M

Microsoft

Builds workplace software, PCs and cloud services

Data Center Technician

Full-Time
$27.45 - $53.70/hr
Junior
Annapolis Junction, MD, USA
In Person
IT Operations
No H1B Sponsorship
US Citizenship, US Top Secret Clearance Required

About the job

Requirements
  • High school diploma, GED, or equivalent and basic knowledge of computer hardware and components.
  • At least one year of experience supporting IT equipment or related technology.
  • Must have an active U.S. Government Top Secret clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), based on a Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) with polygraph.
  • Must meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements before offer and after hire, and maintain or obtain the appropriate government clearance and customer screening requirements.
  • Must successfully verify the stated security clearance before an offer of employment.
  • Must pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.
  • U.S. citizenship is required and will be verified due to citizenship-based legal restrictions.
Responsibilities
  • Prepare, install, diagnose, troubleshoot, replace, and decommission equipment in accordance with standard processes and procedures.
  • Share relevant information proactively to support efficient workflows and mitigate the impact of changes on others’ work.
  • Comply with Data Center Services business-unit and service-level policies, procedures, and deadlines.
  • Complete assigned tickets efficiently, meet or exceed applicable key performance indicators and service-level agreements, and work with minimal guidance from other technicians.
  • Prepare, stage, set up, and start up or shut down racks, hard drives, and switches according to instructions, checklists, guides, protocols, and emails; assist and guide other technicians with challenging or complex tasks.
  • Perform post-execution quality checks and verify grounding, staging, labeling, and cabling against safety protocols, deployment standards, and planned Network Design Tasks.
  • Diagnose and troubleshoot issues using standard procedures, identify their causes, and replace faulty components while minimizing customer and business disruption.
  • Guide technicians as they troubleshoot issues.
  • Decommission hardware for simple changes and refreshes, such as memory upgrades and operating-system rebuilds, following standard procedures with minimal guidance.
  • Communicate, report, and escalate incidents to appropriate data center operations management units, Technician Leads, and engineering specialists.
  • Develop an understanding of cross-functional processes to support partnerships with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Complete role- and workload-aligned training and observe experienced technicians to gain hands-on experience and on-the-job training.
  • Participate in daily safety briefings, complete required safety training, and comply with safety procedures for equipment use, lifting, electrical hazards, and ladder or rolling-stair use.
  • Comply with security and data-management procedures and policies, complete required security training, and alert others to security concerns or incidents.
  • Contribute to an effective team environment by sharing information, participating in regular team meetings, asking questions, and staying apprised of others’ work.
  • Take accountability for service quality, completeness, the resulting user experience, and the data center facilities.
  • Learn the client’s business and maintain a client focus to understand the impact of work when completing tickets and assigned tasks.
Desired Qualifications
  • Applicable certifications such as CompTIA A+, Server+, or Network+, or Basic Structure Cabling (BSC).
  • Ability to communicate effectively with multiple stakeholders.
  • Desire to learn, grow, and develop new technical skills.

About the company

Microsoft builds workplace software, operating systems and cloud infrastructure for consumers, businesses and government agencies, from small organizations to global enterprises. Microsoft 365 combines Word and Excel with Teams communication and Copilot AI features, while Windows runs PCs and Surface supplies the company's own computers. Azure rents computing capacity, storage and databases to build and run web applications. Microsoft also sells Xbox consoles and games, collecting revenue through software licenses, subscriptions, usage charges and product sales. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

Redmond, Washington

Founded

1975

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • US corporate staff receive education support: eligible, approved graduate coursework qualifies for up to $10,000 annually.
  • Cloud demand expands: July 2026 results showed Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 43% year-over-year in fiscal Q4.
  • Investment has an earnings cushion: July 2026 results reported $155.2 billion consolidated operating profit for fiscal 2026.

What critics are saying

  • Performance reviews include security: every Microsoft employee must discuss their security contribution with their manager.
  • Office flexibility depends on the role: Microsoft's postings specify requirements ranging from fully remote to fully on-site.
  • Cloud capacity faces local limits: Microsoft describes power-grid delays and water constraints affecting US datacenter expansion.

