Senior IT Architect - Linux

University of Texas at Austin•Austin, TX

10d•Remote

About The Position

The Senior IT Architect will provide strategic leadership for the design, governance, and implementation of the university’s Linux endpoint management platform. The role will guide technical decisions and coordinate stakeholders as the university moves from fragmented Linux management practices to a sustainable enterprise service. The position is fixed-term, funded for two years from the employee’s start date, and may be extended; the posting lists an expected duration through December 31, 2029. The architect will lead the design and continuous improvement of a central Linux management platform for research, academic, and administrative environments. The role includes establishing platform standards, developing automation and compliance practices, supporting Linux operations across on-premises and cloud environments, and creating service reporting and dashboards. The position also works with distributed IT organizations to assess their environments, plan onboarding, and encourage adoption of shared platform services. This position is based in Austin, Texas, with flexible work arrangements that may include remote work within the United States. Remote work outside Texas requires Central Office approval. Occasional travel to the Austin Main Campus may be required. The typical work week is 40 hours, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; occasional overtime at night or on weekends may be required. The role may work around standard office conditions and requires repetitive keyboard use and manual dexterity. The employee must maintain internet service and a mobile phone with voice and data plans for work use when required. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis for any employer without sponsorship. The selected applicant must also meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information at the level appropriate to project requirements and will be subject to a government security investigation. A criminal history background check is required for finalists.

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 software deployment, patch management, configuration baselines, and compliance reporting for Linux systems.
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 be subject to 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 across 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 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 tools, reduce operational fragmentation, and improve consistency in 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, or 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 institutional security requirements, 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 issues involving Linux systems, automation frameworks, management agents, network dependencies, storage, identity, or cloud integrations.
Design reporting and dashboards that show Linux inventory, platform adoption, compliance posture, vulnerability exposure, platform health, 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 guide improvements and remediation priorities.
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 platform 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 that encourages participation from distributed IT organizations and demonstrates measurable 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 program 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.