System Administrator Junior - Secret Clearance

Dunhill Professional Search & Government Solutions; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

Dunhill Professional Search & Government Solutions is seeking a Junior System Administrator in the Washington, DC area to support enterprise IT operations. The role focuses on hands-on administration of Windows environments, basic virtualization, scripting for automation, and 24/7 monitoring in a mission‑critical federal setting.

The ideal candidate will have up to 3 years of IT experience, a relevant bachelor’s degree, and must meet DoD 8140 requirements with an active Secret clearance. U.S.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Cybersecurity, CS, IS, DS, SE, or equivalent experience.
• 0–3 years of IT/Systems Admin experience, with automation basics.
• Must meet DoD 8140 requirements for system administration roles and hold an active Secret clearance.
• U.S. citizenship required per federal contract requirements.

Responsibilities

• Administer operating systems, user accounts, permissions, and system configurations in line with established operational policies and security standards.
• Perform routine system monitoring, log analysis, and health checks to maintain performance, availability, and capacity across enterprise environments.
• Apply patches, updates, and security configurations to servers and applications to maintain compliance with federal and enterprise cyber standards.
• Configure and manage backup and recovery solutions, verify successful execution, and support data restoration activities as needed.
• Troubleshoot server, application, and infrastructure issues, escalating complex incidents while working collaboratively toward timely resolution.
• Use scripting tools (e.g., PowerShell, Bash) to automate routine administrative tasks, reduce manual effort, and improve consistency in system operations.
• Support virtualization and cloud‑based environments as applicable, including basic administration of virtual machines and cloud resources.
• Maintain accurate system documentation and operational procedures, including configuration baselines, runbooks, and change records.
• Participate in on‑call rotations and continuous monitoring activities to support 24/7 platform availability in a mission‑critical environment.

Skills

PowerShell

Bash

Windows Server

Troubleshooting

Documentation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT, Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Software Engineering, or related field

Tools

VMware

AWS

Azure

Job description

U.S Citizenship and Secret Clearance Required

The Junior System Administrator supports the daily operation and maintenance of enterprise IT systems to ensure availability, performance, and security in a mission‑critical environment. The role focuses on hands‑on administration of operating systems, user accounts, configurations, and core infrastructure services across remote federal client environments. This junior position builds foundational expertise in system administration, monitoring, patching, backup and recovery, and automation using scripting tools under the guidance of more senior staff.

Key Responsibilities

• Administer operating systems, user accounts, permissions, and system configurations in line with established operational policies and security standards.


• Perform routine system monitoring, log analysis, and health checks to maintain performance, availability, and capacity across enterprise environments.


• Apply patches, updates, and security configurations to servers and applications to maintain compliance with federal and enterprise cyber standards.


• Configure and manage backup and recovery solutions, verify successful execution, and support data restoration activities as needed.


• Troubleshoot server, application, and infrastructure issues, escalating complex incidents while working collaboratively toward timely resolution.


• Use scripting tools (e.g., PowerShell, Bash) to automate routine administrative tasks, reduce manual effort, and improve consistency in system operations.


• Support virtualization and cloud‑based environments as applicable, including basic administration of virtual machines and cloud resources.


• Maintain accurate system documentation and operational procedures, including configuration baselines, runbooks, and change records.


• Participate in on‑call rotations and continuous monitoring activities to support 24/7 platform availability in a mission‑critical environment.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in IT, Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related field; or equivalent relevant experience.


• Approximately 0-3 years of experience in information technology, systems administration, or IT operations, with foundational knowledge of enterprise system administration and automation.


• Strong knowledge of Microsoft operating systems and products (e.g., Windows, Windows Server, Office 365, SharePoint, Teams).


• Ability to analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve routine system hardware, software, or networking issues with minimal supervision.


• Must meet DoD 8140 requirements for system administration roles and hold an active Secret clearance.


• U.S. citizenship required per federal contract requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• CompTIA Security+ or equivalent baseline security certification.


• Familiarity with virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware) and exposure to cloud services (e.g., AWS, Azure).


• Experience with scripting to automate administrative tasks and interest in expanding automation skills.


• Prior experience in federal or mission‑critical enterprise IT environments.