SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR 1455 (formerly SYSTEMS PROGRAMMER) (F) (REVISED 08-31-26)

City of Los Angeles; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 116,000 - 194,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of Los Angeles is seeking a Systems Administrator to evaluate, develop, maintain, and modify operating systems, hardware, middleware, software, storage, and networking in a complex IT environment. The role requires applying ITIL and security best practices and may supervise staff to deliver reliable services across departments.

Qualified candidates will hold a bachelor’s degree and two years of full-time systems implementation experience or equivalent City experience, with a track

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university; and two (2) years of full-time paid systems implementation experience in either: 1) installing, configuring, maintaining, performance tuning, patching, troubleshooting and securing enterprise level servers and networks; or 2) planning, configuring, and implementing enterprise systems and applications operating over large computing networks serving local and remote facilities; or 3) preparing programs by analyzing specifications developed by systems professionals and identifying and evaluating computer processing requirements, systems and/or programming flowcharts, code programs, and software solutions.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate, develop, maintain, implement, and modify operating systems, hardware, middleware, software, storage, and networking in a business applications environment; perform hardware-software studies; design and implement systems architecture; analyze systems problems and optimize systems performance; perform systems upgrades.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

ANNUAL SALARY

$141,608 to $166,643; $122,565 to $179,213; and $132,817 to $194,184

The salary in the Department of Water and Power is $131,042 to $162,801; $141,274 to $175,496; and $156,245 to $194,100.

NOTES

1. Candidates from the eligible list are normally appointed to vacancies in the lower pay grade positions.
2. Annual salary is at the start of the pay range. The current salary range is subject to change. Please confirm the starting salary with the hiring department before accepting a job offer.
3. For information regarding reciprocity between the City of Los Angeles departments and LADWP, go to http://per.lacity.org/Reciprocity_CityDepts_and_DWP.pdf.

A Systems Administrator evaluates, develops, maintains, implements, and modifies operating systems, hardware, middleware, software, storage, and networking in a business applications environment; performs hardware-software studies; designs and implements systems architecture; analyzes systems problems and optimizes systems performance; performs systems upgrades; follows Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and security best practices for incident, change and release management, and all aspects of network and server operations; provides technical assistance to other data processing personnel and user divisions or departments; may supervise and direct the work of employees engaged in such activities; applies sound supervisory standards and techniques in building and maintaining an effective work group; and fulfills equal employment opportunity responsibilities.

1. A bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university; and two (2) years of full-time paid systems implementation experience in either: 1) installing, configuring, maintaining, performance tuning, patching, troubleshooting and securing enterprise level servers and networks; or 2) planning, configuring, and implementing enterprise systems and applications operating over large computing networks serving local and remote facilities; or 3) preparing programs by analyzing specifications developed by systems professionals and identifying and evaluating computer processing requirements, systems and/or programming flowcharts, code programs, and software solutions; or
2. Two years of full-time paid experience with the City of Los Angeles as a Programmer Analyst; or
3. Four years of full-time paid systems implementation experience with the City of Los Angeles as a Systems Analyst with experience in either 1) installing, configuring, maintaining, performance tuning, patching, and securing enterprise level servers; or 2) planning, configuring, and implementing enterprise systems and applications operating over large computing networks serving local and remote facilities.

Additional full-time paid experience as described in Requirement #1 may be substituted on a year for year basis for the required bachelor’s degree noted in Requirement #1. One academic year is equivalent to 30 semester or 45 quarter units.

PROCESS NOTES

1. As a condition of employment, for the Systems Administrator position within the departments of Animal Services, Building and Safety, City Planning, Information Technology Agency, Office of Finance, Harbor, Housing, Library, Public Works/Bureau of Sanitation, Public Works/Bureau of Engineering, Recreation and Parks, and Water and Power, a valid Class C driver's license issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is required at the time of appointment. Applicants will be disqualified or deemed ineligible for hire if their DMV record reflects three or more moving violations and/or at-fault accidents, or a conviction of a major moving violation within the last 36 months in any state or jurisdiction. The City of Los Angeles reserves the right to issue a notice of disqualification or ineligibility at any time before a final job offer is extended.
2. Candidates completing the examination process may be contacted by the Personnel Department to provide required proof of qualifying degree and/or course work. Applicants who wish to expedite this process may attach a copy of their qualifying degree and/or course work in the Attachments section of the on-line application at the time of filing.

