IT Systems Administrator (Linux Admin)

Description

The company builds defense products on a distributed network platform used by warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams.

Founded in 2022, the company has raised $1 billion from investors including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners. It is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London, and has 500+ employees across 5 global offices.

This senior role sits in the IT group and leads Linux systems engineering. You will set standards, take on the hardest problems, and coach teammates while working with cybersecurity, service desk, engineering, and program staff. The goal is Linux platforms that stay reliable, secure, and predictable, with repeatable work automated so the team can focus on improvements. You will own the Linux server estate, including architecture, configuration management, patching, monitoring, backup and recovery, and hardening, and lead projects such as migrations, new site standups, and consolidations as the company grows.

Responsibilities

• Design, run, and maintain Linux servers across physical, virtual, and cloud settings, covering provisioning, configuration, patching, monitoring, and lifecycle work on Red Hat-family and Debian-family systems.
• Build hardened, standard server images and templates that follow DISA STIG and CIS benchmarks, using SELinux, auditd, and FIPS-validated cryptography where needed.
• Own backup, disaster recovery, and continuity design for Linux, including regular restore tests and recovery targets.
• Act as technical lead and final escalation point for complex incidents, running root-cause analysis and delivering permanent fixes.
• Automate builds, configuration enforcement, patching, reporting, and routine tasks with Ansible, shell, and Python.
• Handle Linux storage and networking, including LVM, file systems, NFS, DNS, firewalls, and tuning for performance and capacity.
• Connect Linux systems to enterprise identity services (Active Directory, LDAP, Kerberos, SSSD) and enforce SSH key management, sudo policy, MFA, and privileged access controls.
• Deploy Linux workloads on Azure and AWS virtual machines and support containerized workloads where used.
• Lead infrastructure projects from planning through delivery, including platform migrations, site buildouts, and onboarding acquired environments.
• Monitor system health, logs, and performance with central tools, and remediate vulnerabilities together with cybersecurity.
• Support CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, and FedRAMP compliance by keeping configuration records, logs, and access reviews, and providing audit evidence.
• Review designs and changes, follow change control, and tell stakeholders about maintenance windows and their impact.
• Evaluate tools and technologies, and contribute to the roadmap, capacity planning, and budget input.
• Write and maintain system documentation, runbooks, and architecture diagrams.
• Mentor junior systems administrators and service desk staff, and set technical standards, best practices, and peer review for the team.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• 3+ years of progressive experience administering enterprise Linux servers such as RHEL, Rocky, CentOS, Ubuntu, or Debian.
• Expert command-line and troubleshooting skills, with deep knowledge of systemd, networking, storage (LVM, file systems, NFS), and performance tuning.
• Strong Bash and Python scripting, plus hands-on configuration management with Ansible.
• Hardening Linux and remediating vulnerabilities in a regulated environment, including SELinux, auditd, DISA STIG or CIS baselines, and NIST SP 800-171 or CMMC.
• Integrating Linux with enterprise identity (Active Directory, LDAP, Kerberos, SSSD) and managing SSH, sudo, and privileged access.
• Owning patch management, monitoring, and backup and disaster recovery, including restore testing and meeting recovery objectives.
• Leading infrastructure projects and mentoring engineers, with strong documentation and communication skills.
• U.S. person status, as required for access to CUI and export-controlled data (ITAR/EAR).
• Preferred: experience running Linux in Azure, AWS, Azure Government, or Microsoft GCC High, including hybrid and multi-cloud designs.
• Preferred: experience with containers and orchestration (Docker, Podman, or Kubernetes) and virtualization platforms such as KVM or VMware.
• Preferred: Linux or cloud certification such as RHCSA, RHCE, LFCS, or Azure or AWS Associate-level, or security certification such as Security+ or CISSP.
• Preferred: experience with infrastructure as code and CI/CD tooling such as Terraform, Git-based workflows, or pipelines.
• Preferred: experience supporting CMMC, NIST 800-171, or FedRAMP assessments, and an active U.S. government security clearance or the ability to obtain one.

Conditions

Onsite role.

Travel up to roughly 10%, mainly to company offices and new sites.

Mostly sedentary work at a computer, with occasional lifting of equipment up to 25 lbs and time spent in server or network rooms.

Join an on-call rotation and occasional after-hours maintenance windows for critical systems.

The stated pay range is the targeted base salary only and excludes bonus, equity, and benefits. The range is an estimate, and the actual offer may vary based on experience, education, training, critical skills, and business considerations. Candidates whose pay expectations fall outside the range are still encouraged to apply.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits, 100% paid by the company.
• 401k with a 50% company match on up to 6% of pay, plus FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more.
• Free daily lunch when working onsite, a fully stocked kitchen, unlimited PTO, and a casual dress code.
• Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and annual bonuses (coming soon).