Senior Linux System EngineerRemote, USA
EMKS is seeking a Senior Linux System Engineer to support the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Independent Enterprise Testing Support Services (IETSS) contract. This project provides Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) services to support the product Software Delivery Life Cycle and Modernization efforts on behalf of our Veterans Affairs (VA) government client. In our continuing efforts to implement more of our IV&V activities, we are seeking an experienced and highly skilled
Senior Linux System Engineer to join our infrastructure team. In this role, you will be a subject matter expert in Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments, driving the design, deployment, and ongoing management of enterprise-grade Linux infrastructure. You will also play a key role in modernizing our platform through automation, containerization, and virtualization using Red Hat's broader ecosystem of technologies.
Duties/Responsibilities:- Architect, deploy, configure, and maintain RHEL 8 and RHEL 9 systems across physical, virtual, and cloud environments
- Perform OS lifecycle management including patching, upgrades, hardening, and decommissioning in accordance with security and compliance standards
- Develop, maintain, and scale automation workflows using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (AAP), including playbook development, role creation, and management of Automation Controller and Private Automation Hub
- Design and manage virtualized workloads using OpenShift Virtualization, migrating traditional VM-based workloads to the OpenShift platform as appropriate
- Support and administer Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) clusters, including day-2 operations, node management, storage configuration, networking, and cluster upgrades
- Collaborate with DevOps, security, and application teams to ensure Linux environments meet performance, availability, and compliance requirements
- Enforce system security baselines using tools such as OpenSCAP, AIDE, SELinux policies, and CIS/STIG frameworks
- Monitor system health, capacity, and performance; respond to and remediate incidents and alerts
- Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation, runbooks, and standard operating procedures
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers and participate in knowledge-sharing across the team
- Participate in an on-call rotation for critical infrastructure support
Required Qualifications:- 7+ yearsof hands-on Linux system administration experience in enterprise environments
- Deep expertise with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and/or 9, including systemd, networking, storage (LVM, XFS, NFS), and security subsystems (SELinux, firewalld, PAM)
- Strong proficiency withAnsible and/or Ansible Automation Platform, including writing complex playbooks, custom roles, and managing inventories at scale
- Working knowledge of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, including cluster operations, oc CLI tooling, and container/pod troubleshooting
- Familiarity with OpenShift Virtualization(formerly KubeVirt) for managing virtual machines within OpenShift
- Solid understanding of networking concepts: DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, VLANs, bonding/teaming, and network troubleshooting
- Experience with identity and access management integration (LDAP, Active Directory, SSSD, Kerberos)
- Proficiency in scripting (Bash, Python, or similar) for automation and tooling
- Strong documentation skills and experience working in ITIL or similar service management frameworks
- Must have excellent oral and written communication skills.
Education/Certifications:- Bachelor's Degree in a recognized technical, engineering, scientific, managerial, business, or other discipline related to area of expertise.
- Active Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)or Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) certification
- Red Hat certifications in Ansible Automation or OpenShift Administration (EX280, EX374, EX480)
Clearance:- U.S. Citizenship is required as is successfully passing a thorough Government background screening (Public Trust) requiring the completion of detailed forms and fingerprinting.
- Ability to obtain and maintain necessary security clearances as required for access to classified information.
