Systems Engineer - Linux & Networking

Ambit Recruitment South Africa; Gqeberha; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 1,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Ambit Recruitment South Africa is seeking a hands-on Systems Engineer with strong Linux and networking experience to keep critical infrastructure running smoothly. You will be 2IC to the Head of Infrastructure, proving dependable, proactive collaboration with excellent communication.

The role emphasizes automation, system hardening, and cross-team coordination to minimize downtime and improve performance across servers, networks, and services.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in systems/infrastructure engineering
• 4–5 years admin of Linux production systems
• System administration concepts: users, permissions, services, storage
• Networking fundamentals: DNS, BGP, routing, firewalls, TCP/IP
• Interest in automation and reducing manual work
• Methodical approach to diagnosing and resolving issues
• Clear communication and teamwork

Responsibilities

• Build, configure, and maintain Linux servers and services across production
• Automate provisioning, configuration, and routine operations
• Design and support networking infrastructure including DNS and BGP
• Monitor health, respond to incidents, perform root-cause analysis
• Plan upgrades, patching, and capacity improvements with minimal disruption
• Document systems, processes, and runbooks
• Collaborate with support, development, and network teams

Skills

Linux systems

Networking

Automation

Troubleshooting

Communication

Tools

Ansible

Bash

Python

Monitoring tooling

Job description

We're looking for a hands-on Systems Engineer with strong Linux and networking experience who enjoys getting into the details, troubleshooting issues and keeping critical infrastructure running smoothly. This is a practical technical role for someone who is proactive, automation-minded and comfortable working across systems, servers and networks.

You will be 2IC to the Head of Infrastructure, so we are looking for someone dependable, responsible, and proactive, with excellent communication skills.

Please see salary and benefits in the questionnaire.

Experience Required:

• You have a minimum of 6 years' relevant systems/infrastructure engineering experience
• A minimum of 4-5 years' demonstrable experience administering Linux systems in a production environment.
• Strong grounding in system administration, users, permissions, services, storage, performance tuning, and troubleshooting
• Good networking knowledge, including DNS, BGP, routing, firewalls, and general TCP/IP fundamentals.
• A genuine interest in automation and eliminating repetitive work.
• A methodical, calm approach to diagnosing and resolving issues.
• Clear communication skills and a collaborative, ownership-driven mindset.

Advantageous:

• Previous telecommunications or ISP experience
• Hands-on experience with Ansible (or similar configuration-management / automation tooling)
• Experience with scripting (Bash, Python, or similar)
• Exposure to monitoring, logging, and observability tooling

  Key Responsibilities:

  • Build, configure, and maintain Linux servers and services across the production environment.
  • Automate provisioning, configuration, and routine operations to reduce manual effort and human error.
  • Design and support networking infrastructure, including routing, DNS, and BGP peering.
  • Monitor system health, respond to incidents, and conduct root-cause analysis so problems stay fixed.
  • Plan and execute upgrades, patching, and capacity improvements with minimal disruption.
  • Document systems, processes, and runbooks so the team can operate confidently.
  • Work closely with support, development, and network teams to keep services running smoothly.