Senior Systems Administrator

Certus Recruitment Australia; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Certus Recruitment Australia is seeking a Senior Systems Administrator in Melbourne to lead the administration of Windows and Linux environments across on-premises and cloud platforms. You will partner with security, networking, and data engineering teams to ensure reliability and performance.

You will manage Azure services, Entra ID, and governance constructs, support Hyper-V/VMware, and drive automation and incident response across dual data centres.

Qualifications

• Significant senior-level experience managing production Windows Server and Linux at scale.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure, Entra ID, and governance constructs.
• Strong background in private cloud virtualization (Hyper-V/VMware) with multi-site deployments.

Responsibilities

• Administer and maintain Windows Server and Linux environments across on-premises and cloud platforms.
• Manage Microsoft Azure services including Entra ID, RBAC, Key Vault, networking, and governance.
• Support Hyper‑V and VMware, SAN storage, and DR across dual data centres.

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT/Computer Science

Tools

Azure CLI

Bicep

PowerShell

Bash

SQL Server tools

Oracle DB tools

Hyper-V

VMware vSphere

Azure Entra ID

Job description

Senior Systems Administrator

Melbourne, VIC (CBD) | Permanent Full-Time | 5 days per week in the office | $120K–$150K base + super (MAX)

Are you a senior infrastructure professional who thrives in complex, mission-critical environments? We're looking for a Senior Systems Administrator to join our ICT team and play a pivotal role in ensuring the reliability, security, and performance of our production and corporate technology platforms.

Reporting to the Hosting Services Team Lead, you'll operate with a high degree of autonomy, setting technical standards across the administration team while partnering closely with security, networking, and data engineering teams. You'll also act as the senior escalation point for complex production incidents and contribute to the ongoing evolution of our infrastructure and cloud capabilities.

What You'll Be Doing

• Administer and maintain Windows Server and Linux environments across on-premises and cloud platforms
• Manage Microsoft Azure, including Entra ID, RBAC, Key Vault, networking, and governance
• Support Hyper‑V and VMware environments, SAN storage, virtual networking, replication, and disaster recovery across dual data centres
• Administer Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database environments, including backup, recovery, patching, and performance tuning
• Manage Microsoft 365 services including Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Intune, Defender, and Purview
• Partner with networking teams to support LAN/WAN, firewalls, VPNs, routing, and cloud networking
• Operate endpoint security and identity threat detection platforms, supporting incident response and security hardening initiatives
• Lead backup, resilience, and disaster recovery activities, ensuring RPO/RTO objectives are achieved
• Drive automation using PowerShell, Bash, Azure CLI/Bicep, and infrastructure-as-code practices
• Maintain monitoring, logging, observability, and SIEM integrations across the technology environment

What We're Looking For

• Significant senior-level experience administering production Windows Server and Linux environments at scale.
• Demonstrated hands‑on experience administering Microsoft Azure, identity (Entra ID), and governance constructs.
• Strong experience with private cloud virtualisation (Hyper‑V and/or VMware vSphere), including clustered, multi‑site deployments.
• Preferred operational experience administering Microsoft SQL Server (installation, patching, backup, recovery, basic performance tuning) in production.
• Preferred working experience administering Oracle Database environments — sufficient to operate, patch, back up, and troubleshoot in coordination with DBAs.
• Solidnetworking fundamentals — TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, firewalls, VPN, and cloud networking constructs.
• Hands‑on experience operating anEDR platform (e.g. CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint) and identity threat detection / response tooling.
• Advanced administration ofMicrosoft 365, including Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, Intune, and conditional access.
• Strong scripting and automation capability inPowerShell;competency withBash.
• Demonstrated judgement under production pressure, including ownership of major incidents and post‑incident reviews.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to translate technical detail for non-technical stakeholders.

Competencies – Skills / Knowledge (Highly Regarded)

• Excellent communication skills using English.
• Industry certifications such as Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator / Azure Solutions Architect, VMware VCP, Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator, or equivalent.
• Experience operating in regulated or data-sensitive environments with formal change management and security control frameworks (e.g. ISO 27001, Essential Eight).
• Experience designing and validating disaster recovery across dual data centre or multi-region cloud topologies.

Highly Regarded

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator or Azure Solutions Architect
• VMware VCP or Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator
• Experience working within regulated environments and security frameworks such as ISO 27001 and Essential Eight
• Experience designing and validating disaster recovery solutions across dual data centres or multi-region cloud environments

Why Join Us?

You'll join an organisation where platform availability and data integrity are critical to business success. We invest in ongoing learning and professional development, supporting certifications and providing opportunities to work with modern technologies in a highly collaborative environment.

If you're passionate about infrastructure engineering, cloud technologies, automation, and building secure, resilient platforms, we'd love to hear from you.

Interested candidates with full Australian working rights are encouraged to apply and join a growing, forward-thinking team.