Expert Systems Engineer

About the Role

We are searching for a deep Citrix expert — someone who has lived and breathed Citrix for years, knows the logon process inside and out, and gets genuinely excited about finding the hidden cause of a 30-second login when it should be 8. As our Expert Systems Engineer, you will be the technical anchor of our Citrix Customer Experience team, responsible for the most complex performance investigations, the development of our diagnostic methodology, and the technical mentorship of the broader team.

You will work directly with data, AI-assisted analysis tools, Wireshark traces, Citrix Director deep dives, Power BI dashboards, and your own hard-won expertise to identify — and eliminate — the root causes of poor Citrix logon performance across a large and varied customer base. Your findings will not stay with one customer; you will be the engine that turns individual discoveries into org-wide improvements.

Required Qualifications

5+ years of deep, hands-on experience with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (XenApp/XenDesktop), including complex multi-site enterprise deployments, performance tuning, and advanced troubleshooting

Expert-level understanding of the Citrix logon process — able to analyze each phase (Session Startup, Brokering, HDX, Authentication, GPO, Profile Load, Interactive Session) and interpret all key VDA and client-side metrics (SSCD, SCCD, NRWD, LPWD, GPVD, PCVD, DMVD, COVD, CAVD, etc.)

Deep expertise in Windows Group Policy (GPO) — including design, troubleshooting, and optimization of GPOs in Citrix VDA environments; able to identify settings that impact logon performance and application behavior

Proficiency with Citrix Director for in-depth session analysis, logon phase breakdowns, and real-time troubleshooting

Experience with Wireshark or equivalent packet capture tools for network-layer logon diagnostics

Strong analytical skills with the ability to correlate data from multiple sources (Power BI, Logic Monitor, Azure Log Analytics, event logs, Citrix Director) to identify root causes that are not immediately obvious

Demonstrated experience documenting complex findings clearly and transforming them into actionable, repeatable processes and runbooks

Experience mentoring less senior engineers and elevating the technical capability of a team

Preferred Qualifications

FSLogix deep expertise — container configuration, profile management, optimization, and troubleshooting

Experience with Azure cloud infrastructure, including Azure-hosted Citrix deployments, Azure Log Analytics, and Azure AD integration

Working knowledge of Citrix StoreFront and Workspace App architecture, including configuration best practices and common performance pitfalls

Hands-on experience with proxy settings, WPAD, and auto-proxy detection in enterprise environments and their impact on Citrix session behavior

Familiarity with Optimus/OptimistDB or similar Windows configuration audit frameworks

Scripting proficiency in PowerShell and/or Python — able to write or direct automation for GPO auditing, configuration comparison, and data extraction

Experience using AI/LLM tools (e.g., Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT) in an operational context to analyze configuration data, surface recommendations, and cross-reference knowledge bases at scale

Citrix certification at the CCE-V level or equivalent demonstrated expertise

Healthcare IT or managed services experience — particularly environments running Allscripts/Altera applications (Sunrise, Paragon, TouchWorks, Denali) — is highly desirable

Exposure to double-hop Citrix architectures and associated performance implications

Key Responsibilities

Advanced Logon Performance Analysis & Diagnostics

Lead the most complex and ambiguous Citrix logon performance investigations, going beyond surface metrics to identify true root causes across all logon phases: HDX/Session Creation (SCCD), Brokering (NRWD, LPWD), Authentication (CAVD, COVD), GPO Processing (GPVD), Profile Load (PCVD), Drive Mapping (DMVD), and Interactive Session

Perform deep-dive analysis of customer logon data — comparing high-performing and low-performing environments, drilling into subnet-level variations, user-level inconsistencies, and machine-specific outliers to isolate contributing variables

Conduct packet-level analysis using Wireshark to identify network-layer contributors to logon delays — including DNS resolution timeouts, drive mapping failures, proxy/WPAD misbehavior, and ICA session establishment delays

Analyze Azure Log Analytics for error patterns (e.g., 4908 errors, drive mapping failures) and correlate with logon timeline data to build a complete causal picture

Interpret and act on data from Citrix Director, Logic Monitor, Power BI (Citrix All dashboard, GPO dashboard, scatter plots), and other data sources to identify systemic patterns not visible to less experienced engineers

Leverage AI tools to ingest large volumes of Citrix configuration data, policy exports, and knowledge articles, extracting actionable recommendations and cross-referencing against current customer environments

GPO Analysis & Best Practice Engineering

Serve as the subject matter expert on GPO configuration for Citrix VDA environments — including CTX VDA Configuration settings (SeamlessFlags, LogoffCheckSysModules, USERProcessHandleQuota, and others), Citrix session policies, Windows Component settings (IE, File Explorer, Remote Desktop Services), and security/audit configurations

Identify GPO misconfigurations, overlapping policies, legacy drift, and missing best-practice settings across the customer base, with particular focus on settings that directly impact logon time

Develop and maintain the GPO best practice library and Citrix policy standards that serve as the reference for all customer environments — including both Azure-hosted and Sunrise/on-premises environments

Investigate and resolve complex proxy/WPAD/auto-proxy configuration issues through GPOs and their downstream impac