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Virtual Server Administrator Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

IT Systems Administrator

Riverside, CA · On-site

$110K - $130K/yr

Server and Virtual Infrastructure Administration * Maintain and support Windows Server 2025 physical and virtual servers. * Administer and troubleshoot Microsoft Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines.

System Administrator

Port Hueneme, CA · On-site

$105K - $110K/yr

Administer virtual server and desktop environments using VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, and related virtualization technologies. * Monitor system health, performance, and availability to ensure reliable ...

UNIX Administrator * Location: Sacramento, CA SCOPE OF WORK: * Administration of AIX/RedHat ... Provision AIX/RedHat virtual server builds in PowerVM/VMware * Working with customers both internal ...

System Administrator

Redwood City, CA · On-site

$115 - $120/hr

Administer cloud platforms: Azure, GCP, Google Workspace, Okta ... Build, maintain, and secure on-premises and virtual server environments (Windows Server 2019/2022 ...

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Virtual Server Administrator information

What is a virtual server administrator?

Virtual Server Administrators are IT professionals who manage and maintain virtual servers within an organization. Their responsibilities include installing, configuring, monitoring, and troubleshooting virtual machines (VMs) on platforms such as VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, or cloud environments like AWS and Azure. They ensure optimal performance, security, and uptime of virtual servers, as well as handle resource allocation and backup processes. Virtual Server Administrators play a key role in supporting scalable and flexible IT infrastructure for businesses.

What are some common challenges faced by virtual server administrators, and how can they be addressed?

Virtual Server Administrators often encounter challenges such as managing resource allocation to prevent server sprawl, ensuring consistent security across multiple virtual environments, and maintaining high availability. To address these, admins typically use centralized management tools, implement robust monitoring systems, and follow best practices for patch management and backup. Collaborating closely with network and security teams is also crucial for maintaining a stable and secure virtual infrastructure.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a virtual server administrator, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Virtual Server Administrator, you need expertise in server operating systems (such as Windows Server or Linux), virtualization technologies, and network management, typically backed by relevant IT certifications or a degree in computer science. Familiarity with tools like VMware, Hyper-V, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure), and monitoring systems is essential. Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and effective communication are vital for proactively managing server environments and collaborating with IT teams. These skills ensure secure, reliable, and efficient virtual infrastructure that meets organizational needs.

What is the difference between Virtual Server Administrator vs Network Administrator?

AspectVirtual Server AdministratorNetwork Administrator
CertificationsVMware, Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator, CompTIA Server+Cisco CCNA, CompTIA Network+, Cisco CCNP
Work EnvironmentData centers, cloud environments, virtualized serversCorporate networks, data centers, infrastructure
Primary ResponsibilitiesManaging virtual servers, optimizing virtualization, ensuring server uptimeManaging network infrastructure, configuring routers/switches, network security

The Virtual Server Administrator focuses on managing and maintaining virtualized server environments, ensuring optimal performance and uptime. In contrast, the Network Administrator handles the broader network infrastructure, including configuring and securing network devices. Both roles require technical certifications and work in similar environments but emphasize different aspects of IT infrastructure.

What are the most commonly searched types of Server Administrator jobs in California?

The most popular types of Server Administrator jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Virtual Server Administrator jobs in California?

For Virtual Server Administrator jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Virtual Server Administrator jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Virtual Server Administrator jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Virtual Server Administrator jobs?

Cities in California with the most Virtual Server Administrator job openings:

Infographic showing various Virtual Server Administrator job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 84% Full Time, 12% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 32% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 66% Remote job distribution.

Senior Server Administrator

University of California San Francisco

San Francisco, CA • On-site

Full-time

Posted 21 days ago


Key responsibilities

  • Drive the day-to-day maintenance and operations of on-premises and virtual servers to ensure stability and security.

  • Coordinate server needs between customers, partners, and stakeholders, and support hypervisor deployment and configuration.

  • Perform regular maintenance tasks such as applying patches, updates, and optimizing server configurations.


