Systems Administrator (Linux)

Bluestaq UK; Lincoln; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Workplace pension

Group income protection

33 days annual leave

Private medical cover

Professional development support

Job summary

Bluestaq Ltd in the United Kingdom is seeking a Linux Systems Administrator to maintain the Linux estate supporting NATO delivery on AWS and on‑premises. You will own incidents and small changes, escalating complex issues to Senior team members while learning the resolution process.

The role is an individual contributor reporting to the Systems Administration Manager, with a technical path that does not require management responsibilities. On‑call and travel may be required as part of the duties.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Linux administration in production environments.
• Experience with cloud (Azure) and on-premises estates is transferable.
• Familiarity with ITSM/ticketing workflows and change control.

Responsibilities

• Manage enterprise systems across test and production environments, cloud and on‑premises.
• Drive incidents from triage to resolution; prioritize own queue by severity and impact.
• Install, configure and secure services; perform small, low‑risk changes with verification.
• Carry out patching, backups and monitoring under change control; act on findings and logs.
• Propose small operational improvements: better alerts, clearer docs, simple automation.
• Support internal teams, data providers, data owners and data consumers.
• Participate in UK on‑call coverage and handovers with US team.

Skills

Linux administration

Azure

VMware vSphere

Scripting (Bash/Python)

Incident management

On-call / 24/7 support

Change control & security

Customer-service mindset

Documentation & logging

Tools

Confluence

Jira

Ansible

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

About Bluestaq Limited

Bluestaq starts with our people. We are looking for teammates who THINK strategically, SERVE the mission and LEAD from wherever they stand. If you bring curiosity, ownership and a thirst for delivery, we would like to hear from you.

Bluestaq starts with our people. We are looking for teammates who THINK strategically, SERVE the mission and LEAD from wherever they stand. If you bring curiosity, ownership and a thirst for delivery, we would like to hear from you. Every society runs on invisible systems; Bluestaq is that, for data. Bluestaq Ltd is the UK sovereign subsidiary of Bluestaq LLC (Colorado Springs, USA), and we build the secure data infrastructure that allied operations depend on: mission-critical solutions, flowing through thousands of global users, from ingest to publication in milliseconds, for customers spanning the NATO, Five Eyes and wider allied partners. We are in our formative years in the UK, building on proven foundations in the USA and Australia. That means real opportunity, early: decisions at your level, and colleagues who know their craft and trust you to know yours.

The Role

You will be the first line of response for Bluestaq’s UK systems, keeping the Linux estate that supports our NATO delivery running day to day on AWS. You will own routine incidents and small changes through to resolution. When a problem needs deeper expertise, you will elevate to our Senior Systems Administrators and learn how they resolve it.

This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports, reporting to the Systems Administration Manager, with a clear technical path that does not require you to become a manager.

What You Will Do

• Support enterprise systems across test and production environments, in cloud and on-premises estates.
• Drive tickets and incidents from triage to resolution, prioritising your own queue on severity and impact.
• Install, configure and secure common services, making small, low‑risk changes safely and verifying their impact.
• Carry out patching, upgrades, backups and monitoring checks under change control, and act on scan findings and logs.
• Propose small operational improvements: better alerts, clearer documentation, simple automation.
• Support internal teams, data providers, data owners and data consumers.
• Take part in UK operational coverage, including on‑call rotation and structured handovers with the US team.

What You Bring

• Hands‑on Linux administration in a live production environment. Experience on Microsoft Azure, VMware vSphere or similar platforms is transferable.
• A working understanding of how operating systems, networking, identity, storage and applications interact, including access control and permissions, and the ability to troubleshoot common faults using logs, status tools and documentation.
• Scripting in Bash, Python or similar, and an instinct to automate what should not be done by hand.
• Curiosity and method: you want to know why something broke, not just that it is working again, and you record what you did and why.
• Confidence handling user and system issues independently most of the time, within a ticketing or ITSM workflow, and an understanding of why change control matters in a secure estate.
• Ownership and a customer‑service mindset: you communicate calmly and clearly with technical and non‑technical colleagues, follow through, ask for help at the right moment and take responsibility for your own development.
• Judgement with AI tools: applying them where they help, reviewing what they produce and handling sensitive data responsibly.

Essential Conditions

• Right to work in the UK.
• Ability to meet the security requirements above.
• Willingness to work 10‑hour shifts on a four‑on, four‑off rota, including weekends and bank holidays. Night shifts may follow as further systems come online and the service moves to 24/7.
• Willingness and eligibility to travel to Bluestaq headquarters in the United States for onboarding, and occasionally to sites across the UK and Europe thereafter.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with NATO structures, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), the MOD or other allied defence programmes.
• Linux certification such as RHCSA or LPIC‑1, or CompTIA Linux+, Network+ or Security+.
• Exposure to configuration management or infrastructure‑as‑code tooling such as Ansible or Terraform.
• Exposure to containerised platforms such as Docker or Kubernetes.
• Experience with Confluence and Jira or similar platforms.

Why Join Us

• Workplace pension through salary exchange.
• Group income protection and group life assurance from day one.
• 33 days’ annual leave including bank holidays, applied to your shift pattern.
• Private medical cover and 24/7 remote GP access for you and your family.
• Professional subscription support and ongoing development.

Bluestaq Ltd is an Armed Forces Covenant signatory. Service leavers and reservists who know watch‑keeping, escalation and operating under pressure will recognise this work.

Join the Mission

Protect data that matters. Build capability the United Kingdom depends on. Launch into operations, not pitch decks.

Bluestaq Ltd is committed to an inclusive workplace. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, including career returners, service leavers, reservists and people underrepresented in defence technology. We recruit on capability and potential in line with the Equality Act 2010. If you need reasonable adjustments at any stage, tell us when you apply.

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant. Service leavers and reservists who know watch‑keeping, escalation and operating under pressure will find this role speaks their language.