Senior Systems Engineer Jobs in Rio Rancho, NM (NOW HIRING)

Peraton is seeking an experienced Senior Systems Engineer Manager (Service Operations Team Lead) to join our team of qualified and diverse individuals.

Peraton supports the NNSA Office of Secure Transportation (OST), which is responsible for the safe and secure transport of nuclear weapons, components, and special nuclear materials across the United States. OST operates a fleet of specially equipped vehicles and employs Federal Agents and technical staff under strict security protocols. The IT infrastructure supporting OST — including server systems, virtualization platforms, endpoint management, and enterprise applications — is subject to some of the most stringent security requirements in the federal government.

The Systems Engineer Senior serves as the Server Operations Team Lead, providing senior-level technical leadership and oversight for all server and systems infrastructure supporting OST operations.

Location: Onsite in Albuquerque, NM (primary location), with travel to field locations as required.

Day to Day Roles and Responsibilities:

• Serve as the senior technical lead and team lead for all server and systems operations supporting the NNSA OST IT program
• Design, implement, and maintain classified and unclassified server infrastructure, virtualization platforms, and enterprise systems at OST facilities and field locations
• Ensure all systems comply with DOE cybersecurity orders, NIST SP 800-53 controls, FISMA requirements, and the Risk Management Framework (RMF)
• Lead systems incident response, troubleshooting, and root cause analysis for server outages, application failures, or security events
• Develop and maintain systems architecture documentation, configuration baselines, and as-built diagrams
• Manage Active Directory infrastructure including domain controllers, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and identity management
• Administer VMware vSphere environment including ESXi hosts, vCenter, vSAN, and virtual machine lifecycle management
• Coordinate with NNSA's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) on enterprise IT standards and systems policy compliance
• Support Authority to Operate (ATO) processes by providing systems security documentation and evidence packages
• Manage patch management and vulnerability remediation programs across all server and endpoint systems
• Manage vendor relationships and coordinate hardware/software procurement and lifecycle management
• Lead server capacity planning and technology refresh initiatives
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior systems administrators and engineers
• Prepare and present systems status reports, metrics, and briefings to program management and government stakeholders

• High school diploma with 12 years of experience, may have supervisory or management experience
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must possess an active DOE Q Clearance (or equivalent Top Secret clearance) and be eligible for SCI and SAP access.
• Must be able to work in a secure facility environment and travel to OST field locations as required.
• Minimum of 3 years of recent experience as a Senior Systems Administrator, Senior Systems Engineer, or technical lead within the last 5 years.
• Experience designing, implementing, and maintaining enterprise infrastructure in classified or unclassified federal environments.
• Hands on experience administering Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), VMware vSphere/ESXi/vCenter, Active Directory, Group Policy, and Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD).
• Experience supporting enterprise server infrastructure, virtualization, storage (SAN/NAS), backup and disaster recovery, and application integration.
• Experience with scripting and automation using PowerShell, Python, Bash, or similar technologies, including automation platforms such as Ansible, Terraform, or Puppet.
• Experience implementing automation, AI enabled operations, or AIOps solutions to improve operational efficiency.
• Knowledge of federal cybersecurity and compliance frameworks, including FISMA, NIST SP 800-53, RMF, and DOE security requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and manage systems administrators and engineers supporting mission critical environments.

• ITIL v4 Foundation certification (or higher).

• Bachelor's degree with 12 years of experience or Master's degree with 10 years of experience.
• Experience supporting Federal Government, DoD, DOE, or Intelligence Community environments.
• Experience supporting enterprise environments with 100+ servers, 500+ virtual machines, and Active Directory environments with 1,000+ user accounts.
• Experience leading technology refreshes, data center consolidations, infrastructure modernization, or cloud migration initiatives.
• Experience supporting federal IT contracts valued at $10M or greater.
• Relevant DoD/DOE cybersecurity certifications, such as CompTIA Security+ CE, CISSP, SecurityX (CASP+), or CAP.
• Microsoft certifications, including Azure Administrator (AZ 104), Azure Security Engineer (AZ 500), Identity and Access Administrator (SC 300), or Endpoint Administrator (MD 102).
• VMware certifications, such as VCP DCV or VCAP DCV.
• Cloud certifications, including CCSP, CompTIA Cloud+, AWS SysOps Administrator, or AWS Solutions Architect.

$135,000 - $216,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individual’s experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.

Equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veterans, or other characteristics protected by law.