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 impact on session and application performance
- Review Optimus reports and other automated audit outputs for Citrix and Windows server configuration gaps (IAS app pools, SSRS standards, network configurations) and drive remediation
Profile Management & Session Optimization
- Analyze and optimize Citrix user profile configurations — including FSLogix container settings, mandatory profiles, local profile management, and profile size bloat — to reduce profile load times (PCVD) across the customer base
- Evaluate and tune HDX policy settings for performance — including EDT protocol behavior, virtual channel configurations, and session reliability settings — with a focus on reducing Session Creation Client Duration (SCCD)
- Investigate Double Hop scenarios and identify registry-level remediation (e.g., SlowHPCPolling) and architectural improvements to reduce CPU overhead and HDX latency
- Assess StoreFront vs. Citrix Workspace App usage across customers and recommend architectural improvements to reduce brokering and session startup times
Methodology Development & Knowledge Transfer
- Design and continuously refine the team's diagnostic playbook — a step-by-step, tool-by-tool guide that enables engineers at all levels to systematically diagnose logon performance issues in a structured, repeatable way
- Develop training materials, recorded sessions, and runbooks covering the full diagnostic toolchain: Logic Monitor, Citrix Director, Power BI (Citrix All, GPO dashboard, scatter plot), Azure Log Analytics, Wireshark, Citrix policies, and GPO auditing
- Create and maintain a library of "lessons learned" — specific, documented findings from customer investigations that can be evaluated and applied across the entire install base
- Mentor Systems Engineers, reviewing their diagnostic approaches, providing guidance on complex cases, and building their technical depth over time
- Conduct knowledge-transfer sessions and training surges so that the team's collective expertise grows faster than any individual's
AI-Assisted Analysis & Tooling
- Lead the team's use of AI for large-scale analysis — including ingesting Citrix configuration exports, GPO data, ServiceNow knowledge articles, and public Citrix best practice documentation to generate actionable insights and surface configuration gaps at scale
- Develop or guide the development of scripts (PowerShell, Python) to automate GPO auditing, data extraction, and comparison across customer environments
- Work with internal tooling teams to refine and productionize AI-based GPO audit capabilities and Citrix policy analysis pipelines
What Success Looks Like
Within 60 days, you have completed a formal assessment of logon performance across the highest-priority customers, produced a ranked list of root causes with specific remediation recommendations, and delivered the first iteration of the team's diagnostic playbook. Within 6 months, multiple customers have measurably improved logon times directly attributable to your analysis and the team's execution, at least two systemic improvements have been propagated across the full install base, and the Systems Engineers on your team are noticeably more capable diagnosticians than when you arrived.
