Linux Systems Administrator

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory - Laurel, MD

Full-time - Entry Level

Laurel, MD

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

About the position

As a Linux Systems Administrator at APL, you will play a crucial role in maintaining and administering a high availability environment. Your primary responsibility will be to ensure the smooth operation of our systems, transitioning technical operations from traditional administration to a more automated and efficient infrastructure. This includes demonstrating expertise in automation and configuration management technologies, which are essential for modern IT environments. You will also be tasked with maintaining the technical security posture of our computers, which operate in a mixed operating system environment, adhering to stringent information security requirements and data classifications. In addition to system maintenance, you will engineer, architect, and operate high-performance computing infrastructure that supports generative Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and other scientific research initiatives. Collaboration is key in this role, as you will engage with a diverse group of collaborators, including other System Administrators, Information Assurance officers, researchers, and project leadership. Your contributions will be vital in delivering mission-critical solutions that have a significant impact on our operations and research capabilities. We are looking for someone who is not only technically proficient but also passionate about learning and adapting to the latest computing trends and tools. If you enjoy contributing to system architecture and design, and thrive in a close-knit technical team, this position is an excellent opportunity for you to make a difference in the field of Information Technology.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and administer a high availability environment.
• Lead the transition of technical operations from traditional administration to infrastructure automation.
• Maintain the technical security posture of computers in a mixed operating system environment.
• Engineer, architect, and operate high-performance computing infrastructure for AI and Machine Learning.
• Collaborate with System Administrators, Information Assurance officers, researchers, and project leadership to deliver mission-critical solutions.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field, or equivalent work experience.
• 1+ year of extensive knowledge of Linux system administration, including Red Hat and Ubuntu.
• 1+ year of experience with Enterprise virtualization infrastructure such as VMware, Hyper-V, or Proxmox.
• Skilled in organization and effective communication with managers and technical staff.
• Experience directly supporting the Department of Defense or other U.S. government entities.
• Advanced technical skills in networking technologies and static routing (e.g., FTP, SSH, SMTP, DNS, HTTP/S, DHCP, syslog).
• Ability to work in a close-knit, small technical team.
• Ability to plan substantial, long-term projects and respond rapidly to changing requirements and priorities.
• Current DoD 8570 certification (Security+ or CISSP), or ability to obtain certification within 6 months of employment.
• Active Secret security clearance.

Nice-to-haves

• Red Hat administration certifications (RHCSA, RHCE, etc.).
• Experience with HPC management tools such as Slurm, Bright Cluster, or Run.ai.
• Skills with Puppet, Ansible, Salt, bash scripting, Python, or other automation tools.
• Experience developing real-time dashboards using Splunk for data visualization and infrastructure monitoring.
• Previous experience supporting Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning research and infrastructure.

Benefits

• Robust education assistance program.
• Unparalleled retirement contributions.
• Healthy work/life balance.