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Job Title: IT Systems Administrator
Duration: 3+ years
Client: Defense Research Lab
Location: Lexington, MA 02421

Description: Maintains operation of multi-user computer systems, including coordination of infrastructure and cloud responsibilities. Develops and designs core operating system builds. Responsible for coding, virtualization, and automation of systems. Sets up administrator and service accounts, maintains an active directory of users and system documentation, tunes system performance, installs system-wide software, and allocates mass storage space. Assesses and resolves user access problems related to security controls to minimize business impact and risk exposure. Identifies and evaluates vendor products and establishes vendor monitoring and tracking processes. Performs capacity planning and monitors/tunes systems. Recommends appropriate platforms for purchase, coordinates installation, and provides backup recovery. Serves as a point of escalation for major incidents that are unresolved at the helpdesk level. Develops and monitors policies and standards for allocation related to the use of computing resources. May draft general IT communications to end-users including notifications of outages/downtimes.

Background/Need: The Artificial Intelligence Group at Laboratory has over 50 years of experience developing revolutionary technologies for critical national missions. We specialize in machine learning (ML) algorithms, technologies, and systems that extract and analyze information from multimedia data including speech, text, images, and video. In recent years, we have significantly expanded our mission to include developing impactful ML solutions for cybersecurity in collaboration with the Nation s top cyber organizations. As a recognized leader in both basic and applied AI/ML, our group is shaping emerging AI fields and driving the Laboratory s efforts in AI Assurance across the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. We also integrate expertise in multimedia, cyber, and AI assurance to develop cutting-edge technologies for Operations in the Information Environment (OIE).

Other information relevant to the job requirement?

Group is seeking an IT Systems Administrator to support IT activities for end-users, high-performance computer environments as well as both classified and unclassified processing systems. As a Systems Administrator in Group , you will administer Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Apple Macintosh desktop environments (including Windows 11 and macOS/iOS 26 or later). You will be responsible for the support, installation, maintenance, repair and upgrade of computer and network equipment; reviewing and testing new hardware and software applications; as well as make purchase recommendations. You will design and implement scripts and automation tools (such as ansible) to perform configuration management and monitoring of systems and networks; collect and processes capability requirements from technical research staff to inform and provide IT support to new and ongoing research by improving data storage, backup and recovery, network bandwidth throughput, and service application installation and management. The role requires regular collaboration with enterprise-level IT and security personnel and resources to enhance technology support practices in addition to maintain regular contact with enterprise-level teams to rapidly reconfigure systems, report, and remediate performance and security issues.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Install, configure, maintain, and upgrade Linux (Red Hat and Ubuntu) workstations/servers, Windows 11 PCs, and macOS devices.
• Provide troubleshooting to a group of 50 staff for hardware, OS, and application issues; manage user accounts, group policy, and permissions via Active Directory/LDAP
• Design, develop, and maintain automation scripts and tooling; contribute to configuration-management frameworks (Ansible, Puppet, etc.)
• Administer data-storage solutions, backup schedules, and disaster-recovery procedures; validate backup integrity and perform restoration testing
• Evaluate new hardware/software, conduct proof-of-concept testing, and generate purchase recommendations
• Participate in efforts that enhance research compute capacity, storage scalability, and network performance; utilize system-monitoring systems
• Produce documentation and knowledge-base articles for technical staff and end-users on systems.

Required Skills:
3+ years of Linux System Administration, specifically Red Hat and Ubuntu
3+ years of experience with Ansible Automation Platform supporting Linux systems
3+ years of LDAP administration
3+ years of Software Configuration Management using Puppet and/or Ansible
3+ years of configuring distributed environments, including NFS storage
3+ years of configuring and managing centralized logging and audit capabilities
3+ years of experience with MS Active Directory and LDAP
3+ years of Systems Administration
3+ years of experience with DNS, DHCP, Proxy, and Load Balancing
3+ years of experience with UNIX platforms, macOS/OSX, and Cisco IOS
3+ years of Windows Patch Management
3+ years of experience supporting/managing hardware platforms including Intel/AMD, Cisco, Sun/Oracle, Dell, Apple, EMC, and NetApp
Bachelor's degree is not required

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Skills:
Experience with Enterprise Backup Solutions
Experience administering Macintosh and iOS platforms
Experience with VMware virtualization technologies
Experience configuring and managing VMware ESXi and vCenter
Experience with VM management and snapshots
Experience with SAN and iSCSI storage systems
Experience with VMware ESXi and associated management systems

Others:

• Clearance: Eligible to obtain and maintain a SECRET level DoD security clearance (if not already). Willingness to obtain TS/SCI clearance.
• Work Location: Onsite. Candidates should expect to be onsite 80% of the time.
• Interview Process: Initial interview (via Zoom) with the hiring manager. If the candidate advances to the next round, they will participate in a larger group interview with additional team members. There is a strong preference for the final interview to be conducted in person; therefore, local candidates are preferred.
• Travel: Domestic travel to field sites (10% per year) may be required.