Systems Administrator

MIT Lincoln Laboratory•Lexington, MA

78d•$95,700 - $126,700•Hybrid

About The Position

The Tactical Defense Systems Group drives innovation in air defense to enhance U.S. Air Force operations. We design, develop, and test specialized instrumentation and prototype systems through flight, field, and laboratory campaigns using highly instrumented aircraft and advanced ground systems. Our work addresses critical challenges in air vehicle survivability, electronic countermeasure development, and testing infrastructure, delivering precise answers to Air Force partners. Join us to tackle meaningful challenges and drive innovation in national security in a dynamic mission-driven environment. Group 108 is seeking an IT Systems Administrator III to support end users, high‑performance computing environments, and both classified and unclassified processing systems. As a Systems Administrator III in Group 108, you will administer and secure Linux and Microsoft Windows desktop and server environments (including Windows 11 and current enterprise Linux distributions). You will be responsible for the support, installation, maintenance, repair, and upgrade of computer and network equipment; reviewing and testing new hardware and software applications; and making purchase recommendations. You will design and implement scripts and automation tools (such as Ansible) to perform configuration management, compliance enforcement, and monitoring of systems and networks. You will collect and process capability requirements from technical research staff to inform and provide IT support to new and ongoing research by improving data storage, backup and recovery, network bandwidth throughput, and service application installation and management. This role requires a cybersecurity mindset and regular collaboration with enterprise IT and cybersecurity teams to ensure systems remain compliant with evolving security and information‑assurance policies. You will maintain regular contact with these enterprise teams to interpret and implement cybersecurity policy changes, rapidly reconfigure systems as needed, and report and remediate performance and security issues. Domestic travel to field sites (<10% per year) may be required.

Requirements

B.S. in Information Systems, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field or equivalent experience (4 years or more)
Minimum 4 years of IT systems administration experience supporting enterprise environments
Eligible to obtain and maintain a SECRET level DoD security clearance (if not already)
Willingness to obtain TS/SCI clearance
Work on-site 80% of the time
DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level II, at a minimum Security+ certification (candidate will need to obtain within 6 months if they currently do not possess this certification)

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with RMF and derivative processes (DoD 8510, JSIG, ICD-503, CNSSI 1253.)
Familiarity with relevant government security regulations (NISPOM, JSIG, ICD503, TEMPEST.)

Responsibilities

Install, configure, maintain, and upgrade Linux (Red Hat and Ubuntu) workstations and servers, and Windows 11 PCs
Provide troubleshooting to a group of approximately 75 staff for hardware, OS, and application issues; manage user accounts, group policy, and permissions via Active Directory and LDAP
Administer data-storage solutions, backup schedules, and disaster-recovery procedures; validate backup integrity and perform restoration testing
Evaluate new hardware and software, conduct proof-of-concept testing, and generate purchase recommendations
Participate in efforts that enhance research compute capacity, storage scalability, and network performance; utilize system-monitoring and performance-analysis tools
Work closely with enterprise IT and cybersecurity teams to ensure systems and services comply with current cybersecurity and information-assurance policies; support audits, remediation activities, and policy-driven configuration changes
Produce documentation and knowledge-base articles for technical staff and end users on systems and services