Linux System Administrator

By Light Professional IT Services; Falls Church (VA); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

By Light Professional IT Services is seeking a Sr. Systems Administrator (Linux/Unix) to support the Army National Guard in Falls Church, VA. The role requires system administration for RHEL servers, including performance monitoring, troubleshooting, backups, and security compliance. Candidates should have 6+ years of Linux experience, appropriate certifications, and strong problem-solving abilities. Must hold an active Secret clearance and provide support to military leadership. Hybrid work schedule available.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience with RHEL 7 and/or RHEL 8.
• Must achieve DoD 8570.01-M IAT Level II certification.
• Experience with automated configuration management tools.

Responsibilities

• Provide system administration support for Linux.
• Monitor performance and troubleshoot alerts.
• Perform backups and patching for Linux servers.

Skills

Linux administration

Ansible

Scripting (Bash, Python)

Problem solving

Customer service

Education

Bachelor’s degree in information technology or related

High school diploma

Tools

RHEL 7

RHEL 8

PowerShell

Job description

Company Overview

By Light Professional IT Services LLC readies warfighters and federal agencies with technology and systems engineered to connect, protect, and prepare individuals and teams for whatever comes next. Headquartered in McLean, VA, By Light supports defense, civilian, and commercial IT customers worldwide.

Position Overview

By Light has an opening for a Sr. Systems Administrator (Linux/Unix) position supporting the Army National Guard (ARNG) in Falls Church, VA. This is an IT Service Management contract in support of the operation, modernization, expansion, and further evolution of the ARNG’s global Information Technology (IT) services including networking, compute, storage, infrastructure, applications, hosting, and program management services. The GECOS program supports the ARNG enterprise IT infrastructure, its Wide Area Network (WAN), authentication and directory services, cybersecurity, application hosting, and associated services. GECOS uses ITIL best practices framework as the basis for IT Service Management (ITSM) model.

Three (3) days onsite with up to two (2) days telework. Onboarding/transition in period requires on-site support up to 60 days. GECOS work schedules are subject to change on direction by mission requirements.

Responsibilities

• Provide system administration support for Linux operating systems including installing software, applying patches, managing file systems, monitoring performance, and troubleshooting alerts from monitoring tools.
• Analyze and resolve problems associated with the operating system, servers, hardware, and applications software.
• Detect, diagnose, and report related problems on servers, including system failure analysis and recovery, ensuring consistency and integrity of file systems.
• Apply in-depth hardware configuration knowledge, shell programming expertise, and a solid understanding of standard concepts, practices, and procedures. Relies on experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals, perform a variety of tasks, and work under general supervision.
• Responsible for daily monitoring of interface programs between multiple enterprise systems; review daily logs and ensure successful completion.
• Perform incremental and full cold backups/patching.
• Responsible for DoD Linux Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs).
• Provide performance metrics and usage charts, including CPU usage, disk usage and network uptime for the Linux Servers.
• Provide general maintenance, upgrades, and new installation of servers and coordinate with data center personnel to execute. Document and generate business processes for day‑to‑day and emergency support procedures.
• Install, test, and verify Linux Security patches; coordinate, document requirements and timelines, and work closely with service owners.
• Perform systems security administration functions, including creation and maintenance of customer profiles and accounts.
• Responsible for creating and/or maintaining standard operating procedures for the Linux documentation library.
• Implement, configure, update, and maintain Ansible servers and scripts.
• Implement, configure, update, and maintain STIG Manager servers and scripts.
• Implement, configure, update, and maintain the Linux operating system firewall.
• Experience in handling NFS, CIFS, and SMB permissions.

Required Experience/Qualifications

• High school diploma or AA. Preferred - Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science or a related technical discipline, or the equivalent combination of education, technical certifications or training, or work experience.
• 6+ years of overall demonstrated experience as a RHEL 7 and/or RHEL 8 Servers.
• Must possess the appropriate baseline certification(s) to achieve DoD 8570.01‑M Information Assurance Technical (IAT) Level II (CompTIA Security+ ce) and additional Computing Environment (CE) certification (RHEL7 and/or RHEL 8). When 8140 requirements are implemented on program/contract, employee will need to conform to 8140 certification standards.
• Experience managing RHEL 7 and RHEL 8 Linux servers.
• Highly versed in Linux administration and best practices.
• Familiar with enterprise network architectures.
• Experience with automated configuration management (Ansible, Puppet, Chef, etc.).
• Familiar in programming/scripting skills for automation (Bash, Ruby, Python, Perl, etc.).
• General understanding of Linux internals (system calls, file systems, processes, etc.).
• General understanding of TCP/IP and related protocols (HTTP, FTP, NFS, etc.).
• Experience with PowerShell scripting engine to automate tasks.
• Excellent problem solving, analytical, and decision‑making capabilities, including understanding user requirements, troubleshooting technical issues, successfully resolving issues and challenges, and developing creative solutions for process improvement.
• Dependability, in that the individual is consistently at work and on time, follows instructions, responds to management direction, and solicits feedback to improve.
• Must have customer service experience as this position will require candidate to engage with senior military and government leadership.
• Must be able to present your ideas clearly through briefings, meetings, and interaction with leadership of different skill sets.
• Must be able to provide training sessions as required.
• Must be able to engage with stakeholders to ensure tasks are progressing and meeting timelines.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Excellent documentation skills.
• Strong organizational and collaborative skills.
• Strong teamwork and engagement as a project team member.
• Ability to assimilate information rapidly, motivated to self‑study new requirements.
• Maintain current industry knowledge of relevant concepts, practices, and procedures.
• Ability to work under time constraints.
• Adapt to changes in requirements and new projects.
• Manage or serve as a team lead.
• Maintain and upgrade certifications.
• Other duties may be assigned, directed, or requested.

Special Requirements/Security Clearance

• Must have a minimum of an active Secret clearance at time of interview and candidate must maintain active clearance.