UNIX/Linux/Solaris Engineer

General Dynamics Information Technology; Bethesda (MD); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits & wellness

401(k) match

PTO

Job summary

General Dynamics Information Technology is seeking a UNIX/Linux/Solaris Engineer to support NIH CIT’s HSS program. Hybrid role in Bethesda, MD, three days onsite weekly, focusing on stabilizing Solaris and Red Hat estates, patching, and automation to reduce toil.

You will lead transitions to Ansible/Puppet, ensure secure configurations, and coordinate with cross-functional teams to maintain reliable, secure mission-critical systems.

Qualifications

• 5+ years administering Oracle Solaris (Zones/LDOMs) and/or Red Hat Enterprise Linux at scale.
• Experience with ABE-based Solaris patching and vendor bundle planning.
• Puppet and Ansible for UNIX automation (playbooks/modules).
• Strong shell scripting (bash/ksh).
• Familiarity with VMware-hosted Linux operations and cross-team coordination.
• Experience with SL1, Tenable, Tripwire, and Splunk for monitoring and security.
• Proven ServiceNow usage for CAB/change templates and incident management.
• On-site Public Trust eligibility required.

Responsibilities

• Operate and administer Solaris and Red Hat estates (Zones/LDOMs, patching, OS lifecycle).
• Drive Solaris patching cadence and out-of-band updates.
• Maintain Red Hat patching via Puppet; monthly OS updates.
• Lead transition from Oracle Ops Center to Ansible/Puppet for patch automation.
• Upgrade Oracle OEM to 24 AI and ensure monitoring/workflows during migration.
• Configure SL1 monitoring and coordinate with NOC and DCOB.
• Triage security alerts from Tenable, Tripwire, Splunk; enforce host firewall.
• Use ServiceNow for change and incident management; participate in on-call rotations.
• Maintain SOPs/runbooks with screenshots; weekly UNIX-security syncs.

Skills

Unix/Linux administration

Shell scripting

VMware operations

On-call coordination

Education

BS/BA or equivalent experience

Tools

Puppet

Ansible

SL1

Tenable

Tripwire

Splunk

ServiceNow

XMatters

Job description

GDIT is seeking a UNIX/Linux/Solaris Engineer to support NIH CIT’s HSS program. You will keep mission-critical systems stable, secure, and performant across Solaris (Zones/LDOMs) and Red Hat Linux on VMware, while applying careful, responsible automation to reduce toil—modernizing only where it strengthens reliability, security, and customer outcomes.

Location:

Hybrid (3 days/week onsite, Bethesda, MD)

Responsibilities:

• Operate and administer Solaris and Red Hat estates: Solaris—administer Zones and Logical Domains (LDOMs); manage OS lifecycle, patching, and hardware (Oracle platforms such as T-series where applicable). Red Hat—administer RHEL systems virtualized on VMware (in partnership with the Windows/VMware team).
• Patching & change execution: Drive Solaris patching using Alternate Boot Environments (ABE)—build, patch, and reboot into ABEs on standard cycles (e.g., 3rd Friday for non-prod, 4th Friday for prod) with rapid rollback capability if needed.
• Adapt to Oracle’s revised patch cadence (security bundles every ~6 weeks, with potential interim bundles) and plan out-of-band updates when required by vulnerability severity.
• Maintain Red Hat patching via Puppet, ensuring customer-managed servers also receive monthly OS updates.
• Automation & tool transitions: Lead the transition off Oracle Ops Center (EOL/waiver ends Dec 31) toward Ansible (preferred) or Puppet playbooks for Solaris patch automation; author playbooks/modules and operational runbooks for the new process.
• Support upgrade from Oracle OEM 13.5 to 24 AI and ensure monitoring/administration workflows remain reliable during and after the migration.
• Monitoring & security operations: Configure and consume SL1 monitoring for OS/hardware health (CPU/memory/filesystems) and notifications; coordinate with DCOB (operations management) for platform configuration as needed.
• Triage security alerts from Tenable scans and follow-on tickets in Tripwire (file integrity) and Splunk (log-based anomalies such as SSH attempts); enforce host-level firewalls and raise network blocks when needed.
• Implement account policies (e.g., password expiration changes) safely across environments; validate changes in non-prod first to avoid service impact.
• Service models & customer engagement: Solaris—own root and full OS/hardware administration; grant sudo for customer application operations. Red hat—support both managed (GDIT administers OS; customers manage apps) and customer-managed servers (customers hold root; GDIT ensures OS patching and provides consulting on request).
• Incident response & governance: Use ServiceNow for change and incident management; adhere to CAB approvals and standard change windows; deliver post-incident RCA where applicable.
• Participate in XMatters on-call rotations (15-minute acknowledge; tiered escalation), coordinating with NOC bridge during enterprise events (e.g., DNS or network issues).
• Documentation & collaboration: Maintain SharePoint-hosted SOPs/runbooks (with screenshots) covering patch orchestration (ABE), rollback, automation playbooks, OEM upgrade steps, SL1 alerting, and security/vulnerability remediation workflows; align with weekly UNIX–security syncs and customer meetings.

Required Qualifications:

• BS/BA or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years administering Oracle Solaris (Zones/LDOMs) and/or Red Hat Enterprise Linux at scale, including OS patching and change execution in regulated environments.
• Hands‑on with ABE-based Solaris patching, rollback, and vendor bundle planning; experience adjusting to non-monthly patch cadences.
• Practical experience with Puppet and Ansible for UNIX automation (playbooks/modules), plus strong shell scripting (bash/ksh).
• Familiarity with VMware-hosted Linux operations and coordination with platform teams.
• Operational monitoring and security tooling: SL1, Tenable, Tripwire, Splunk; host‑level firewall management and security policy enforcement (e.g., password lifecycles).
• Proven use of ServiceNow (CAB/change templates; incident/RCA) and on-call processes via XMatters.
• Strong documentation habits (SOPs/runbooks with screenshots) and collaborative posture with customers and cyber teams.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Designed Ansible-first automation to replace legacy tools (e.g., Oracle Ops Center) for Solaris patch management; integrated automation outputs with ServiceNow tasks/approvals.
• Experience upgrading Oracle OEM and validating monitoring/administration flows during cutover.
• Familiarity with CIS controls and practical hardening for UNIX/Linux (file integrity, SSH posture, logging, firewall).
• Capacity to coach customers on reliable application monitoring (SL1 hooks or customer tools like SiteScope) while keeping OS monitoring/alerting clean.

Clearance:

Ability to obtain and maintain Public Trust (onsite fingerprinting required)

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