University Of California San Francisco rating

7.8

Company rating: 7.8 out of 10

Based on 13 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

236th of 628 rated colleges and universities


Job description


The Senior Server Administrator will drive the day-to-day maintenance and operations of on-premises and virtual servers to ensure stability and security of University of California, San Francisco's (UCSF) computing environment. This role will coordinate server needs between a broad range of customers, partners, and key stakeholders in administrative and academic units. The Senior Server Administrator will act as a technical subject matter expert for Information Technology (IT) colleagues and provide training assistance and technical mentorship. This role will support hypervisor deployment and configuration as well as maintain day-to-day operations of centralized, distributed, physical, and virtual servers.
The Senior Server Administrator will positively impact UCSF's operations and culture by ensuring UCSF's IT infrastructure is operable, secure, efficient, and effective in service of UCSF's academic mission. This team member will advance the UCSF's mission by delivering exceptional information technology services comprehensively and consistently across faculty, staff, and students. This role will execute UCSF's vision while modeling UCSF's culture and values.
This role is expected to support the strategic modernization of UCSF's UNIX platform services, including the transition of AIX-based workloads to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on virtualized infrastructure. The incumbent will provide technical leadership in planning, migration, performance tuning, and operational stabilization of RHEL environments supporting critical healthcare and other Tier 0/Tier 1 applications.
Department Overview:
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is distinguished as a leading academic healthcare organization, home to groundbreaking discoveries, world-class education, and exceptional healthcare services. Infrastructure Services (IS) is the backbone of the technological infrastructure, assuring the technical services that enable the academic, medical, and research missions of the organization. Beyond a focus on maintaining systems and resolving issues, we are committed to nurturing the potential of our team members and empowering them to excel. UCSF Infrastructure Services provides 24x7 support to the University community, always upholding the highest level of responsiveness and reliability for our customers. IS values innovation and excellence in ensuring secure and efficient Information Technology (IT) services, regardless of the hour or complexity of the issue.
The Platform Services team within Infrastructure Services is committed to empowering the academic, medical, and research mission of UCSF by ensuring that all customers have seamless, secure, and accessible technological support. The team oversees the management and maintenance of various technology platforms, including system and cloud services, to guarantee they are secure, readily available, and performing optimally. Platform Services handles the management of critical software, such as Epic, ensuring it supports the highest level of medical service delivery by operating at peak performance. The team also oversees data center operations, including server management, storage, and networking equipment, to ensure the reliable delivery of health services. Additionally, it manages databases with a focus on data security, availability, and top-tier performance. All these tasks are critical not only for the smooth operation of the University's technological infrastructure, but also for enhancing productivity, enabling the provision of high-quality health services and learning, and ultimately, improving patient and student outcomes.
Responsibilities
% of Time
Essential Function (Yes/No)
Key Responsibilities
50%
Yes
Systems and Clouds Services, Servers
  1. Oversees the installation, configuration, and regular updates of server and hypervisor software to ensure the security and reliability of the virtual environments. Monitors performance and security vulnerabilities to maintain functionality.
  2. Leads configuration and deployment of new servers installing operating systems, establishing network connectivity, configuring storage, and implementing security measures.
  3. Oversees the monitoring of the health and performance of servers on an ongoing basis; selects, maintains, and utilizes monitoring tools to track server resources.
  4. Performs regular maintenance tasks such as applying patches and updates, optimizing server configurations, and ensuring proper backup and recovery mechanisms.
  5. Oversees the planning and implementation of server updates, maintenance, and configuration. Ensures that operations are consistent with university processes and policies. Identifies ways to improve existing procedures. Develops realistic recommendations for technology adoption and communicates recommendations to key stakeholders.
  6. Manages collaboration across the organization, including with vendor partners, to ensure the delivery of high-quality server administration services.
  7. Creates and supports procedures for prioritizing and addressing support escalated issues. Serves as a technical expert for highly complex issues.
  8. Oversees the integrity of platform services and related hardware by providing direction and technical expertise to the configuration and maintenance of server platforms. Facilitates optimization and automation activities.
  9. Develops and implements effective disaster recovery plans and procedures to support 24x7 service reliability and effective emergency response. This includes designing and managing backup systems, conducting regular disaster recovery tests to ensure system resilience, and leading recovery efforts in the event of failures or data breaches to minimize downtime and data loss.
  10. This position will be filled with a primary technical focus in UNIX/AIX/Linux.

20%
Yes
Problem Solving
  1. Works closely with University of California, San Francisco's (UCSF) Platform Services, Infrastructure Services (IS), and Information Technology (IT) leadership to identify, implement, and support cost-effective, leading solutions for servers.
  2. Leverages best practices to support decision-making processes and effectively solve problems.
  3. Presents opportunities for improvement and measures success factors when implementing change. Makes sound decisions to benefit the organization.

10%
Yes
Customer Service
  1. Builds and maintains strong relationships with customers, partners, and stakeholders to ensure that consistent, reliable service is delivered to a range of university stakeholders.
  2. Utilizes best practices established around user experience and support to make decisions and define future platform services priorities.

5%
Yes
Continuous Improvement
  1. Keeps up to date with changes in laws, regulations, and technologies that may affect Platform Services operations and informs senior management and staff.
  2. Facilitates innovation and continuous improvement by leveraging the latest industry knowledge. Advises and guides the server administration team on emerging technologies.
  3. Encourages collaboration when exploring new ideas and approaches.
  4. Manages new and ongoing process improvement efforts within the team.

