Systems Engineering Manager: Hands-On Tech Leader

Sonic (Internet and Phone); San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 187,000 - 207,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage

401(k) + Profit Sharing

Paid Time Off

Education opportunities

Growth opportunities

Paid pregnancy/bonding leave

Job summary

Sonic (Internet and Phone) is seeking a hands-on System Operations Manager in the Bay Area, CA. You will lead a small team of systems engineers and administrators responsible for design, deployment, and operation of production infrastructure while remaining an active technical contributor.

The role requires 7+ years in Linux-focused infrastructure, 2–3 years in people management, and strong Proxmox/VMware/Ansible experience. Compensation ranges from $187,000 to $207,000 annually.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in systems engineering, administration, or infrastructure roles.
• 2-3 years in a people management or team lead capacity.
• Deep Linux administration experience at scale (RHEL/CentOS preferred).
• Experience with Proxmox VE and VMware vSphere in production.
• Scripting ability in Perl, Python, or shell for production tasks.
• Knowledge of configuration management and fleet automation tooling.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of systems engineers and administrators.
• Own hiring, onboarding, and performance reviews.
• Translate direction into team execution and project plans.
• Drive projects from scoping to delivery with risk management.
• Collaborate with IT, Networking, and Software teams on infrastructure priorities.
• Foster operational rigor, documentation, and continuous improvement.
• Manage on-call rotations and incident response.
• Contribute technically in architecture decisions and tooling.

Skills

Leadership

Linux system administration

Scripting

Project management

Communication

Tools

Proxmox VE

VMware vSphere

Ansible

Job description

Sonic (Internet and Phone) is seeking a hands-on System Operations Manager in the Bay Area, CA. You will lead a small team of systems engineers and administrators responsible for design, deployment, and operation of production infrastructure while remaining an active technical contributor.

The role requires 7+ years in Linux-focused infrastructure, 2–3 years in people management, and strong Proxmox/VMware/Ansible experience. Compensation ranges from $187,000 to $207,000 annually.