What makes Microsoft unique

  • Hybrid customers stay within reach: Azure Arc manages servers across customer datacenters and competing clouds.
  • Developer reach extends beyond Azure: Microsoft's GitHub hosts code collaboration alongside AI coding tools.
  • Professional data widens its business: Microsoft owns LinkedIn's recruiting, advertising and workplace-learning network.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

401(k) Company Match

Professional Development Budget

Conference Attendance Budget

Flexible Work Hours

Remote Work Options

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
Associated Press
Oct 14th, 2026
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Ensure Endpoint Technologies has made PosturePass available in Microsoft Marketplace. The app lets organisations check the security of contractor and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) devices through their existing Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access policies. Contractors install the app themselves, with no device-management enrolment, administrator rights, or IT ticket. It checks disk encryption, antivirus, firewall status, operating system patches, remote access software, and password policy. Once a device passes, PosturePass sends a compliance signal to Microsoft Entra ID, which can then grant access. Roughly one-quarter of devices fail at least one check during initial rollout. Most owners fix the problems without help-desk involvement. PosturePass is used across thousands of devices at insurance and financial services firms. Organisations can buy it through Microsoft Marketplace, including via private offers.

CNBC
Oct 14th, 2026
Apple, Amazon and Microsoft launch AI gadgets from $299 to $2,599 for holiday season

Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft have each unveiled AI devices in the past week, hoping to bring generative AI into homes before the holidays. Analysts expect modest sales for now, as weak consumer sentiment and rising component costs weigh on the market. Microsoft showed a Windows laptop from $2,599 with an RTX Spark chip that runs AI without the cloud. Amazon's largest Alexa Tablet 12 Pro costs $550, and its new Alexa requires a $19.99 monthly subscription or Prime membership. Apple's HomeView smart home hub costs $299 and has a 7-inch screen and facial recognition. Its $1,999 folding iPhone Duo reaches stores next week. IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani said the aim is to get devices into homes and teach users, laying groundwork for bigger launches.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 13th, 2026
Burry flags $3T in off-balance-sheet AI liabilities as Microsoft stock climbs 41% in three months

Investor Michael Burry, known for calling the 2008 housing crash, has warned that Microsoft and other big tech firms carry roughly $3 trillion in off-balance-sheet AI data-center liabilities. He said the companies are spending heavily because they assume they will get an oligopoly "too big to fail." Microsoft's capital spending in the June quarter was $41 billion, up 70% from a year ago. Its commercial remaining performance obligations, or contracted revenue not yet recognised, exceed $678 billion. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 18% to $90 billion, and net income rose 31% to $35.8 billion. Azure passed $100 billion in annual revenue. Shares are up 41% in three months. Analysts' consensus rating is "Strong Buy," with an average price target of $577.98.

PR Newswire
Oct 13th, 2026
Arena Physica brings Heaviside AI to Microsoft Discovery, simulating EM fields 100,000x faster

Arena Physica has made Heaviside, its foundation model for electromagnetism, available on Microsoft Discovery, Microsoft's platform for agentic engineering. The company announced the move on October 13, 2026. Heaviside-1 has 350 million parameters and was trained on 250,000 3D field simulations. It predicts a design's full 3D electromagnetic field response in milliseconds, roughly 100,000 times faster than a traditional solver, and within a decibel of commercial accuracy. Traditional solvers can take hours or days per run, which makes design verification the main bottleneck. On Discovery, an agent can switch between Heaviside's predictions and a full-fidelity solver for final validation. Arena Physica expects strong uptake in semiconductors, including BGA packaging and SerDes interconnects. Discovery also offers audit logging and access controls to protect sensitive designs.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 12th, 2026
Palihapitiya and Musk say power and cooling are AI's real limits as Microsoft pushes own chips

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said power and physical infrastructure could be the lasting constraints in the AI race. He posted on X on Monday, after Microsoft announced its own silicon chips. Palihapitiya wrote that chipmakers will move up the stack while application companies move down it, so "everyone competes with everyone." He asked whether distribution, a data moat, or a physical limit such as power would support long-term margins. Elon Musk replied that scaling power, fast construction, cooling, networking, and batteries "is hard." Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella said the company will scale its Maia chips to multi-gigawatt deployments starting next year. He said the Maia 300 delivers 40% more tokens per watt than leading GPU-based systems.