Senior IT Architect - Linux

The University of Texas at Austin•Austin, TX

8d•Remote

About The Position

The Senior IT Architect will provide strategic leadership for the design, governance, and implementation of the University of Texas at Austin’s enterprise Linux endpoint management platform. The role will help move the university from fragmented Linux management practices to a sustainable enterprise service serving research, academic, and administrative environments. The position is fixed-term, funded for two years from the employee’s start date, and may be extended; the posting states an expected duration through December 31, 2029. The architect will establish platform architecture and standards for configuration management, software deployment, patching, compliance, and reporting; guide distributed IT teams through onboarding; and develop automation and operational practices that support secure, consistent Linux management. The role also provides advanced Linux engineering guidance across on-premises, hybrid, cloud-hosted, virtualized, and containerized environments, and works with security, infrastructure, and other technology teams to align platform services with institutional requirements. The position contributes to service roadmaps and long-term infrastructure planning, mentors technical staff, communicates recommendations to technical and non-technical stakeholders, and helps build an adoption-focused service model. Flexible work arrangements, including remote work within the United States, are available. Remote work outside Texas requires Central Office approval, and occasional travel to the Austin Main Campus may be required. The position typically has a 40-hour work week, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; occasional overtime at night or on weekends may be required.

Requirements

Advanced expertise with Linux operating systems, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky Linux, or comparable distributions.
Experience with enterprise Linux management, configuration management, endpoint management, automation, or systems management platforms such as Tanium, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Salt, Red Hat Satellite, or comparable tools.
Advanced scripting and automation experience using Bash, Python, PowerShell, infrastructure-as-code tools, or comparable technologies.
Experience with Linux software deployment, patch management, configuration baselines, and compliance reporting.
Experience designing or integrating monitoring, logging, observability, dashboarding, and operational reporting solutions.
Experience with AWS and Azure infrastructure services, hybrid cloud operations, or cloud-hosted Linux management patterns.
Strong understanding of enterprise networking, identity, authentication, security, storage, virtualization, and containerization concepts.
Experience with source control, DevOps practices, documentation, and repeatable operational workflows.
Ability to consult with distributed IT teams and guide technical onboarding.
Ability to translate platform capabilities into practical adoption plans, standards, and operational procedures.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to communicate technical concepts to system administrators, managers, service owners, and non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to balance standardization with legitimate local requirements in a federated or decentralized IT environment.
Must be a U.S. citizen, resident, or officially recognized asylee; the selected applicant will undergo a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information at the level appropriate to project requirements.
Equivalent combinations of relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
Must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis for any employer without sponsorship.
Must maintain internet service and a mobile phone with voice and data plans for work use when required.

Nice To Haves

Experience in higher education, research computing, public-sector IT, or similarly distributed technology environments.
Experience onboarding decentralized organizations into centralized or shared IT service platforms.
Experience implementing service consolidation, technology standardization, or platform adoption initiatives across multiple units.
Experience operating Linux management platforms at enterprise scale.
Experience with observability tools such as Splunk, Graylog, Prometheus, Grafana, Nagios, Netdata, or comparable platforms.
Experience with virtualization, Kubernetes, container platforms, infrastructure-as-code, or cloud-native operations.

Responsibilities

Lead the design, build, and continuous improvement of a central Linux management platform for research, academic, and administrative environments.
Develop platform architecture for configuration management, software deployment, patching, compliance, and reporting.
Evaluate and implement enterprise Linux management platforms such as Tanium, RHEL, or comparable platforms.
Create scalable and secure platform standards for heterogeneous Linux distributions.
Assess distributed IT teams’ Linux environments, operational maturity, management gaps, and onboarding readiness.
Develop onboarding plans, guides, checklists, and documentation to help departments transition Linux systems to the central platform.
Consult with system administrators, endpoint teams, cloud teams, and application owners on platform adoption and service integration.
Identify opportunities to consolidate redundant tooling and improve consistency across departmental Linux management.
Design and maintain automation frameworks for provisioning, configuration enforcement, policy compliance, patching, reporting, and system lifecycle activities.
Develop reusable scripts, modules, playbooks, policies, and configuration baselines using Bash, Python, or comparable technologies.
Implement drift detection, remediation workflows, auditable change, and repeatable operational practices.
Partner with information security teams to align Linux management with security, vulnerability management, and compliance objectives.
Provide advanced Linux engineering guidance across RHEL, Ubuntu, or comparable enterprise distributions.
Support platform operations across physical, virtual, containerized, and cloud-hosted Linux systems.
Develop operational standards for patching, software distribution, access control, monitoring, logging, and service health.
Troubleshoot complex technical issues involving Linux systems, automation frameworks, management agents, networks, storage, identity, or cloud integrations.
Design reporting on Linux inventory, platform adoption, compliance posture, vulnerability exposure, and platform health.
Develop executive and operational dashboards that communicate service value, onboarding progress, risk reduction, and platform maturity.
Define measures and key performance indicators for adoption, service quality, compliance, and operational effectiveness.
Use metrics to identify improvement opportunities, prioritize remediation, and guide long-term Linux service strategy.
Support Linux platform services across on-premises and hybrid infrastructure, including cloud-hosted servers, container platforms, and infrastructure-as-code workflows.
Partner with infrastructure teams to align Linux services with enterprise cloud architecture standards.
Participate in technology roadmaps, service design, and long-term infrastructure planning.
Mentor technical staff and provide leadership on Linux management, automation, reporting, and operational best practices.
Communicate technical recommendations to technical staff, managers, service owners, and institutional stakeholders.
Help build an adoption-focused service model for distributed IT organizations and demonstrate its institutional value.
Perform other related functions as assigned.

Benefits

Competitive health benefits, with employee premiums covered at 100% and family premiums at 50%.
Vision, dental, life, and disability insurance options.
Paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays.
Teachers Retirement System of Texas defined benefit retirement plan.
Additional voluntary retirement programs: Tax Sheltered Annuity 403(b) and Deferred Compensation 457(b).
Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses.
Training and conference opportunities.
Tuition assistance.
Athletic ticket discounts.
Access to UT Austin libraries and museums.
Free rides on UT Shuttle and Capital Metro buses with staff ID card.