Lead System Administrator

Overview 

The Lead System Administrator is responsible for architecting, implementing, and governing enterprise-wide infrastructure across hybrid and cloud environments, with a strong emphasis on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) platforms and Microsoft Azure cloud services. This role leads the strategic and operational roadmap for Linux-based server infrastructure, cloud resources, networking, storage, virtualization, and cybersecurity controls—ensuring all technology investments align with enterprise standards, security requirements, and business objectives.

Serving as the organization’s senior technical authority for Linux systems, the Lead System Administrator provides expert-level administration, optimization, and automation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments, while designing and managing scalable workloads in Azure cloud platforms.

Working closely with IT leadership, security teams, network engineering, and application teams, the Lead System Administrator drives infrastructure modernization initiatives, oversees system architecture design, and ensures secure, efficient integration across technology domains. This position establishes best practices for Linux administration, configuration management, system monitoring, and cloud operations.

In addition to strategic planning, the role remains hands-on in leading complex troubleshooting, incident response, and performance optimization across Linux and cloud environments. The Lead System Administrator also mentors and guides system administrators promoting operational consistency, automation, and continuous improvement across the IT organization.

This position requires a balance of strategic vision and deep technical expertise in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Azure cloud technologies, ensuring the organization’s infrastructure remains secure, scalable, and adaptable to evolving performance, compliance, and innovation needs.

Key Responsibilities 

Strategic Leadership & Architecture 

• Lead the design, integration, and optimization of enterprise systems, including on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments. 
• Define and maintain infrastructure standards, governance models, and best practices for system administration. 
• Serve as the primary escalation point and decision-maker for complex infrastructure issues and architecture decisions. 
• Partner with IT and business leaders to shape long-term technology roadmaps and investment strategies. 
• Oversee system capacity planning, performance optimization, and cost management across multiple environments. 

Operations & Execution 

• Direct enterprise infrastructure monitoring, automation, and resilience strategies. 
• Lead complex root-cause investigations and ensure permanent resolution of high-impact issues. 
• Manage critical system upgrades, migrations, and integrations across business units. 
• Oversee patch management, security hardening, and compliance enforcement across all environments. 
• Drive adoption of DevOps, infrastructure-as-code (IaC), and automated deployment methodologies. 

People Leadership & Collaboration 

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of System and Senior System Administrators, fostering growth and accountability. 
• Collaborate closely with network, security, and application development teams to ensure full system integration. 
• Provide technical consultation to business leaders and project teams on infrastructure design and scalability. 
• Represent infrastructure operations in executive-level discussions and enterprise projects. 

Innovation & Continuous Improvement 

• Champion modernization initiatives, including virtualization, cloud-native solutions, and zero-trust security models. 
• Evaluate emerging technologies and vendor solutions to enhance performance, resilience, and cost efficiency. 
• Lead the continuous improvement of system administration processes, documentation, and operational metrics. 
• Drive standardization and automation to reduce manual intervention and improve service reliability. 

Governance & Risk Management 

• Ensure full compliance with industry standards, security frameworks, and regulatory requirements (e.g., HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO). 
• Lead business continuity, disaster recovery strategy, and testing for all infrastructure layers. 
• Conduct and present risk assessments, mitigation plans, and post-incident reports to IT leadership. 

Education 

• Bachelor’s Degree (Required) 

Experience 

• 8 years of Systems Administration or infrastructure engineering experience in complex enterprise environments with degree or minimum 10 years of same experience without a degree (Required) 

• 3 years of leadership or architectural design experience managing large-scale or hybrid infrastructure (Required)  

• 3 years Leading modernization, automation or migration initiatives at scale. (Required)  

• 10 years Systems Administration or infrastructure engineering experience in complex enterprise environments without degree requiered

• Experience in system administration with strong expertise in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) environments.

• Proven experience designing, implementing, and supporting enterprise infrastructure across hybrid and cloud environments, including Microsoft Azure.

• Hands-on experience with system administration, patching, security hardening, and performance optimization of Linux-based servers.

• Experience leading complex troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and incident resolution in production environments.

• Demonstrated ability to implement and support automation, scripting, or infrastructure-as-code (IaC) using tools such as Ansible, Terraform, or similar.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in cloud architecture and workload management within Azure, including virtual machines, networking, and storage services.

• Experience with DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment strategies.

• Familiarity with virtualization technologies (e.g., VMware, Hyper-V) and container platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).

• Experience working in regulated environments with knowledge of compliance standards such as HIPAA, SOC 2, or ISO.

• Experience providing technical leadership, mentoring teams, or leading infrastructure modernization initiatives.

We provide market-competitive compensation packages, inclusive of base pay, incentives, and benefits. The base pay rate for Full Time employment is:$91,416.00-$152,380.80. Additional compensation may be available for this role such as shift differentials, standby/on-call, overtime, premiums, extra shift incentives, or bonus opportunities.