Sr. System Administrator

Job Description

Job Description

SMS is seeking a Sr. System Administrator at Fort Belvoir, VA to support the DTRA I3TS Infrastructure Services team to maintain and optimize the Linux production environment. The candidate will be responsible for sustaining Linux servers as well as the conceptualization, design, development and implementation of new Linux capabilities. The candidate is expected work well as a part of the DTRA Systems Administration team using ITIL best practices as well as work independently on assigned tasks. Candidate is expected to support the entire service lifecycle from design through development to production, building and deploying Linux based systems in a virtual environment.

Candidate should be familiar with system automation technologies, basic database administration and tuning. Candidates must demonstrate a high degree of problem-solving ability in a complex environment and be able to communicate effectively, both to the customer and to team members.

Since 1976, SMS has specialized in modernizing legacy IT and sustaining complex enterprise environments for federal agencies. With the goal of building long-term partnerships with our customers, we invest in our employees by providing the training, tools, and support they need to keep critical missions operational, improve performance, and reduce risk. SMS is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, with offices and on-site operations at customer locations throughout the United States. For additional information on SMS, visit

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Job Responsibilities

• Provision servers and environments.
• Manage user access.
• Full lifecycle management of Linux servers, including installation, configuration and patching in production and test environments.
• Automation knowledge scripting in Unix shell and Ansible playbooks.
• Perform security patching, upgrades, and hardening to meet compliance standards and remediate critical vulnerabilities.
• Monitor system performance and respond to alerts.
• Establish and maintain NTP services in the production environment.
• Maintain satellite servers for the agency, software releases and patches.
• Experience with the following emerging technologies or equivalent technology: Kubernetes, Open Shift, Containers, GitHub, Ansible Tower
• Ensure compliance with security standards and practices aligned with DoD STIGs.
• Experience with web servers and use of certificates
• Open Source: Apache Hadoop, Zookeeper, Puppet
• App Servers: JBoss, Tomcat, Jetty, NGINX, HT
• Be able to work in a fast-paced environment and must be able to work independently.
• Work on multiple projects, leading projects that fall within the Area of responsibility.
• Communicate with internal team members across multiple areas and client team members.
• Provide support on a M-F business hours schedule, also responsible for on-call, extended hour, and weekend support as required by mission or emergency situations.
• Create, maintain, and implement detailed documentation and maintain standard operating procedures
• This is an onsite work opportunity with remote work available as approved by the customer. The Primary work location: Fort Belvoir, VA with some work being completed at the Reston, VA location.

Required Qualifications

• BS with 6-8 years, or MS degree with 4-6 years of experience in IT operations working with Linux servers and Virtualization.
• Must hold an active, DoD Top Secret/SCI security clearance.
• DoD 8570 IAT Level II or III certification (e.g., Security+ CE, CASP+, CISSP).
• Hands-on experience administering Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments.
• Direct experience supporting systems with Red Hat Satellite.
• Understanding of virtualized infrastructure, server backup and restoral procedures, application of STIGs and cyber hardening approaches.
• Basic experience with log file analysis
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills.

Desired Qualifications:

• Red Hat certifications (RHCSA or RHCE).
• Experience implementing and maintaining DISA STIG compliance using Red Hat Satellite and Ansible.
• Experience integrating Linux systems with Active Directory or LDAP.
• Familiarity with virtualization platforms (VMware, KVM).
• Scripting experience (Bash or Python) to support automation initiatives
• Experience supporting classified networks or cross-domain environments

Salary Range - $103,000 - $115,000

SMS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.