Solaris Engineer, Hosting and Storage Services

Northramp•Reston, VA

11d

About The Position

The UNIX/Linux/Solaris Engineer supports the Hosting and Storage Services (HSS) program by administering production systems on Oracle Solaris, including Zones and Logical Domains, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) virtualized on VMware. The role executes operating-system patching and change on a fixed cadence and uses automation where it improves reliability, security, or customer outcomes. The Engineer works with the Windows and VMware team, cybersecurity team, operations management group (DCOB), network operations center (NOC), and customer application owners. The Engineer administers Solaris and Red Hat environments, including Solaris operating-system lifecycle, patching, and applicable Oracle hardware. Responsibilities include Solaris patching with Alternate Boot Environments (ABEs), planning for Oracle security bundles and urgent out-of-band updates, and maintaining RHEL patching through Puppet. The role leads the transition from Oracle Ops Center to Ansible or Puppet automation and supports the Oracle Enterprise Manager upgrade from 13.5 to 24 AI. The position configures and uses ScienceLogic SL1 monitoring, triages security alerts using Tenable, Tripwire, and Splunk, enforces host-level firewalls and account policies, and validates changes in non-production before implementation. The Engineer follows defined service models for Solaris, managed Red Hat servers, and customer-managed Red Hat servers; uses ServiceNow for changes and incidents; participates in xMatters on-call rotations; and coordinates with the NOC during enterprise events. The role also maintains SharePoint-hosted SOPs and runbooks and aligns documentation with operational, security, and customer meetings.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
At least 5 years administering Oracle Solaris (Zones and LDOMs) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux at scale, including operating-system patching and change execution in regulated environments.
Hands-on experience with ABE-based Solaris patching, rollback, vendor bundle planning, and adapting to non-monthly patch cadences.
Practical experience with Puppet and Ansible for UNIX automation, including playbooks and modules.
Strong bash and ksh shell scripting skills.
Familiarity with VMware-hosted Linux operations and coordination with platform teams.
Experience with operational monitoring and security tools: SL1, Tenable, Tripwire, and Splunk.
Experience with host-level firewall management and security policy enforcement, such as password lifecycles.
Experience using ServiceNow for CAB approvals, change templates, incident management, and RCA.
Experience with on-call processes through xMatters.
Strong documentation habits, including SOPs and runbooks with screenshots, and a collaborative approach with customers and cybersecurity teams.
Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust.
Eligible to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Designed Ansible-first automation to replace legacy tools such as Oracle Ops Center for Solaris patch management, and integrated automation outputs with ServiceNow tasks and approvals.
Upgraded Oracle OEM and validated monitoring and administration workflows during cutover.
Familiarity with CIS controls and practical UNIX and Linux hardening, including file integrity, SSH posture, logging, and firewalls.

Responsibilities

Operate and administer Solaris and Red Hat estates.
Administer Solaris Zones and Logical Domains (LDOMs), operating-system lifecycle and patching, and applicable hardware, including Oracle T-series platforms.
Administer RHEL systems virtualized on VMware in partnership with the Windows and VMware team.
Drive Solaris patching with Alternate Boot Environments (ABEs), including building and patching environments, rebooting into them on standard cycles, and enabling rapid rollback when needed.
Adapt patch planning to Oracle security bundle releases approximately every six weeks, potential interim bundles, and out-of-band updates required by vulnerability severity.
Maintain Red Hat patching through Puppet, including monthly operating-system updates for customer-managed servers.
Lead the transition from Oracle Ops Center to Ansible or Puppet playbooks for Solaris patch automation, and write playbooks, modules, and operational runbooks.
Support the upgrade from Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) 13.5 to 24 AI and maintain reliable monitoring and administration workflows during and after migration.
Configure and use ScienceLogic SL1 monitoring for operating-system and hardware health, including CPU, memory, filesystems, and notifications; coordinate platform configuration with DCOB as needed.
Triage Tenable security alerts and follow-on Tripwire and Splunk tickets; enforce host-level firewalls and raise network blocks when needed.
Implement account policies, including password-expiration changes, and validate changes in non-production before production implementation.
Administer Solaris root access, the full operating system, and hardware, and grant sudo for customer application operations.
Support managed Red Hat servers, where Northramp administers the operating system and customers manage applications, and customer-managed servers, where customers hold root access and Northramp ensures operating-system patching and provides consulting on request.
Use ServiceNow for change and incident management, follow Change Advisory Board (CAB) approvals and standard change windows, and provide post-incident root cause analysis (RCA) where applicable.
Participate in xMatters on-call rotations with 15-minute acknowledgment and tiered escalation, and coordinate with the NOC bridge during enterprise events such as DNS or network issues.
Maintain SharePoint-hosted SOPs and runbooks, including screenshots, for patch orchestration, rollback, automation playbooks, OEM upgrades, SL1 alerting, and security and vulnerability remediation.
Align documentation with weekly UNIX and security syncs and customer meetings.