Remote JIRA Service Management Engineer/Admin

Pay 80-100/h depending on experience Position Summary This company is seeking a Jira Service Management (JSM) Engineer / Administrator to own the technical administration, engineering, governance, stabilization, and continual improvement of its Atlassian Cloud service management environment. This role translates IT Service Management (ITSM) requirements into governed, scalable, and supportable Jira configurations. The initial focus is improving the current environment through workflow and configuration rationalization, stronger platform governance, improved request classification and routing, reliable reporting, automation, knowledge management, and service-level measurement. The role will enable mature: Incident Management Major Incident Management Problem Management Change Enablement Service Request Management Knowledge Management Asset and Configuration Management This position combines hands-on platform engineering, administration, workflow and data design, automation, documentation, stakeholder facilitation, and operational support. Key Responsibilities 1. JSM Platform Administration and Governance Administer and support Jira Service Management, Jira, Confluence integrations, Jira Assets, applications, and related Atlassian Cloud capabilities. Maintain an accurate inventory of projects, workflows, statuses, fields, screens, forms, queues, filters, dashboards, automations, integrations, permissions, and applications. Establish configuration standards for naming, ownership, documentation, testing, deployment, rollback, and change approval. Assess cross-project dependencies before modifying shared workflows, fields, schemes, automations, permissions, or integrations. Maintain platform runbooks, architecture documentation, configuration standards, dependency maps, and support procedures. Remediate configurations owned by inactive users and review administrative privileges, agent access, permissions, and service identities to support least privilege and accountability. Maintain controlled development, test, release, and production support practices. 2. Service Request Management and Service Catalog Design and maintain a clear service catalog based on user needs and defined IT services. Rationalize request types, issue types, categories, components, forms, and associated workflows. Create distinct handling models for incidents, service requests, access requests, problems, changes, and other operational work. Develop specific request paths for high-volume services and reduce dependence on generic intake channels. Configure dynamic and conditional forms that collect information required for routing, approvals, fulfillment, reporting, and audit evidence. Implement controlled handling for email-generated, uncategorized, and generic requests. Improve portal self-service through integrated knowledge. 3. Incident and Major Incident Management Configure and continually improve Incident Management workflows, categorization, priority, routing, escalation, resolution, and closure. Implement a consistent priority model based on business impact and urgency. Configure clear escalation paths among Service Desk, resolver teams, application owners, infrastructure teams, and other support groups. Support a Major Incident Management model covering: Declaration criteria Escalation Responder coordination Stakeholder communications Service impact Resolution Post-incident review Connect major incidents to affected services, assets, changes, known problems, related incidents, and follow-up actions. Measure: Incident demand Response times Resolution times Aging Reopen rates Recurring incidents Service impact 4. Problem Management Provide the JSM capabilities required for mature Problem Management while IT and service owners retain responsibility for investigating and resolving underlying causes. Responsibilities Design dedicated Problem Management workflows for: Identification Investigation Root-cause analysis Workaround identification Known-error management Remediation Validation Closure Create relationships among problems, incidents, major incidents, changes, assets/configuration items, services, and knowledge articles. Establish criteria for when recurring incidents, high-impact events, or major incidents should trigger a problem investigation. Configure forms and fields to capture: Symptoms Business impact Root cause Contributing factors Workarounds Corrective actions Ownership Target dates Resolution Enable identification and lifecycle management of known errors and documented workarounds. Integrate Problem Management with Knowledge Management. Provide dashboards for: Recurring incidents Top problem categories Aging problems Known errors Root causes Corrective actions Remediation progress Support proactive Problem Management through trend analysis and validation of corrective action effectiveness. Target Lifecycle Incident ? Recurring Pattern ? Problem Investigation ? Root Cause / Known Error ? Workaround ? Corrective Change ? Validation ? Reduced Recurrence 5. Change Enablement Design and maintain JSM capabilities that support company change governance in partnership with IT Governance, Security, Quality, system owners, and technical teams. Change Models and Workflow Configure Standard, Normal, and Emergency Change models and workflows. Differentiate workflows and controls by: Risk Complexity Service impact Criticality Regulatory requirements Automate approved, low-risk, repeatable Standard Changes. Provide clear change statuses, ownership, implementation windows, dependencies, and closure outcomes. Risk, Impact, Approval, and Scheduling Configure structured risk and impact assessments covering: Business impact Service impact Technical risk Security Affected systems Implementation plan Testing/validation plan Backout plan Timing Required approvals Connect changes to affected business services, applications, infrastructure, and Jira Assets. Configure conditional approvals based on: Change type Risk Service System Organizational requirements Support separation between requester, implementer, approver, and reviewer roles. Configure and maintain: Change calendar Maintenance windows Blackout periods Scheduling conflict visibility Change Outcome and Review Capture implementation results, validation evidence, failures, rollbacks, unexpected impacts, and closure codes. Support post-implementation review for failed, emergency, high-risk, or significant changes. Link failed changes to resulting incidents and problems. Report on: Change volume Success rate Failed changes Emergency changes Rollbacks Change-related incidents Approval cycle time Implementation lead time End-to-End Traceability Incident ? Problem ? Root Cause ? Corrective Change ? Validation Failed Change ? Incident ? Problem Investigation 6. Workflow, Status, and Data Design Simplify workflows while preserving required controls. Establish standard definitions for statuses and resolution outcomes. Design consistent: Reopen behaviors Escalation paths Handoff procedures Approval processes Closure methods Auto-close behaviors Rationalize custom fields, contexts, screens, forms, and categorization models. Plan and execute: Configuration migrations Testing User acceptance testing (UAT) Releases Rollbacks Training Post-release support 7. Queues, Routing, and Operational Flow Rationalize queues and query logic. Establish a governed assignment-group and resolver-group model. Configure deterministic routing using: Request type Service Category Asset Structured intake data Reduce manual reassignment and recategorization. Configure visibility for: Unassigned work Aging work Overdue work Stalled work Reopened work SLA breaches Support backlog management, escalation, and service reviews. 