Senior Linux Administrator (DNS)

CIRA•Ottawa, ON

35d•Hybrid

About The Position

Join the Cyber-DNS team at CIRA and play a key role in advancing Canada’s cybersecurity and DNS infrastructure! Our Cyber-DNS team is dedicated to protecting Canadians online by delivering cutting-edge solutions. You’ll tackle projects that make a real difference—including empowering users with CIRA Cybersecurity Awareness Training, securing household and enterprise networks through CIRA Canadian Shield and DNS Firewall, or defending against DDoS attacks with Anycast DNS. This is your chance to be part of a team that’s shaping the future of digital security and DNS technology, making a meaningful difference in how Canadians and global citizens alike experience and trust the internet! Who you are: You understand how the Internet supports people’s daily lives, work and connection. You value its role in enabling knowledge-sharing, commerce and community, and you’re motivated to help keep it reliable and secure. You bring 10 or more years of experience managing Linux-based infrastructure, with a focus on scalability, reliability and consistency. You’re comfortable working from the command line and have built and maintained services such as web, mail and DNS. You take ownership of the systems you operate, with a strong focus on monitoring, performance and backups. You have hands-on experience with DNS operations. This includes configuring and securing DNS software such as BIND, Knot and PowerDNS; managing zone files and secure zone transfers; working with TSIG keys; and troubleshooting issues related to networking, firewalls and service availability. You work collaboratively, share knowledge with others and approach problems in a practical, solutions-focused way. At CIRA, we’re driven by a passion to make a positive impact on Canada’s digital future. We’re not just asking, ‘What more can we do?’—we’re actively exploring new frontiers to enhance and secure the internet for all Canadians. Our recognition as one of the National Capital Region’s Top Employers for ten years is a testament to our vibrant culture. We believe in fostering an environment where collaboration and candour are second nature and where diverse perspectives are integral to our success, because we know that great ideas come from everywhere. If you’re passionate about innovation and ready to make a difference in a dynamic field, join us and help shape the future of the internet! CIRA embraces a blend of remote and IRL in-office work to keep our team connected and engaged. Our Ottawa headquarters is a hub for regular events and social activities that bring our team together, encouraging a strong sense of community within our organization. No matter where you work from, you'll always feel part of our vibrant team and our shared mission.

Requirements

7+ years of experience with Linux administration, including installation, operations and system hardening.
Advance knowledge of DNS, including protocols, software and operational practices.
Advance understanding of TCP/IP networking, with working knowledge of BGP and anycast routing.
Experience with change and incident management in an enterprise environment, preferably aligned with ISO 27001.
Experience with public key cryptography, including technologies such as TLS, SSH and DNSSEC.
Experience with scripting (e.g. shell or Perl) to support automation and operational efficiency.
Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues and partners to achieve shared outcomes.

Nice To Haves

AWS certifications (e.g. Solutions Architect, DevOps Engineer) are considered an asset.
Experience with automation tools such as Ansible, Terraform and Git is an asset.

Responsibilities

Contribute to the design, operation and reliability of critical DNS infrastructure, including services such as CIRA DNS Firewall, Canadian Shield and authoritative Anycast platforms.
Manage globally distributed fleets of physical and virtual servers. Automate provisioning, patching, scaling and decommissioning, and maintain consistent, secure configurations.
Use infrastructure as code tools (e.g. Terraform, Ansible) to support repeatable deployments across cloud and data centre environments, including bare metal, virtual machines and serverless infrastructure.
Build and maintain monitoring, logging and alerting to support service visibility. Respond to incidents, troubleshoot across the stack and contribute to root cause analysis and continuous improvement.
Support service reliability by working with defined service levels and objectives. Contribute to capacity planning, scaling strategies and disaster recovery activities.
Collaborate with development and security teams to implement and maintain controls that support secure and compliant operations.
Share knowledge with team members through code reviews, documentation and day-to-day collaboration.
Develop and maintain clear technical documentation for systems and processes.
Participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation.

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