Systems Administrator (Expert) - $179K – $199K

RCT-Systems; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 179,000 - 199,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive benefits package

Immediate 401k vesting

Generous PTO and flexible schedules

$500.00 annual technology allowance

Job summary

RCT Systems in Reston, VA seeks a Senior/Expert Systems Administrator to design and maintain cloud-native AWS infrastructure, manage Linux servers, and automate operations in a mission-critical environment.

The role emphasizes security, patching, and on-call coverage, with leadership responsibilities across development, security, and QA teams to ensure 24/7/365 availability of key attribute services.

Qualifications

• TS/SCI with Polygraph clearance.
• Bachelor's degree + 11–15 years relevant experience.
• Expert-level Linux administration.
• Strong Bash scripting.
• AWS/cloud experience and infrastructure-as-code knowledge.
• Security accreditation experience.
• Experience with Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Beats).
• DevOps/CI/CD experience with tools such as GitHub, Jenkins, Puppet, Docker, Rundeck.
• AWS Console and CLI experience.
• Enterprise cloud architecture/design understanding.
• Agile experience and strong communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain cloud-native AWS infrastructure.
• Provide technical leadership and engineering guidance to development/mission teams.
• Administer and support Linux servers in AWS.
• Perform security patching and privileged-access/system administration.
• Maintain a mission-critical service operating 24/7/365.
• Support an LDAP-based COTS service providing attribute data to hundreds of systems.
• Participate in an on-call rotation approximately 1 week every 2 months.
• Work across development, systems engineering, security, compliance, and QA teams.

Skills

Linux administration

Bash scripting

AWS/cloud experience

Infrastructure as code

Security accreditation

Elastic Stack

DevOps/CI/CD

GitHub

Jenkins

Puppet

Docker

Rundeck

AWS Console/CLI

Enterprise cloud architecture

Agile communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

GitHub

Jenkins

Puppet

Docker

Rundeck

AWS CLI

AWS Console

Job description

Systems Administrator (Expert) - $179K – $199K

• Reston, VA

Senior/Expert System Administrator supporting a technical development program in the IDAM/ICAM and Attribute Services space. The role focuses heavily on AWS/cloud-native infrastructure, Linux administration, automation, security, and mission-critical operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain cloud-native AWS infrastructure
• Provide technical leadership and engineering guidance to development/mission teams
• Administer and support Linux servers in AWS
• Perform security patching and privileged-access/system administration
• Maintain a mission-critical service operating 24/7/365
• Support an LDAP-based COTS service providing attribute data to hundreds of systems
• Participate in an on-call rotation approximately 1 week every 2 months
• Work across development, systems engineering, security, compliance, and QA teams

Required Qualifications

• TS/SCI with Polygraph
• Bachelor's degree + 11–15 years relevant experience
• Expert-level Linux administration
• Strong Bash scripting
• AWS/cloud experience and infrastructure-as-code knowledge
• Security accreditation experience
• Experience with Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Beats)
• DevOps/CI/CD experience with tools such as GitHub, Jenkins, Puppet, Docker, Rundeck
• AWS Console and CLI experience
• Enterprise cloud architecture/design understanding
• Agile experience and strong communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS Associate certification
• CKAD/Kubernetes or container certification
• LDAP experience
• CloudFormation
• IAM/IDAM/ICAM, authentication, authorization, or attribute services
• Highly sensitive data experience
• 3+ years C2S experience
• Tomcat experience
• Experience managing Sponsor relationships and requirements

RCT Systems offers

• Competitive benefits package (medical, dental, vision, life insurance)
• Immediate 401k vesting
• Generous PTO and flexible schedules
• $500.00 annual technology allowance

RCT Systems is committed and proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex (to include pregnancy and related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other federally protected class.