Systems Administrator – Skill Level 5

Location: Springfield, VA

Position Type: Full-Time

Position Overview

We are seeking an expert-level Systems Administrator (Skill Level 5) to design, deploy, secure, and maintain multi-cloud infrastructure and complex enterprise web analytics systems across high-security enclaves. This role provides critical technical leadership, handles system accreditation (ATO/cATO), and builds custom automated inventory solutions in accordance with DoD, IC, and NGA policies.

Key Responsibilities

Cloud Infrastructure Management: Design, deploy, configure, secure, monitor, and manage cloud infrastructure components across multiple cloud providers, emphasizing AWS services (VPC, EC2, RDS, Lambda, S3, CloudFormation, CloudWatch, IAM).
Operating System & Server Administration: Install, configure, secure, upgrade, and maintain RHEL, CentOS, and Windows Server environments aligned with DoD, IC, and NGA security standards.
Web Stack & Analytics Maintenance: Maintain enterprise-class web analytics platforms built on PHP, MySQL, Apache, and related web technologies.
Custom Automation & Scripting: Design, develop, and utilize complex, custom scripts to inventory, track, and report NGA’s official Web Inventory and associated web attributes across all security enclaves.
Accreditation & Compliance (ATO/cATO): Execute and document actions required to obtain and maintain full Authority To Operate (ATO) and Continuous ATO (cATO). Implement STIGs, populate XACTA, develop POA&Ms, collaborate with accreditation authorities, and monitor Enterprise Security Services (ESS) and vulnerability dashboards.
Security Patching & System Health: Perform daily, weekly, and monthly system health checks and backups. Evaluate and install OS/application security patches while maintaining logs for system errors, trends, downtime metrics, and hardware/software inventory.
Account & Access Management: Administer application user accounts using strict least-privilege methodologies.
Technical Guidance: Provide senior and program leadership with expert technical guidance on emerging web analytics technologies, industry trends, and potential system issues.

Required Qualifications & Experience

Clearance: Active Top Secret SCI clearance.
Operating Systems: Deep expertise in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, and Windows Server administration.
Cloud Architecture: Hands-on experience provisioning and securing AWS resources (VPC, EC2, RDS, Lambda, S3, CloudFormation, CloudWatch, IAM).
Web & Database Stack: Direct experience administering Apache web servers, PHP applications, and MySQL relational databases.
Security & ATO: Demonstrated experience implementing DISA STIGs, managing POA&Ms, utilizing XACTA, and maintaining ESS/cATO compliance.
NGA Enterprise Services: Experience with NGA Enterprise Services, including GEOAxIS, VDSS, Cloud Operations, Active Directory, and DNS.

Desired Skills

Comprehensive understanding of NGA’s web ecosystem and network topology.
Proficiency in scripting and programming using PHP, Python, Bash, PowerShell, JavaScript, and SQL.
Experience maintaining high-traffic web servers, cloud encryption standards, and web services/HTML environments.
Experience creating, deploying, and optimizing cloud-based MySQL and other relational database architectures.