Junior Systems Administrator/System EngineerJob Summary Leidos is seeking a
Junior Systems Administrator/System Engineer to join a high-impact, multi-agency program serving the United States Space Force (USSF) / Space Systems Command (SSC), the United States Air Force (USAF), and other critical mission stakeholders. The selected individual will play key role in enhancing, testing, and deploying a large-scale Satellite Communications (SATCOM) system to an existing infrastructure. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in public key infrastructure (PKI) and key management, excels at complex problem solving, and has a strong record of delivering results as part of a high-performing team in a fast-paced Agile Development environment. This position offers a unique opportunity to enhance the resilience and cybersecurity of mission-critical communications that protect our nation.
- This position is based near Columbia, Maryland, with possible alternative duty locations in San Diego, California, Englewood, Colorado, or Huntsville, Alabama. Relocation assistance may be available for qualified candidates.
Primary Responsibilities:- Provide lifecycle system support, including integration and deployment activities.
- Support integration of large-scale systems and system components within a complex, geographically distributed network environment.
- Support system and network vulnerability assessments and the implementation of security best practices and hardening measures.
- Perform hands-on system administration tasks such as deployment of software, vendor firmware, COTS, and FOSS solutions.
- Maintain and enhance internal system functionality and performance, including interoperability with external systems and protection of critical data sets.
- Collaborate closely with cross-functional technical teams (systems, software, test, etc.) in an Agile environment to integrate and deliver system capabilities.
- Administer and support Linux and/or Windows-based components in a large high-performance computing environment.
- Troubleshoot hardware and software issues by analyzing root causes of abnormal system behavior.
- Support development and production environments by applying software builds, updating application versions, deploying security patches, and adjusting configuration settings as required.
- Provide support for deployment activities, including software and hardware installation and integration.
- Coordinate with internal Leads to define acceptable outage windows and execute maintenance activities with minimal impact to operations.
- Create and maintain system documentation, including deployment procedures, configuration baselines, and system configuration guides.
- Leverage current automation technologies and scripting to streamline system administration, configuration management, and monitoring tasks.
Basic Qualifications:- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, System Engineering, or a related field and at least 2 years of related experience. Additional experience may be substituted for a Degree.
- Must have experience working on large-scale hardware and software systems.
- Must have experience with or familiarity with virtualization via any industry standard hypervisor.
- Experience deploying application software, including application servers.
- Experience with system analysis, risk analysis, and/or vulnerability assessments.
- Must have experience developing creative solutions to technical issues that arise in real time.
- Must have experience thoroughly tracking and documenting technical issues.
- Ability to plan and prioritize tasking based on mission and team needs in a fast-moving environment.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and as part of a team while delivering high-quality results.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate technical information clearly and effectively.
- Ability to work extended hours when necessary to support uptime on high-visibility production systems.
- Ability to travel on occasion to non-hostile locations.
- Clearance Required: Must have an active or current TS/SCI with Polygraph.
Preferred Qualifications:- Experience deploying application software including application servers
- Integration and development experience.
- Windows Server 2008, 2012, 2016, 2022 and/or Server Core administration experience.
- Experience with firewall technologies and configuration best practices.
- Experience with programming languages such as Python, Java, C++.
- Experience with one or more of the following: Wireshark, Microsoft MDT, Centos & Redhat, SALT, Puppet, CHEF, Ansible, iSCSI and Flash SANs, Solarwinds usage and deployment.
- Experience working with or in military Satellite Communications (SATCOM) organizations such as United States Air Force (USAF), United States Space Force (USSF), or another Agency.
- Experience working with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)/ key management programs and technologies.
Original Posting:March 9, 2026
Pay Range:Pay Range $69,550.00 - $125,725.00
The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.
