Systems & Security EngineerReports to: Chief Technology Officer | Location: Remote (Residents in ID, NE, GA, OH, TX, TN, PA, MI, FL Only) | Type: Salary Exempt
About the Role
The Systems & Security Engineer owns day-to-day security administration and infrastructure operations, working closely with the CTO and software engineering team. Approximately half of the role focuses on security administration, including vulnerability management, patching, mitigation, and SOC 2 Type II compliance. The remaining time focuses on systems administration, production reliability, and support for engineering delivery. These responsibilities overlap throughout the workday.
We maintain SOC 2 Type II audited compliance. Continuous readiness for our annual audit, with the goal of no exceptions, is a top priority. This requires controls that operate consistently throughout the year, timely remediation, and clear evidence of the work performed.
Our infrastructure runs on AWS and is EC2 heavy. Strong Linux administration and experience maintaining production applications on Linux hosts are essential. You will also support ECS and services such as WAF, ALB, S3, and EFS, and partner with software engineers on CI/CD. Application uptime directly affects our customers and is a core responsibility of this role.
The objective: keep AvatarFleet's SaaS infrastructure secure, reliable, and continuously audit ready. Maintain patched and hardened systems, effective monitoring, tested backups, documented controls, and dependable deployment processes so customers can rely on our applications and engineers can deliver changes with confidence.
What You'll Do
Security Administration & Compliance
- Own day-to-day security administration and coordinate SOC 2 Type II control execution, evidence collection, and annual audit preparation with the CTO and other control owners.
- Maintain a year-round control calendar; track recurring reviews, evidence requirements, remediation commitments, and audit requests through completion.
- Maintain security policies and operating procedures that reflect actual practices; identify control gaps early and drive corrective action.
- Administer access controls and support access reviews, least privilege, credential management, and security logging. Keep records complete and readily available for audit.
Vulnerability Management, Patching & Mitigation
- Run and review vulnerability assessments; prioritize findings by severity, exposure, business risk, and customer impact.
- Own routine and urgent patching of Linux hosts, application dependencies, container images, and supporting software in partnership with engineering.
- Plan maintenance, validate changes, and confirm remediation. Apply and document mitigations when an immediate patch is not practical.
- Track findings from discovery through verified resolution and maintain evidence of patching, mitigation, and approved exceptions.
AWS Infrastructure Administration
- Deploy, configure, and maintain AWS resources, including EC2, ECS, WAF, ALB, S3, EFS, IAM, and networking components.
- Maintain secure configurations, appropriate capacity, reliable connectivity, and effective monitoring across production and supporting environments.
- Manage backups, replication, retention, restore testing, and secure data disposal in line with operational and compliance requirements.
- Improve performance and cost efficiency while protecting application availability.
Linux Systems Administration
- Administer Debian and Amazon Linux hosts, including services, packages, permissions, storage, networking, and system configuration.
- Maintain production applications on EC2 hosts and troubleshoot issues across the operating system, application runtime, containers, network, and storage.
- Support Docker, Docker Compose, and ECS workloads; keep configurations consistent and operating procedures documented.
Monitoring, Incident Response & Reliability
- Maintain actionable infrastructure and security monitoring, log collection, and alerting; investigate alerts and respond to service interruptions.
- Restore service promptly, communicate impact and progress, and coordinate with engineering during production incidents.
- Investigate root causes, document incidents, and implement improvements that reduce recurrence.
- Maintain recovery procedures and operational runbooks; validate that backups and recovery processes work when needed.
Engineering & CI/CD Support
- Support software engineering with CI/CD configuration, deployment environments, build and release troubleshooting, and secure pipeline access.
- Help maintain dependable deployments, configuration and secrets management, rollback procedures, and environment consistency.
- Partner with engineers to diagnose infrastructure and runtime issues affecting development, testing, and production.
Automation & Documentation
- Use Terraform, Ansible, AWS CLI, and scripting to automate provisioning, configuration, patching, and recurring operational tasks.
- Keep infrastructure changes reviewable and reproducible; maintain useful system documentation, runbooks, and audit evidence.
Role Boundaries
- This role owns infrastructure operations, security administration, patching and mitigation, and the operational work supporting SOC 2 Type II compliance. The CTO and other business control owners share responsibility for company-wide compliance.
- Software engineering owns application features and application code. This role supports delivery through automation, infrastructure configuration, CI/CD, and production troubleshooting.
- Work closely with engineering, technical support, and leadership to resolve issues and prioritize work by security risk, availability, and customer impact.
What You Bring
You are a hands-on systems and security operator who is comfortable moving between audit evidence, vulnerability remediation, Linux troubleshooting, AWS administration, and deployment support. You follow through on routine maintenance as carefully as urgent incidents, keep clear records, and understand that security controls and production reliability require consistent attention. Relevant backgrounds include systems administration, infrastructure engineering, cloud operations, DevOps, and security engineering with substantial Linux and AWS operating experience.
- At least 5 years of hands-on Linux systems administration, with responsibility for security and availability in production environments; SaaS experience is preferred.
- Strong AWS administration skills, especially EC2 and Linux-hosted applications, with working experience across ECS, IAM, networking, load balancing, storage, WAF, and monitoring.
- Practical experience supporting SOC 2 Type II audits and maintaining controls throughout the audit period, including evidence collection, access reviews, and remediation tracking.
- Hands-on vulnerability management, Linux patching, security hardening, log analysis, and incident response.
- Experience with Terraform, Ansible, AWS CLI, shell scripting, Docker, and Docker Compose.
- Experience supporting CI/CD pipelines and troubleshooting deployment failures in collaboration with software engineers.
- Ability to troubleshoot across Linux, AWS, networking, containers, databases, storage, and application runtimes.
- Clear written communication, disciplined documentation, and sound prioritization based on risk, customer impact, and urgency.
Nice to Have
- PostgreSQL and Redis administration, backup and recovery, and performance troubleshooting.
- Python scripting, GitHub workflows, and familiarity with Flask, JavaScript, Vue, Jira, and Sentry.
- Experience improving operational monitoring, disaster recovery, and infrastructure cost efficiency.
Values We Hire For
AvatarFleet operates under the 4 G's mindset: Grit, Growth, Gratitude, and Giving. All AvatarFleet team members are expected to demonstrate the following:
- Ownership & Accountability. Take responsibility for outcomes and follow work through to completion.
- Customer Empathy. Understand how reliability and security affect our customers and their daily work.
- Growth Mindset. Seek learning, feedback, and continuous improvement.
- Grit & Resilience. Stay focused and adaptable when troubleshooting difficult problems or responding to incidents.
- Collaboration. Communicate clearly and work respectfully across teams.
- Integrity & Trust. Handle sensitive information carefully and report risks, gaps, and mistakes honestly.
Work Environment & Expectations
- Fully remote. Candidates must reside in the United States to satisfy client contractual requirements.
- Maintain a professional workspace that supports focus, confidentiality, and productivity, with reliable high-speed internet access.
- Use video conferencing and online collaboration tools regularly; be available during established core business hours and communicate proactively about availability.
- Work closely with the CTO, developers, and technical support in a small, collaborative team.
- Provide flexibility for production incidents, urgent security updates, maintenance windows, critical releases, and audit deadlines, including occasional work outside core business hours.
- Follow company policies for information security, confidentiality, and acceptable use of company systems.