SELECTIVE CERTIFICATION

In accordance with Charter Section 1010 (b) and Civil Service Rule 5.31, selective certification will be used for some positions that require special skills and/or training in one or more of the following areas. For such positions, only applicants possessing the specific professional certification(s) at the time of filing, may be considered.

A copy of the Certificate of Completion must be submitted at the time of filing. The certificate must be attached to the on-line application BEFORE the application is submitted. If the certificate is attached AFTER the on-line application has been submitted, it will not be available to the City and applicants WILL NOT be credited with having submitted the certificate. Applicants who fail to submit the certificate at the time of filing by not attaching it to the on-line application will not be considered for this part of selective certification.

1. AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty
2. AWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – Specialty
3. AWS Certified Big Data – Specialty
4. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
5. AWS Certified Developer – Associate
6. AWS Certified Dev.Ops Engineer – Professional
7. AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty
8. AWS Certified Security – Specialty
9. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
10. AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
11. AWS Certified Sys Ops Administrator – Associate
12. CCIE Data Center
13. CCIE Security
14. CCIE Wireless
15. CCNP Data Center
16. CCNP Routing and Switching
17. CCNP Wireless
18. CCNP Security
19. CCSA
20. CCSE
21. Certification as a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
22. Certification as a Checkpoint Certified Security Administrator (CCSA) or as a Checkpoint Certified Security Expert
23. Certification as a CISCO Certified Dev Net Associate
24. Certification as a CISCO Certified Network Professional (CCNP) or as a CISCO Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE)
25. Certification as a Cisco Certified Security Professional or as a CISCO Certified Internetwork Expert in Security
26. Certification as a DNS/BIND Associate
27. Certification as a Global Information Assurance Certification (G9ac) Security Essentials (GSEC)
28. Certification as a Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) on Windows server platform.
29. Certification as an Oracle 9i/10g/11g or latest version or as an Oracle Database 10g/11g or latest version of Administrator Certified Master
30. Certification as CompTIA Security +
31. Certified other Database Provider (such as Microsoft SQL) CCIE Routing and Switching
32. Certified with other Linus/Unix Operating System Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE)
33. Certified with other Linux/Unit Operating System
34. Certified with other Network Provider (such as Juniper)
35. CISCO Certified Dev.Net Professional
36. Cisco Certified Dev.Net Specialist
37. CISSP ISC2
38. Core Infrastructure
39. Data center Virtualization 2019 (VCP-DCV 2019); VMWare Certified Advanced Professional 6.5
40. Data Center Virtualization; Cloud Management (VCAP-CMA) (VCP6.5-DCV); Network virtualization (VCP-NV)
41. Financial Management Certified Implementation Specialist
42. IBM Certified Database Administrator – DB2 for z/OS
43. IBM Certified Deployment Professional Certification as a Sun Certified System Administrator for the Solaris Operating System.
44. IBM Certified Infrastructure Deployment Professional – Maximo Asset Management v7.X VMWare certified Professional
45. IBM Certified System Administrator
46. IBM Certified System Administrator – DB2 for z/OS
47. Java Enterprise
48. Microsoft Certified : Azure Administrator Associate
49. Oracle Certified Professional
50. Oracle Database 12c Administrator Certified Master (OCM)
51. Oracle Database 12c Administrator Certified Professional (OCP)
52. Oracle Database 9i/10/11g Administrator Certified Associate (OCA)
53. Oracle Database 9i/10/11g Administrator Certified Professional (OCP)
54. Oracle Database Certified Associate (OCA)
55. Oracle E-Business Suite 12
56. Oracle Solaris11
57. Oracle Web Center Certified Implementation Specialist’ Oracle Certified Associate
58. Oracle WebLogic Server 11g/12c System Administrator
59. Oracle WebLogic Server 12c Administrator
60. Oracle WebLogic Server 12c Certified Implementation Specialist; Oracle Certified Professional
61. PeopleSoft 9.2 Financial Certified Implementation Specialist
62. PeopleSoft People Tools 8.5 Certified Implementation Specialist
63. Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA)
64. SAP Certified Technology Associate – System Administration (Max DB) with SAP NetWeaver 7.4
65. VM Certified Advanced Professional
66. WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment V9.0

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Applications will only be accepted on-line on the dates listed below:

From FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2026 to THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2026

Additional filing periods may be added based on the City’s hiring needs.

