Staff Solvers, LLC is seeking an experienced Senior RHEL Systems Administrator to support an established commercial client in the banking industry in Reston, VA.  

SUMMARY OF POSITION

The Senior RHEL Systems Administrator is accountable for the installation, support, maintenance, configuration and troubleshooting of RHEL-based infrastructure comprised of virtual RedHat Enterprise Linux servers, ESXi hosts, Dell/EMC SAN storage, Avamar & Data Domain data backup and recovery systems, RHEL Satellite servers, EMC RecoverPoint for VM replication systems, Ansible/Tower Automation & Orchestration systems, and other associated systems administration hardware and software. The incumbent will also provide RHEL system and infrastructure support for the remote business continuity site and the development environments.

The Senior RHEL Systems Administrator will bring creativity, initiative and forethought to matters involving RHEL systems, and act as subject matter expert and team leader, as well as a technical liaison, with the software development and security teams on infrastructure enhancement projects including cloud-based infrastructure, containerization, data replication and business continuity solutions.  

The incumbent will support and administer the daily backups of those systems and should be proficient in RHEL shell scripting or other scripting language, as well as process automation using Ansible and system patching via Satellite server and the ongoing monitoring and proactive resolution of any anomalies in the the RHEL hosts.

The incumbents team assists with the administration of SAN (Storage Area Network) infrastructure, VMware infrastructure, Splunk, WhatsUp Gold, SMTP Mail Relays, the web portal infrastructure, and all other application infrastructures related to the RHEL systems.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Install and configure computer and storage hardware, firmware, operating systems, software, patches, updates, and the associated cabling and peripherals necessary for their function
• Maintain monitoring and trending of all RHEL system performance, capacity, availability and security metrics
• Install, configure, maintain, monitor and validate the RHEL system backup software and processes
• Analyze current technologies utilized within the organization to identify process and/or technology gaps and develop plans to remediate those within the operating budget and workload
• Configure, maintain and monitor RHEL system identification, authentication, access, printing and e-mail services
• Identify and implement new technologies, methodologies and processes related to RHEL System Administrator responsibilities that will enhance the availability, security, performance, and cost efficiencies
• Support the provisioning and configuration of user accounts, groups, data storage file system hierarchy architecture, permissions and computing resource allocations
• Support the creation of program and job startup/shutdown, monitoring, reporting and scheduled execution scripts, cronjobs and atjobs
• Support the installation and configuration of operating software and custom applications, including RPM packaging and containerization
• Communicate with RHEL system users and customers to allow for effective resource planning
• Provide counsel and status reports to the IT Operations Manager and the Infrastructure Architect, as well as relevant budget and roadmap input
• Create standardized KPI reports for RHEL system monitoring metrics to be delivered regularly to management
• Create and maintain documentation, procedures, and standards for RHEL systems installation, configuration, and operation
• Keep abreast of the latest technical trends and best practices within the industry
• Maintain authoritative knowledge of the software and hardware life cycles and status of maintenance and support agreements
• Assist Business Continuity Plan stakeholders with documentation, testing, and implementation of disaster recovery and alternate site failover mechanisms
• Ensure the successful execution of the RHEL system support role in the OFs Network Operations Center
• Orchestrate and participate in after-hours and weekend change management activities
• Ensure that configuration and processes for RHEL systems are in alignment with the OFs policies and procedures
• Demonstrate strong teamwork in project management processes of defining project charters, creating work plans, estimating hours, durations, deliverable dates
• Utilize ITIL framework workflows and task tracking tools
• Support the diversity and inclusion strategy by following policies and procedures that ensure opportunities for employees and diverse business partners

PRINCIPAL JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor of Science from an accredited institution, IT-related field
• Certification in RHEL OS Vendor systems administration, engineering or architecture preferred
• Demonstrated examples of leadership, initiative, and creativity
• Minimum 5 years experience practicing Change, Problem and Incident management processes in an ITIL fashion in an enterprise environment
• Minimum 7 years' RHEL experience with RedHat Enterprise Linux
• Minimum 5 years' scripting experience preferably shell scripting or PERL.
• Minimum 3 years hands-on experience with VMware
• Minimum 1 year hands-on experience with Ansible and Satellite server
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift, CNI
• Working knowledge of backup infrastructure and techniques, SAN concepts, Apache HTTP server (including Stronghold), and Sybase Adaptive Server
• Comprehensive understanding of the terminology, principles and application of fault tolerance, high availability and disaster recovery preparedness
• Exposure to other application server technology such as ColdFusion Server, Business Objects, WebLogic, JBOSS, and Tomcat is a plus
• Experience with EMC XtremIO, Unity, Avamar, RecoverPoint a plus
• Ability to initiate and complete assignments accurately and on time, with minimal supervision
• Ability to work effectively with vendor technical support channels
• Ability to communicate well, both orally and in writing
• Ability to analyze and solve problems independently