users can obtain maximum value from the technology in use.

Establish and maintain application ownership, support models, roadmaps, inventories, licensing records, technical dependencies and recovery requirements.

Coordinate application testing, release planning, upgrades, production changes, vendor fixes and post-implementation support.

Evaluate new software and services against business, technical, security, privacy, accessibility, integration and total-cost requirements.

Service Delivery, Incident and Problem Management

Lead application support, service desk and end-user service activities, including workload prioritization, escalations and service-quality oversight.

Establish service standards, escalation paths, ticket priorities, service-level expectations and consistent customer communication practices.

Act as the senior escalation point for major incidents, complex application problems, service interruptions and high-priority business issues.

Coordinate technical and vendor resources during outages and ensure stakeholders receive timely, clear and accurate updates.

Maintain knowledge articles, support procedures, troubleshooting guides and self-service resources.

Business Partnership, Process Improvement and Training

Act as a liaison between IT and business teams to understand operational needs and translate them into practical application and technology solutions.

Review business and support processes, identify inefficiencies and develop plans that improve productivity, service quality and cost-effectiveness.

Facilitate requirements gathering, process mapping, solution evaluation, user acceptance testing and implementation planning.

Develop training initiatives, user documentation and change-support materials that help employees adopt new systems and processes successfully.

Identify recurring manual work and implement automation using PowerShell, Power Automate, Microsoft Copilot, n8n workflow tools and other appropriate technologies.

People Leadership and Work Management

Lead, coach and develop internal, remote and external technical-support resources.

Assign work, establish priorities and balance operational support with projects, maintenance, security work and business deadlines.

Set clear expectations for ownership, documentation, communication, customer service and follow-through.

Support team onboarding, knowledge transfer, performance development and succession planning.

Build a collaborative, service-oriented culture focused on accountability, continuous improvement and customer experience.

Projects, Migrations and Organizational Change

Lead cross-functional technology projects from discovery and planning through configuration, testing, communication, training, cutover and stabilization.

Manage application implementations, upgrades, tenant and domain transitions, identity changes, endpoint migrations, virtual-desktop transitions and collaboration-platform changes.

Coordinate technology work associated with acquisitions, divestitures, company transitions, organizational restructuring and environment consolidation.

Develop implementation, contingency and rollback plans that protect business continuity and minimize disruption to employees and customers.

Track decisions, issues, risks, budgets and progress, and provide concise reporting to stakeholders and leadership.

Identity, Collaboration and End-User Platforms

Provide operational knowledge for Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, Intune, Azure and related services.

Support Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, multifactor authentication, single sign-on, role-based access and identity lifecycle management.

Coordinate user onboarding, transfers, terminations, licensing, access provisioning and periodic access reviews.

Work with infrastructure and security teams on endpoints, remote access, vendor VPN connections, server dependencies, software deployment, patching and upgrade readiness.

Vendor, Financial, Telecommunications and Mobility Management

Establish relationships with vendors providing software for our order Pick/Return  lines, application support, consulting, telecommunications, mobility and managed services.

Assist in evaluating proposals, licensing options, statements of work, renewals and service agreements.

Support business and technology teams with budgeting, forecasting, procurement requirements, invoice validation, contract renewals and technology lifecycle planning.

Assist with the delivery and support of business voice, mobile and softphone services, Microsoft Teams calling, carrier services and associated support processes.

Identify opportunities to improve service levels, simplify vendor relationships and reduce operating costs.

Security, Risk and Business Continuity

Work with cybersecurity teams to support security policies, access governance, risk assessments, audits, vulnerability remediation and incident response.

Coordinate multifactor authentication, secure remote access, privileged access, patch compliance and account-security improvements.

Support investigations involving compromised accounts, suspicious activity, inappropriate access or application-security concerns.

Ensure administrative access, vendor connectivity and application permissions are documented, approved and periodically reviewed.

Coordinate and oversee application backup and recovery requirements, disaster-recovery planning and business-continuity testing with system owners and technical teams.

Governance, Reporting and Documentation

Develop and present operational metrics, project progress reports, service summaries, risk updates, licensing reports and vendor-performance information.

Maintain accurate documentation for applications, configurations, dependencies, procedures, support models, decisions and business ownership.

Apply ITIL practices across incident, request, problem, change, knowledge and asset-management processes.

Use data to identify service gaps, recurring problems, cost-saving opportunities, capacity concerns and improvement priorities.

Provide leadership with clear recommendations, options and impacts to support timely decision-making.

Who you are: 

Postsecondary diploma or degree in information technology, computer systems, network engineering, cybersecurity, business systems or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

Approximately five to eight years of progressive experience in enterprise IT, application support, systems analysis, service delivery or business technology.

Demonstrated experience leading technical employees, application-support teams, vendors, projects or cross-functional initiatives.

Strong understanding of IT infrastructure, application architecture, system integration and software-development methodologies.

Experience managing enterprise applications and Microsoft-based technology environments.

Experience with ERP, finance, HR, supply-chain, distribution or other operational business systems.

Experience supporting operational, logistics, distribution, manufacturing, retail, transportation or other multi-location business environments is considered a strong asset.

Demonstrated project-management skills for application upgrades, implementations, migrations and organizational change.

Experience with vendor and service-provider management.

Strong written, verbal, leadership, customer-service and problem-solving skills.

Ability to work independently with limited supervision while collaborating effectively across technical and business teams.

Ability to manage competing priorities and maintain effective service delivery in a geographically distributed, operational business environment.

ITIL Foundation or equivalent service-management experience is preferred. ServiceNow, Microsoft, SQL, security or project-management training is considered an asset.

Key Competencies

Business and operational awareness

Customer and service orientation

Application ownership and lifecycle management

People leadership and team development

Incident leadership and problem resolution

Project and change management

Vendor and financial management

Clear written and verbal communication

Risk awareness and sound judgment

Accountability and follow-through

Continuous improvement and automation

Ability to work effectively across distributed teams and locations

Compensation: 

Employment offers presented to the selected candidate are based on a combination of qualifications, experience, responsibilities of the role and the candidate's location. 

Base Salary: $62,001 - $75,001