The examination may close without prior notice at any time after a sufficient number of applications have been received. Filing periods may change without prior notice or additional dates may be added, as needed, at a later date. For administrative purposes, filing will close periodically and reopen on the dates noted in the “Application Deadline” section of this bulletin.

In accordance with Civil Service Rule 4.2, all applicants who apply may not be tested in this examination. To meet anticipated hiring needs, only a limited number of qualified applicants will be invited to participate in the weighted multiple-choice test in the following order: 1) Los Angeles City promotional applicants who meet the minimum requirements. You must have received a regular appointment to a City position or be on a reserve list to apply for this examination as a promotional candidate; 2) Applicants currently employed by the City of Los Angeles on a part-time or exempt basis who meet the minimum requirements; 3) Remaining applicants who meet the minimum requirements in sufficient numbers to meet hiring needs based on a random sampling of those qualified candidates. Applicants not selected to be tested may re-apply in a subsequent filing period in order to be considered for that period’s selection process.

Examination Weight:

Multiple-Choice Test: 100%

The examination will consist entirely of a weighted multiple-choice test administered and proctored on-line. In the on-line multiple-choice test, the following competencies may be evaluated: Analytical Ability; Self-Management; Teamwork; Project Management; Job Knowledge, including knowledge of: capabilities, uses, characteristics, and limitations of servers – virtual, physical and cloud, computers and peripheral equipment, operating software systems (Windows, Linux, Unix, MacOS, etc.), software such as assemblers, generators, subroutine libraries, compilers and vendor written application programs; programming languages such as C/C++, Java, .NET - VB, ASP, MVC, C#, PHP, Perl, Hadoop, Python, PowerShell or command languages for distributed and large scale computers and/or network and associated programming aids; local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), metropolitan and cloud networks, and IP protocol…

The multiple-choice test will be proctored and administered on-line during a single session. Candidates invited to participate in the on-line multiple-choice test will be able to take the test from a remote location (i.e., their home) using a computer with a webcam and a reliable internet connection. Candidates will receive an e-mail from the City of Los Angeles outlining the dates and specific steps on how to take the multiple-choice test on-line. Candidates who do not complete and submit the multiple-choice test on-line using a computer by the specified date and time will not be considered further in this examination. Additional test dates may be added as needed.

Additional job analysis information can be obtained by going to https://per.lacity.org/jobs/job-analyses.cfm and clicking on Competencies under Systems Administrator.

For candidates who apply between FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2026 and THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2026, it is anticipated that the on-line multiple-choice test will be administered between TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2026 and MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2026.

FAQs for on-line testing are available at https://per.lacity.org/faqs/employment-testing-process.html. Only candidates who demonstrate a hardship may be offered the option to take the multiple-choice test onsite at a City facility.

NOTE

Applicants are urged to apply early to ensure you have time to resolve any technical issues you may encounter.

THIS EXAMINATION IS TO BE GIVEN BOTH ON AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL PROMOTIONAL AND AN OPEN COMPETITIVE BASIS

The City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, creed, color, ancestry, medical condition (cancer), or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

For additional information and FAQs regarding the City's hiring process, please go to: https://personnel.lacity.gov/faqs/employment-testing-process.html

If you receive and accept an offer of employment to a regular position with the City of Los Angeles, your employee benefit coverage (including health and dental coverage as well as life insurance) will commence approximately six weeks after your original regular appointment. Not all positions in the City receive benefit coverage; you should inquire regarding the availability of employee benefits prior to accepting a position. All City employees are required to be Disaster Service Workers.