5%
Yes
Project Planning and Management
  1. Contributes to the successful execution of Platform Services projects, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and with the desired outcomes and impact on UCSF's overall Platform Services plans. Delegates tasks as needed and leverages the skills and experiences of team members.
  2. Supports the vision for Platform Services. Works closely with team members and management to implement and support effective solutions. Supports process improvement efforts within the team and across IS.

5%
Yes
Communications and Training
  1. Creates, updates, and maintains comprehensive documentation of the server infrastructure, including system configurations and operational procedures. This involves managing and sharing technical knowledge within the team, ensuring that crucial information is accessible and understood by relevant stakeholders.
  2. Trains and mentors' junior employees. This involves passing on technical expertise, guiding them in understanding Platform Services processes, and providing hands-on training to ensure they are equipped to maintain and enhance the Platform Services systems.
  3. Proactively communicates with other departments and central IT units within UCSF to safely support UCSF's server administration needs.

5%
Yes
Other
  1. Actively promotes the University's core values and consistently integrates innovation, employee fulfillment, teamwork, respect, excellence, integrity, service, and accountability into each aspect of their work.
  2. Maintains current knowledge of university policy and procedures; effectively, consistently, and fairly applies university policy and/or campus/division procedures for assigned area and team members supervised; complies with university, campus, and division policies and procedures regarding privacy of information, authorized use of university resources and the security of university systems and data.
  3. Participates in an on-call rotation for high and critical 24x7 incident response, as needed.
  4. Performs other related responsibilities as requested and when necessary. The University reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Total: 100%
Qualifications
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
  • Bachelor's degree, or equivalent combination of experience/training, in one or more of the following fields: computer science, engineering, computer information systems, etc.
  • 5 years of experience with enterprise server administration with primary focus in IBM AIX on IBM POWER platforms in large-scale production environments.
  • 3 years of experience administering Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in enterprise environments.
  • 3 years of experience supporting high availability (IBM PowerHA), clustering, and disaster recovery architectures for mission-critical applications.
  • 3 years of experience managing UNIX (i.e. PowerVM) and other virtualization technologies including logical partitioning and I/O virtualization.
  • 3 years of experience planning and executing operating system migrations or platform modernization initiatives
  • 3 years of experience deploying automation frameworks (Ansible, etc).
  • Advanced knowledge of IBM AIX system administration, including LPAR management, VIOS, PowerVM, and Live Partition Mobility.
  • Advanced knowledge of Red Hat Enterprise Linux administration, including system hardening, lifecycle management, and performance tuning.
  • Ability to implement and support clustering technologies such as PowerHA and/or Linux-based HA solutions.
  • Ability to integrate UNIX/Linux systems with enterprise storage platforms.
  • Ability to deploy and manage Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) frameworks.
  • Ability to deploy and manage Managed File Transfer (MFT) frameworks using scripts or 3rd-party products (GoAnywhere, etc)l
  • Demonstrated extensive experience in information technology, platform services, virtualization, and server administration (Unix, Linux, and Windows).
  • Extensive experience with installing, configuring, modifying, and supporting hypervisors, Unix, Linux, and other operating systems. Experience with platform automation and orchestration methodologies and tools.
  • Extensive experience with monitoring, auditing, tuning, and analysis and optimization of system performance, security, and capacity planning, patching, and upgrades.
  • Proven ability to interpret, analyze, and apply pertinent service level agreements, updates, policies, procedures, regulations, and other requirements and turn them into actionable outcomes.
  • Understanding of system performance monitoring and actions that can be taken to improve or correct performance. Demonstrated skills associated with adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs. Demonstrated comprehensive understanding of how system management actions affect other systems, system users, and dependent/related functions.
  • Demonstrated advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with system problem identification and resolution. Experience with design, configuration, operation, repair, tracking and tuning of technology systems.
  • Proficiency in key Infrastructure as Code (IaC) methodologies and principles. Knowledge of IaC tools such as Terraform, Ansible, Chef, Puppet, or equivalent, and proficiency in scripting languages associated with IaC tools. Ability to write and maintain clear, concise, and effective infrastructure code. Proficiency in automating deployments, scaling, and management of infrastructure components.
  • Advanced knowledge of computer security best practices and policies including demonstrated experience securing complex server-based software.
  • Strong customer service skills. Ability to triage and escalate to supervisors and/or other teams for resolution.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to communicate technical information and ideas to a diverse community of colleagues and stakeholders.
  • Ability to establish and advance positive working relationships and a strong rapport with team members, stakeholders, and customers.
  • Strong organizational skills and ability to balance competing priorities and support concurrent projects. Experience working in a project-based environment using leading project management practices including schedule management, status reporting, and communication of project risks and issues.
  • Strong demonstrated problem-solving skills; ability to scope solutions based on knowledge of available resources and timelines. Ability to ask questions, gather information, evaluate options, and make decisions with integrity.
  • Ability to think creatively and propose innovative ideas, including the incorporation of new technologies or processes.

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