Senior Systems Administrator

Spectrum IT Recruitment; Fareham; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Spectrum IT Recruitment seeks an experienced Senior Systems Administrator to own and optimise production infrastructure for payment processing platforms. You’ll work across GCP, Linux, Kubernetes, Terraform, and related technologies, with a focus on security, monitoring, and reliability.

Based in Fareham, this office-based role during probation shifts to at least 3 days onsite weekly, offering a salary of £60k–£70k plus benefits.

Qualifications

• Significant commercial experience managing production infrastructure.
• Strong Linux administration, configuration and troubleshooting skills.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS or Azure.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes in production environments.
• Experience with Terraform or similar Infrastructure as Code technologies.
• Strong networking knowledge, including TCP/IP, DNS, TLS, VPNs, firewalls and routing.
• Experience managing relational databases and distributed systems, including backup and recovery.
• Scripting and automation experience using Bash and Python or Go.
• Strong understanding of infrastructure security, monitoring and operational best practices.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills and the ability to take ownership of complex technical issues.

Responsibilities

• Manage and optimise cloud infrastructure on Google Cloud Platform.
• Administer Linux servers, VMs and containerised environments.
• Manage Kubernetes clusters, including GKE.
• Build infra with Terraform and IaC practices.
• Support production databases: MySQL, Cassandra, Elasticsearch, Redis and RabbitMQ.
• Maintain backup, disaster recovery and business continuity processes.
• Configure networking: VPNs, DNS, firewalls, load balancers.
• Implement monitoring, alerts and incident management.
• Manage OS patching, security hardening and infra upgrades.
• Support Google Workspace and endpoint security.
• Contribute to security/compliance (PCI-DSS).
• Identify opportunities to automate and modernise legacy infra.

Skills

Linux administration

Kubernetes

Terraform / IaC

Networking

Scripting (Bash, Python or Go)

Cloud platforms (GCP/AWS/Azure)

Troubleshooting

Security best practices

Incident management

Tools

GCP

GKE

Terraform

Kubernetes

MySQL

Cassandra

Elasticsearch

Redis

RabbitMQ

Job description

Senior Systems Administrator

Location: Fareham, Hampshire
Working Pattern: Office-based during probation, then minimum 3 days onsite per week
Salary: £60k - £70k plus benefits

An opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Systems Administrator to join an established technology business specialising in payment infrastructure and transaction processing.

This is an excellent opportunity for a technically strong Infrastructure Engineer or Senior Systems Administrator who enjoys taking ownership of complex production environments and working with modern cloud technologies.

You'll be responsible for maintaining, securing and improving the infrastructure supporting business-critical payment platforms, working across Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Linux, Kubernetes, Terraform, networking and database technologies.

Key responsibilities include:

• Manage, maintain and optimise cloud infrastructure hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Administer Linux servers, virtual machines and containerised environments.
• Manage Kubernetes clusters, including Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
• Build and maintain infrastructure using Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices.
• Support production databases and distributed systems, including MySQL, Cassandra, Elasticsearch, Redis and RabbitMQ.
• Maintain and improve backup, disaster recovery and business continuity processes.
• Configure and troubleshoot networking infrastructure, including VPNs, DNS, firewalls, load balancers and cloud networking.
• Implement monitoring, alerting and incident management processes.
• Manage operating system patching, security hardening and infrastructure upgrades.
• Support corporate IT infrastructure, including Google Workspace, device management and endpoint security.
• Contribute to infrastructure security and compliance, including PCI-DSS requirements.
• Identify opportunities to automate processes and modernise legacy infrastructure.

Skills & Experience Required

We're looking for an experienced Infrastructure Engineer, Systems Administrator or Site Reliability Engineer with strong technical expertise and a proactive approach to infrastructure management.

Essential experience:

• Significant commercial experience managing production infrastructure environments.
• Strong Linux administration, configuration and troubleshooting skills.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS or Azure.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes in production environments.
• Experience with Terraform or similar Infrastructure as Code technologies.
• Strong networking knowledge, including TCP/IP, DNS, TLS, VPNs, firewalls and routing.
• Experience managing relational databases and distributed systems, including backup and recovery.
• Scripting and automation experience using Bash and Python or Go.
• Strong understanding of infrastructure security, monitoring and operational best practices.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills and the ability to take ownership of complex technical issues.

Desirable Experience

Experience with any of the following would be advantageous:

• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and wider GCP services.
• Cassandra, ScyllaDB or other distributed database technologies.
• PCI-DSS, ISO 27001 or SOC 2 compliance environments.
• GitOps, ArgoCD or Kustomize.
• Istio or other service mesh technologies.
• Cloudflare, including DNS, WAF and Tunnels.
• Google Workspace administration and Apple device management.
• Disaster recovery planning, testing and implementation.
• Prometheus, OpenTelemetry or cloud monitoring solutions.