Senior IT Systems Administrator (Azure Windows Admin)

chaosindustries; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

CHAOS Industries is seeking a Senior IT Systems Administrator to design, build, secure, and operate Windows and Azure cloud infrastructure that keeps our environments healthy and compliant in a defense context. You will be a senior member, setting standards and mentoring teammates while partnering with cybersecurity, service desk, engineering, and program teams.

Responsibilities span AD/Entra ID, MFA, conditional access, backups, disaster recovery, automation with PowerShell, and on-call

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in IT/CS/IS or related field.
• 7+ years of progressive enterprise Windows Server and Azure administration.
• Deep expertise with AD, GPO, DNS, DHCP, and Entra ID including MFA and conditional access.

Responsibilities

• Architect, administer, and maintain Windows Server environments (physical/virtual).
• Design, deploy, and manage Azure resources (VMs, networking, storage) using templates.
• Administer AD, Entra ID, GPO, DNS, DHCP, and certificate services (MFA, CA).
• Lead complex incidents; perform root-cause analysis and implement fixes.
• Mentor junior staff; set technical standards and reviews.
• Lead infrastructure projects including migrations and site standups.
• Automate provisioning and patching with PowerShell and scripting.
• Own backup, DR, and business continuity design with testing.
• Support security baselines (DISA STIG, CIS); coordinate with cybersecurity.
• Assist audits for compliance (CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, FedRAMP).

Skills

Windows Server

Microsoft Azure

Active Directory

Entra ID

MFA

Conditional Access

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field

Tools

PowerShell

ARM templates

Job description

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage-domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats.

CHAOS Industries was founded in 2022 and has raised a total of $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London. For more information, please visit www.chaosinc.com.

Role Overview

CHAOS Industries is looking for a Senior IT Systems Administrator to design, build, secure, and operate the Windows and Azure cloud infrastructure our teams rely on every day. You will keep servers, identity services, and cloud workloads healthy, patched, and compliant in a defense environment where uptime and data protection are both non-negotiable. As a senior member of the IT organization, you will act as a technical lead for systems engineering: setting standards, owning the hardest problems, and mentoring teammates, while partnering with cybersecurity, service desk, engineering, and program teams.

Team Mandate

keep the core platforms running reliably, securely, and predictably, and automate the repetitive work so the team can spend its time on improvements. You will be the escalation point for complex systems issues and a trusted advisor on infrastructure decisions.

Ownership

technical ownership of the Windows Server and Azure environments, including architecture, patching, monitoring, backup and recovery, and hardening, plus leadership of infrastructure projects such as server and cloud migrations, new site standups, and environment consolidations as the company grows.

Responsibilities

• Architect, administer, and maintain Windows Server environments (physical and virtual), including provisioning, configuration, patching, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• Design, deploy, and manage Azure cloud resources, including virtual machines, networking, storage, identity, and monitoring, in commercial and government cloud environments, using templates and infrastructure as code.
• Administer and improve Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and certificate services, including identity lifecycle, privileged access, MFA, and conditional access policies.
• Serve as technical lead and final escalation point for complex incidents; perform root-cause analysis and drive permanent fixes.
• Mentor and coach junior systems administrators and service desk staff, and set technical standards, best practices, and peer review for the team.
• Lead infrastructure projects from planning through delivery, including site buildouts, server and cloud migrations, and the integration of newly acquired environments.
• Design and maintain automation with PowerShell and other scripting tools to streamline provisioning, patching, reporting, and routine administration.
• Own backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity design, including regular restore testing and recovery objectives.
• Apply and maintain security baselines (such as DISA STIG and CIS benchmarks), remediate vulnerabilities, and partner with cybersecurity to close findings.
• Support compliance requirements (such as CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, and FedRAMP) by maintaining configuration documentation, logs, and access reviews, and providing evidence for audits.
• Review technical designs and changes, follow the change control process, and communicate maintenance windows and impacts to stakeholders.
• Evaluate and recommend tools and technologies, and contribute to the infrastructure roadmap, capacity planning, and budget inputs.
• Support Microsoft 365 and endpoint management services, including device compliance and configuration policies, in partnership with the service desk.
• Create and maintain system documentation, runbooks, and architecture diagrams.
• Participate in an on‑call rotation and occasional after‑hours maintenance windows for critical systems.

Travel

minimal, up to roughly 10% (occasional trips to company offices and new sites).

Physical Demands

primarily sedentary work at a computer; occasional lifting of equipment up to 25 lbs and work in server or network rooms.

Minimum Requirements

Minimum education:
Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or another related field or equivalent work experience

• 7+ years of progressive experience administering enterprise Windows Server and Microsoft Azure environments.
• Deep expertise with Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, and DHCP, and with Microsoft Entra ID identity and access management, including MFA and conditional access.
• Experience designing and implementing Azure solutions, including virtual machines, virtual networking, storage, role-based acces