Administrator - Systems Sr

Blue Origin; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 134,000 - 188,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Paid time off

Education Support Program

Job summary

Blue Origin is seeking a Senior System Administrator to own and operate the AWS infrastructure for enterprise applications, including Jira/Confluence, with a focus on automation, IaC, and reliability.

You will apply AI-assisted development to accelerate tasks, set security and monitoring standards, and work with cross‑team stakeholders. A strong emphasis on operational excellence and mentoring is expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
• Significant experience architecting and operating AWS workloads in production.
• Hands-on experience with Infrastructure-as-Code.
• Experience with monitoring, alerting, and incident response for production systems.
• Strong troubleshooting skills across multi-layer stacks.
• Ability to mentor engineers and lead technical direction.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Architect, deploy, and operate the AWS infrastructure hosting enterprise workloads.
• Set standards for IaC, automation, security, reliability, and observability.
• Own patching, upgrades, health, capacity planning, and DR for critical infra.
• Write code and use AI-assisted development to automate tasks and improve reliability.
• Evaluate and select tools for automation, observability, and IaC.
• Establish monitoring, alerts, and incident management; participate in on‑call rotation.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity to meet security/compliance requirements.
• Represent the team and drive cross‑team adoption of shared standards.
• Mentor engineers and elevate organizational reliability capabilities.

Skills

AWS

IaC

Automation

Observability

On-call rotation

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Terraform

Jira

Confluence

Docker

Kubernetes

Datadog

Linux

Python

Go

AI tools

Job description

Application close date:

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We're working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

This role is part of Enterprise Technology (ET), where we're developing the digital infrastructure needed to build the road to space, with an emphasis on digital capabilities required to advance Blue Origin's mission. Enterprise Technology is the center of excellence for digital technology at Blue Origin, providing oversight and governance to align technology and business strategies.

Senior System Administrator

As part of a hardworking team of technology professionals, you are invited to join us as a Sr. System Administrator. You will join the Applications team, the group that administers Jira, Confluence, and a portfolio of enterprise applications used by everyone at Blue Origin. When the entire company plans work and shares knowledge, it runs on the platforms this team owns.

You will own the AWS infrastructure underneath those applications: compute, storage, networking, databases, patching, upgrades, and system health. This is a hands‑on engineering role at the center of a team raising its operational maturity. You will bring rigor and repeatability to how infrastructure is provisioned and managed. AI is a core tool in how you work; you will use AI‑assisted development to accelerate automation, troubleshooting, and documentation.

Our tech stack at a glance:

• Amazon Web Services (EC2, RDS, VPC, IAM, etc.)
• Terraform
• Atlassian (Jira, Confluence)
• Docker / Kubernetes
• Datadog
• Linux
• Python, Go
• AI/LLM tools (Claude, Codex, etc.)

What makes our engineers successful?

• Deep technical command of AWS services and cloud architecture; you go deep and solve problems at the root
• A relentless focus on operational excellence; you automate ruthlessly and drive continuous improvement
• A bias toward Infrastructure-as-Code; you treat infrastructure as version-controlled, repeatable, and automated by default
• Strong ownership; you take responsibility for the availability, performance, and security of the systems you run
• A customer‑first mindset and desire to deeply understand the needs of the teams you support
• The ability to work independently and set technical patterns others on the team follow
• A natural inclination to mentor and elevate the engineers around you
• The ability to influence leadership decisions by articulating technical trade‑offs in business terms

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Architect, deploy, and operate the AWS infrastructure (compute, storage, networking, databases, security) that hosts Blue Origin’s enterprise application workloads
• Set the technical vision and standards for Infrastructure-as-Code, automation, security, reliability, and observability across the team's systems
• Own patching, upgrades, system health, capacity planning, and disaster recovery for the infrastructure the company depends on
• Write code and leverage AI‑assisted development to automate operational tasks, reduce toil, and improve reliability
• Evaluate and select strategic tools and technologies for automation, observability, and IaC
• Establish and improve monitoring, alerting, and incident management practices; define and meet SLAs/SLOs; participate in on‑call rotation
• Partner with cybersecurity teams to ensure infrastructure meets security and compliance requirements
• Represent the team across the organization: build coalitions to drive adoption of shared standards, influence leadership on infrastructure strategy, and coordinate cross‑team projects
• Mentor and coach engineers on the team, elevating organizational capabilities in infrastructure automation and reliability engineering

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience
• Significant experience architecting and operating application workloads on AWS in a production environment
• Hands‑on experience writing Infrastructure-as-Code
• Experience with monitoring, alerting, and incident response for production systems
• Strong troubleshooting skills with the ability to diagnose and resolve complex infrastructure issues across multiple layers of the stack
• Demonstrated ability to mentor other engineers and lead technical direction for a team
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience building automation that eliminates operational toil and manual work
• Experience using AI tools and AI‑assisted development in an engineering or operations context
• Experience operating the infrastructure behind enterprise applications such as Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence)
• Track record of driving operational maturity in a fast‑paced, high‑growth environment
• Experience influencing technical strategy and articulating infrastructure trade‑offs to leadership
• History of driving cross‑team adoption of shared infrastructure standards and platforms
• Experience evaluating and selecting enterprise tooling for automation, observability, or security

We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required!

Base Pay Range for: WA applicants is $134,434.00 - $188,207.25

Other site ranges may differ

Culture Statement

Don't meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Background Check

• Required for all positions: Blue's Standard Background Check
• Required for Certain Job Profiles: Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation
• Required for Certain Job Profiles: Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations including: Driver Qualification Files, Medical Certification (obtained before onboarding), Road Test, Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol Testing, vehicle inspection requirements, CDL requirements (if applicable) and hazardous materials transportation/shipping training.
• Required for certain Job Profiles: Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre‑employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physical

Benefits

• Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long‑term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
• Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company‑paid holidays.
• Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Blue Origin is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and is committed to attracting, retaining, and developing a highly qualified and dedicated work force. Blue Origin hires and promotes people on the basis of their qualifications, performance, and abilities. We support the establishment and maintenance of a workplace that fosters trust, equality, and teamwork. We provide all qualified applicants for employment and employees with equal opportunities for hire, promotion, and other terms and conditions of employment, regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin/ethnicity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by federal, state, and/or local law. Blue Origin will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws, including the Washington Fair Chance Act, the California Fair Chance Act, the Los Angeles Fair Chance in Hiring Ordinance, and other applicable laws. For more information on "Know Your Rights," please see here.

Affirmative Action and Disability Accommodation

Applicants wishing to receive information on Blue Origin's Affiantative Action Plans, or applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in the application and/or interview process, please contact us at [e-mail]. Please note this is a publicly managed inbox. Please do not include any personal medical information in your request.