Senior Active Directory Specialist (Architect) - Contract

SUMMARY:
Senior Active Directory Specialist

POSITION INFO:

Our Client a Global tech firm is seeking a Senior Active Directory Specialist (Architect) to join their team in Johannesburg on a contact basis. They offer stability, growth, attractive rates and a great working environment.

The Senior Active Directory Specialist is responsible for the Global design of the OT Active Directory (AD) environment, ensuring optimal performance, security, and availability. This role plays a critical part in designing appropriate identity and access, enforcing security best practices, and supporting enterprise-wide authentication and directory services.

Key Responsibilities:

• Active Directory Administration
• Design the AD infrastructure, including domain controllers, DNS, DHCP, and Group Policy.
• Suggest processes to Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize AD to ensure stability and performance. Identity & Access Management (IAM)
• Develop IAM policies, procedures, and controls.
• Design mechanisms and suggest procedures for user provisioning, deprovisioning, and access control in alignment with security policies. (Design)
• Security & Compliance
• Design AD security best practices, inline with current practices including MFA, security baselines, and privileged access management.
• Suggest processes to conduct security audits, patching, and vulnerability assessments.
• Disaster Recovery & Backup
• Design AD disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
• Design backup and recovery tests to ensure data integrity and availability.
• Scripting & Automation
• Suggest PowerShell scripts to automate AD tasks such as account management and reporting.
• Suggest automated monitoring and alerting solutions for AD performance and security.
• Collaboration & Support
• Work with IT teams to plan integration of AD with cloud services (e.g., Azure AD, Office 365).
• Provide expert-level support for AD-related incidents and service requests.
• Documentation & Reporting
• Maintain detailed documentation of AD architecture, policies, and procedures.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience managing and administering Active Directory in enterprise environments.
• Expertise in Windows Server, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, and PowerShell scripting.
• Experience with Azure AD, ADFS, and identity federation.
• Strong understanding of AD security hardening, MFA, PKI, and LDAP.
• Familiarity with IAM tools such as Okta, CyberArk, or similar.
• Excellent troubleshooting, analytical, and communication skills.
• Preferred Certifications:
• Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Server Infrastructure (Must Have)
• Microsoft Certified: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure (Must Have)
• Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate
• CompTIA Security+ or CISSP (Advantageous)
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals or Azure Administrator Associate