Senior Linux Systems Engineer – Infrastructure & Operations

Senior Linux Systems Engineer – Infrastructure & Operations

Schedule: Full-time; workday must begin between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time
Customer Environment: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Background Requirement: Must be able to complete the background investigation and suitability requirements for a U.S. Government Public Trust position and obtain and maintain required Government credentials, including a PIV card.

Position Overview
Nationwide IT Services , NIS, is seeking a hands-on Linux Systems Engineer to support mission-critical scientific systems and infrastructure for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
We are looking for someone who enjoys figuring out why complex systems are not working . This position is centered on Linux systems administration and technical operations, but the environment crosses applications, databases, networking, automation, monitoring, security, and messaging systems.

The right person does not need to be an expert in every technology in the environment. They do need to be comfortable taking ownership of a technical problem, investigating it across multiple layers, identifying the root cause, and either resolving the issue or providing enough technical information to get it to the right person for resolution.

This is not a traditional CI/CD-focused DevOps position. While DevOps tools and practices are part of the environment, success in this role depends more heavily on strong Linux fundamentals, technical curiosity, troubleshooting ability, and understanding how systems interact.

What You Will Do
- Administer, maintain, troubleshoot, and support Linux-based production, development, test, and supporting infrastructure.

- Investigate system and application problems through logs, configuration, monitoring data, network behavior, application code, database activity, and other available evidence.

- Perform root-cause analysis of technical issues and drive problems toward resolution.

- Determine when an issue can be resolved directly and when it should be escalated or routed to software developers, network engineers, security personnel, or other technical specialists.

- Perform Linux system maintenance, patching, configuration, software installation, service management, performance troubleshooting, and operational support.

- Support system security and hardening activities, including vulnerability remediation, access controls, host firewalls, security configuration, and compliance-related changes.

- Use and maintain automation and configuration-management capabilities supporting the environment.

- Work with monitoring systems to understand system health, investigate alerts, determine what should be monitored, and create or modify monitoring checks as needed.

- Support relational databases at an operational level, including installation and configuration, connectivity, access, basic SQL queries, and troubleshooting.

- Support messaging and event-driven infrastructure used to move information between systems and applications.

- Read application and automation code as part of troubleshooting. Trace program logic, identify relevant functions or processes, test components where appropriate, and communicate findings to developers.

- Develop or modify scripts and lightweight automation to support administration, troubleshooting, monitoring, and operational activities.

- Troubleshoot connectivity and system communication issues using a practical understanding of networking fundamentals.

- Work with technical staff across systems, software development, networking, security, and scientific operations to resolve issues that cross traditional technology boundaries.

- Document technical findings, configurations, troubleshooting steps, and operational procedures.

Required Qualifications
- Strong hands-on Linux systems administration experience, preferably in enterprise or production environments.

- Demonstrated ability to independently troubleshoot complex technical problems a