System Administrator – Journeyman

asmexternalcareersite; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

ASM Research is seeking a Systems Administrator (Journeyman) to sustain enterprise infrastructure in a mission-critical environment in Arlington, VA. You will administer Windows and Linux servers, manage user access, apply patches, monitor health, and automate routine tasks to ensure 24/7 availability.

This role requires at least a bachelor’s degree, 4+ years of experience, DoD 8140 compliance, and an active Secret clearance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in IT or related field.
• 4+ years enterprise system administration and automation experience.
• Experience managing Windows and/or Linux servers in an enterprise environment.
• Hands-on experience with monitoring, patch management, backup/recovery, and troubleshooting.
• Strong scripting skills (PowerShell, Bash, Python) for automation.
• DoD 8140 requirements and active Secret clearance; US Citizen.

Responsibilities

• Administer Windows and/or Linux servers, manage users, permissions, and group policies.
• Implement monitoring and alerting with Nagios, Splunk, CloudWatch.
• Apply patches and vulnerability mitigations per security baselines.
• Automate tasks using PowerShell, Bash, or Python.
• Configure and validate backups and recovery solutions.
• Analyze logs and metrics to detect anomalies and incidents; escalate/remediate as needed.
• Troubleshoot hardware, OS, and application issues; act as incident resolver.
• Maintain system documentation and participate in incident response/on-call rotations.

Skills

Windows administration

Linux administration

Scripting PowerShell Bash Python

Monitoring & alerting

Backup & recovery

Incident response

Active DoD 8140 clearance

US citizen

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT or related field

Tools

VMware

AWS

Azure

Ansible

Terraform

Nagios

Splunk

CloudWatch

Job description

The System Administrator - Journeyman maintains and secures enterprise systems infrastructure supporting continuous operations in a mission-critical environment. This role performs hands-on administration of servers, user access, and system configurations while ensuring compliance with operational and security policies.

The administrator implements monitoring, patching, backup, and automation capabilities to sustain system health and availability. The role also troubleshoots incidents across distributed environments and participates in incident response and on-call rotations to support 24/7 operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Administer Windows and/or Linux servers, including user account management, permissions, group policies, and system configurations in accordance with established operational procedures.
• Implement and maintain system monitoring and alerting tools (e.g., Nagios, Splunk, CloudWatch) to provide performance and security visibility across the infrastructure.
• Apply patches, updates, and vulnerability mitigations in alignment with approved security baselines and change control processes.
• Automate routine administrative tasks using scripting languages such as PowerShell, Bash, or Python to improve efficiency and reduce operational risk.
• Configure and validate backup and recovery solutions to ensure data protection and continuity for critical systems and applications.
• Analyze system logs and metrics to detect anomalies, performance degradation, and potential security incidents, escalating and remediating as needed.
• Troubleshoot hardware, operating system, and application issues across distributed environments, serving as a primary contact for incident resolution.
• Maintain detailed system documentation and standard operating procedures, and participate in incident response activities and on-call rotations to support 24/7 platform availability.

Required Qualifications

• Requires a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience) in IT, Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
• At least 4 years of enterprise system administration and automation experience, typically 3-6 years in a systems administrator or related infrastructure role.
• Demonstrated experience managing Windows and/or Linux servers, user accounts, permissions, and group policies in an enterprise environment.
• Hands-on experience with system monitoring, patch management, backup and recovery, and troubleshooting of hardware and software issues.
• Strong proficiency with scripting languages (e.g., PowerShell, Bash, or Python) for task automation and operational improvements.
• Must meet DoD 8140 requirements and hold an active Secret clearance.
• Must be a US Citizen.

Preferred Qualifications

• DoD 8140-compliant certification such as Security+ or equivalent.
• Experience with virtualization or cloud platforms (e.g., VMware, AWS, Azure).
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Ansible, Terraform) and modern automation frameworks.
• Experience supporting 24/7 operations, including incident response and on-call participation in a mission-critical environment.

Compensation Ranges

Compensation ranges for ASM Research positions vary depending on multiple factors; including but not limited to, location, skill set, level of education, certifications, client requirements, contract-specific affordability, government clearance and investigation level, and years of experience. The compensation displayed for this role is a general guideline based on these factors and is unique to each role. Monetary compensation is one component of ASM's overall compensation and benefits package for employees.

EEO Requirements

It is the policy of ASM that an individual's race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation or national origin are not and will not be considered in any personnel or management decisions. We affirm our commitment to these fundamental policies.

All recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting for all job classifications is done without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability or age. All decisions on employment are made to abide by the principle of equal employment.

Physical Requirements

The physical requirements described in "Knowledge, Skills and Abilities" above are representative of those which must be met by an employee to successfully perform the primary functions of this job. (For example, "light office duties' or "lifting up to 50 pounds" or "some travel" required.) Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with qualifying disabilities, who are otherwise qualified, to perform the primary functions.

Disclaimer

The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.