System Administrator

Web Hosting Canada (WHC); Montreal (administrative region); On-site; CAD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work: Montreal office 1–2 days

Group insurance

Telemedicine

Employee assistance program

On-call rotation compensation

Job summary

Web Hosting Canada (WHC) is seeking a System Administrator to act as the senior escalation point for secure, fast hosting environments. You will own critical incidents end-to-end, guide L1/L2 teams, and scale infrastructure with automation and hardened backups.

You’ll strengthen monitoring, automate repetitive tasks, and help standardize systems that grew over the years. If you fix root causes rather than tickets, you’ll thrive here.

Qualifications

• 5+ years administering Linux systems running LAMP stacks (Apache or Nginx).
• Hands-on with cPanel/WHM in production hosting.
• Strong knowledge of DNS, IPv4/IPv6, and core web tech.
• Experience with email systems (SMTP, deliverability, reputation).
• Database administration with MySQL or MariaDB.
• Bash/command line proficiency.
• Backup/restore tooling, monitoring and alerting.
• Knowledge of firewalls and WAFs (CSF, ModSecurity, Cloudflare).
• Strong written and verbal English/French communication.
• Willingness to join a shared on-call rotation.

Responsibilities

• Monitor production infrastructure and respond to incidents in real time.
• Diagnose and resolve complex performance issues including load balancing and DB tuning.
• Identify and remediate security incidents (malware, phishing, abuse, blacklisting).
• Provision, configure, and decommission servers (dedicated and cloud).
• Own backup, restore and disaster recovery operations and verify effectiveness.
• Manage patching and OS lifecycle across fleet.
• Lead complex customer migrations and performance audits.
• Coach L1/L2 support teams through advanced cases.
• Work with vendors to troubleshoot hardware/software issues.
• Improve monitoring, alerting and automation to reduce incidents.
• Escalate platform-level issues to DevOps and coordinate response.
• Contribute to internal docs and standardization.

Skills

Linux administration

cPanel/WHM

DNS knowledge

Email systems deliverability

MySQL/MariaDB

Bash/CLI

Monitoring/alerting

Firewalls/WAF

English/French communication

On-call rotation willingness

Tools

Plesk

CloudLinux

LiteSpeed

Imunify360

Docker

Ansible

Terraform

Git

Proxmox

VMware

OpenStack

Windows Server

cPanel

Job description

At Web Hosting Canada (WHC), we are passionate about helping Canadians succeed online by offering reliable website, domain, and email services tailored to their needs. Our mission extends beyond being a leader in online solutions. We strive to create a workplace that fosters growth, innovation, and connection. If you thrive in a dynamic, caring environment and are excited about shaping Canada’s tech landscape, we’d love for you to join our team!

The Opportunity

As a System Administrator, you are the senior escalation point for everything that keeps WHC’s hosting environments secure, fast, and reliable. Reporting to our Lead System Administrator, you own critical incidents end to end, untangle the complex client environments nobody else can crack, and coach our L1 and L2 teams through advanced technical cases.

This is a hands-on role with real influence over how our infrastructure scales. You will strengthen monitoring, automate the work that should not be manual, harden our backup and recovery posture, and help standardize systems that have grown organically over many years. If you like being the person others upscale to, and you would rather fix the underlying cause than close the ticket, you will fit here.

What You’ll Do

• Monitor production infrastructure and respond to incidents in real time
• Diagnose and resolve complex performance issues, including load balancing, database optimization, and system tuning
• Identify and remediate security incidents such as malware, phishing, abuse, and blacklisting
• Provision, configure, and decommission dedicated and cloud servers
• Own backup, restore, and disaster recovery operations, and verify that they actually work
• Manage patching and operating system lifecycle across the fleet
• Lead complex customer migrations and performance audits
• Coach and guide our L1 and L2 support teams through advanced technical cases
• Work with external vendors to troubleshoot hardware and software issues
• Improve monitoring, alerting, and automation so that fewer problems become incidents
• Escalate platform-level issues to DevOps and coordinate the response
• Contribute to internal documentation and systems standardization

What You Bring

• 5+ years administering Linux systems running LAMP stacks (Apache or Nginx)
• Hands-on experience with cPanel/WHM in a production hosting environment
• Strong knowledge of DNS, IPv4/IPv6, and core web technologies
• Experience with email systems (SMTP, POP, IMAP), deliverability, and reputation management
• Database administration experience with MySQL or MariaDB
• Comfort with Bash and the command line
• Experience with backup and restore tooling, and with monitoring and alerting platforms
• Working knowledge of firewalls and web application firewalls (CSF, ModSecurity, Cloudflare, or similar)
• Strong written and verbal communication in English or French
• Willingness to take part in a shared on-call rotation

Nice to Have

• Plesk
• CloudLinux, LiteSpeed, or Imunify360
• WordPress performance and security tuning at scale
• Scripting in Python, PHP, or Perl
• Virtualization platforms such as KVM, Proxmox, VMware, or OpenStack
• Configuration management or infrastructure as code (Ansible, Terraform)
• Git for configuration and change management
• Containers (Docker)
• Windows Server
• Certifications such as LPIC, Red Hat, or cPanel

Why Join WHC?

• Hybrid: 1 to 2 days a week at our Montreal office, the rest from home
• Group insurance, telemedicine, and an employee assistance program
• A shared on-call rotation with a named backup each week, compensated in line with WHC policy
• Real technical ownership and a direct line to the people making infrastructure decisions
• A team that lives its values

Equal Opportunity

WHC is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to an inclusive environment for all WHCers. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, and we are happy to accommodate candidates with disabilities at any stage of the process. Just let us know what you need.