8. Knowledge Management and Self-Service Configure and maintain integration between JSM and approved Confluence knowledge sources. Partner with Knowledge Owners to establish: Article templates Ownership Permissions Review schedules Publication controls Archival practices Integrate knowledge with Incident and Problem Management. Configure portal knowledge suggestions. Measure: Search success Knowledge utilization Assisted resolution Self-service adoption Repeat contacts Knowledge gaps 9. Automation and Integration Engineering Inventory, document, test, monitor, and maintain project-level and global automations. Correct failed, obsolete, duplicate, or unsupported automation. Develop reusable automation patterns for: Routing Escalation Approvals Notifications Provisioning Fulfillment Change Enablement Problem Management Design secure integrations with: Microsoft Entra ID Microsoft 365 Teams Confluence Reporting platforms Asset sources Operational systems Ensure automation supports ITSM, security, audit, privacy, quality, and regulatory controls. 10. Jira Assets and Service Configuration Management Design and maintain Jira Assets schemas, object types, relationships, attributes, permissions, and imports. Establish authoritative asset and configuration data sources. Connect ITSM records to: Services Applications Systems Devices Infrastructure Users Locations Owners Support groups Enable service dependency and impact analysis. Establish data quality, ownership, lifecycle, and access standards. 11. Service Levels, Reporting, and Continual Improvement Define and maintain trusted dashboards covering: Demand Backlog Aging Response Resolution Service levels Incidents Problems Changes Knowledge Assets Automation Establish documented SLA start, stop, pause, breach, and escalation rules. Implement trend reporting to identify Problem Management candidates. Establish baseline measurements and validate improvements. Maintain a prioritized Continual Service Improvement (CSI) backlog. 12. Future-State Automation and Virtual Service Agent Enablement Assess readiness for: Guided intake Automated classification Automated routing Knowledge-driven self-service Agent assistance Repeatable fulfillment Identify measurable automation and Virtual Service Agent opportunities. Establish governance around: Authorization Privacy Security Audit Approvals Exception handling Human handoff Rollback Ensure ITSM data maturity before scaling automation. Define success metrics before expanding pilot capabilities. Required Qualifications 5+ years of Jira or Jira Service Management administration, platform engineering, or comparable enterprise service management experience. Strong hands-on experience with Atlassian Cloud and Jira Service Management. Demonstrated experience supporting: Service Request Management Incident Management Major Incident Management Problem Management Change Management Knowledge Management Service Level Management Asset & Configuration Management Strong expertise in: Workflows Request and issue types JQL Dashboards Automation Permissions Approvals Jira Assets Confluence Integration Experience simplifying complex Jira environments. Experience configuring root-cause, known-error, workaround, and corrective-action workflows. Ability to translate ITSM requirements into sustainable platform solutions. Preferred Qualifications Atlassian Jira Service Management or Jira Administration certification. ITIL 4 Foundation certification or equivalent practical experience. Experience implementing ITIL-aligned practices. Experience with Jira Assets and service modeling. Experience integrating Jira with: Microsoft Entra ID Microsoft 365 Teams Power BI APIs Webhooks Experience with AI-enabled service management and Virtual Service Agents. Experience in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, life sciences, laboratory, or regulated industries. Understanding of audit trails, segregation of duties, least privilege, approval evidence, privacy, and controlled change practices. Key Deliverables JSM governance model and administration standards. Complete configuration and dependency inventory. Workflow, queue, field, automation, dashboard, and integration rationalization. Standard Incident and Major Incident Management configuration. Formal Problem Management framework. Standard, Normal, and Emergency Change workflows. Integrated incident, problem, change, knowledge, service, and asset relationships. Governed SLA model and operational dashboards. JSM-Confluence knowledge integration. Jira Assets readiness assessment and service model. Continual Service Improvement roadmap. Automation and Virtual Service Agent roadmap. Measures of Success Reduced manual reassignment, recategorization, and generic intake. Reduced unassigned work and aging backlog. Clear ownership across projects, workflows, automations, dashboards, integrations, and knowledge. Consistent incident prioritization and SLA reporting. Recurring incidents are investigated and reduced through Problem Management. Changes are risk-assessed, approved, implemented, validated, and traceable. Reduced emergency and failed changes. Improved portal adoption, self-service utilization, asset traceability, and automation reliability. Role Boundary and Operating Model The JSM Engineer / Administrator serves as the technical platform owner and ITSM process enablement partner. ITSM Process Owners and Service Owners define policies, controls, decision rights, and process outcomes. The JSM Engineer / Administrator translates those requirements into: Workflows Data models Forms Approvals Automations Integrations Dashboards Controls Documentation Sustainable platform configurations This separation ensures the role does not become the default Incident Manager, Problem Manager, Change Manager, Service Desk Manager, or owner of every ITSM process solely because it administers the platform.