Senior Linux System Engineer Jobs in Dallas, TX (NOW HIRING)

We are looking for a hands-on Linux/systems engineer to join a small, senior engineering team that designs and builds turn-key, containerized infrastructure solutions. This is a build-and-deploy engineering role — the solutions you design are the ones our build/release and operations teams then run in the field.

You will spend your time inside Linux systems and Kubernetes clusters, standing services up from the ground floor: taking a raw package, installing and configuring it yourself, wiring up the cluster, and understanding exactly what happens under the hood when it runs. This is not a CI/CD pipeline seat, a ticket-driven operations/support seat, or an apply-a-YAML-from-the-internet seat.

This role is a strong fit if you:

- Started close to the metal — e.g., as a Linux administrator — and grew into cloud and container platforms, so you understand the layers beneath the orchestration tooling.
- Have personally installed, configured, and productionized services on Linux (for example, standing up and configuring DNS, databases, or message brokers by hand — not just consuming someone else''''s manifest).
- Have built solutions across several different categories of systems (e.g., distributed databases, non-distributed services, message queues) and can therefore pick up an unfamiliar service quickly.
- Troubleshoot problems yourself down through the network and OS layers, rather than routing every issue to a separate network or security team.

This role is probably not a fit if you:

- Identify primarily as a CI/CD / build-and-release engineer, or as an operations/support engineer.
- Can deploy a service by adapting a YAML/Helm chart you found online, but haven''''t implemented the underlying service yourself and can''''t explain what''''s happening below the Kubernetes layer.
- Are a single-discipline specialist (only security, only pipelines) without hands-on breadth across Linux and infrastructure.

Primary Responsibilities

Solution engineering & architecture
- Design and build turn-key, Kubernetes-native deployments for critical infrastructure services (e.g., memcached, Cassandra, RabbitMQ), with feature parity to leading cloud providers — implemented by you, not lifted from reference manifests.
- Validate architectures for scalability, reliability, and operational excellence.
- Prototype new solutions and infrastructure automation frameworks.

Linux & infrastructure
- Configure, harden, and productionize Linux systems from the ground up; understand kernel and OS-level behavior well enough to diagnose issues.
- Build and maintain automation scripts and deployment tooling (Bash and general scripting/programming).
- Author Kubernetes deployments (YAML, Helm) that you understand end to end, including the networking and OS plumbing underneath.

Networking & troubleshooting
- Reason about how systems communicate — packet flow, gateways, network segmentation, and container networking — and independently troubleshoot when a primary/replica or cross-node connection misbehaves. (This is systems-level network understanding, not network device configuration / CCNA-level work.)

Data & configuration management
- Design and execute data-migration strategies from existing public/private cloud deployments.
- Build configuration-management and migration tooling; document the processes.

Documentation & knowledge transfer
- Write clear runbooks, SOPs, and technical guides; mentor teammates and support knowledge transfer.

Required Qualifications

- Deep, hands-on Linux administration (the #1 requirement). You have configured Linux systems and taken them to production yourself, and you understand what happens beneath the applications you run. Red Hat certification (RHCSA / RHCE) is a strong plus.
- 3–5+ years in systems engineering, cloud infrastructure, or a closely related hands-on engineering role.
- Kubernetes competence. Expert-level is ideal; intermediate is acceptable if your Linux foundation is deep — we expect a strong Linux engineer to grow K8s depth quickly. Either way, you must understand the layers under the orchestration, not just how to apply a manifest.
- Systems-level networking understanding: packets, gateways, segmentation, container networking, and the ability to troubleshoot connectivity issues yourself.
- Breadth across system categories: demonstrated hands-on work implementing multiple types of services/systems (distributed databases, message queues, general services), not a single narrow specialty.
- Strong scripting/automation (Bash and general programming) and container fundamentals (Docker, registries, orchestration).
- Strong problem-solving, clear communication, and solid documentation habits; able to work independently alongside senior engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

- Career path from Linux/systems administration into cloud and container platforms.
- Red Hat certification (RHCSA/RHCE) or equivalent hands-on Linux depth.
- Distributed databases (Cassandra, MongoDB) or message queues (RabbitMQ, Kafka) — implemented, not just consumed.
- Configuration management / IaC tooling (Ansible, Terraform).
- Cloud platform experience (AWS) in an engineering capacity — designing/building, as opposed to release-management or pure operations.
- Understanding of microservices architecture patterns.

Technical Environment

- Kubernetes clusters and container orchestration
- Linux-based systems and infrastructure
- Cloud-native technologies and patterns
- Enterprise-grade databases and messaging systems

What We''''re Looking For

A hands-on engineer who is genuinely deep on Linux, understands infrastructure from the OS and network up through the orchestration layer, and has built real services rather than assembled them from online examples. You''''re comfortable owning a problem end to end, you can troubleshoot across layers without handing off, and you''''re motivated by designing robust, scalable systems that others will deploy in the field.