Senior Systems Administrator
New Malden - 3 days per week onsite
£55,000 - £70,000 DOE
Clearance: SC (eligible for DV)
The Opportunity:
This is more than just a job; it’s a mission.
What is a Senior System Administrator?
Senior System Administrators support and administer infrastructure deployments. The role will include eliciting infrastructure requirements and designing and implementing solutions using Infrastructure as Code and Automation technologies. It also includes the coaching and mentoring of more junior engineers in these processes, to help the team grow in confidence and experience.
Responsibilities
Senior System Administrators work as part of a wider team assigned to support the business delivery functions. You will be expected to expand your own skillset into relevant technologies, building proficiency in a number of key areas and following through by delivering good quality documentation and solutions to the customer.
It is important that Senior System Administrators are able to take on challenging tasking, breaking down complex tasks into understandable steps, maintaining good communication with the rest of the team and escalating when required. Senior Engineers will also need to be able to identify and delegate some tasking to more junior engineers where appropriate. Including coaching and mentoring and running demonstrations or training sessions for other engineers.
Senior System Administrators are expected to keep abreast of new technologies within the key
technology areas, tracking trends in tools, techniques and procedures. They are expected to identify
potential research and development opportunities and assist in drafting business cases for potential new projects.
Key responsibilities of the role include:
• Work with Lead and Principal Engineers to produce System Design Documents;
• Provide excellent customer service to internal customers and manage customer service tickets in co-ordination with tasking and service delivery managers;
• Assist in the management of IT assets through the procurement to destruction life cycle.
• Take responsibility for the implementation of technical solutions, working in multi-discipline teams to ensure appropriate levels of documentation and testing are undertaken prior to completion of any
tasking. Coaching and mentoring more junior engineers in the tools, techniques and procedures being used to complete the task;
• Undertake documentation reviews of other engineers’ work, ensuring documentation is of good quality and aligns to the standards set by the project;
• Perform Unit Tests on Automation and Infrastructure as Code definitions, generating test reports and raising bugs where required;
• Perform Integration and/or Regression testing of infrastructure, generating test reports and raising bugs where required;
• Take responsibility for ensuring tasks are completed on schedule and within budget;
• Contribute to the production of User Centric Documentation, such as Concept of Operations (CONOPS), Security Operating Procedures (SyOPs), Support Guides and User Guides;
• Investigate issues, problems and defects, reporting to the Tasking Manager to ensure relevant oversight before undertaking bug fixes;
• Assist with the maintenance of the project development environments where appropriate
Skills Overview
Typical Experience and/or Qualifications:
Senior System Administrators have a variety of skills and will often need to adapt to meet the needs of the project. This provides some of the typical skills that a Senior System Administrator may have but it by no means exhaustive
• Bachelor’s Degree in a Computer Science based subject, higher ranking qualification or equivalent
relevant experience;
• Work with Lead/Principal engineers, team colleagues and relevant Security/IA teams to ensure compliance in the areas of:
• Change Management;
• Asset Management;
• Patching and Vulnerability Management;
• System Security Compliance;
• ITIL based Service Management & Support in line with defined processes and SLAs
• Experience of administration of Windows Server Operating Systems within large corporate
environments, from Windows Server 2016 onwards;
• Experience of administering Virtualised or Containerised systems in VMWare or Docker , including
Kubernetes;
• Experience of troubleshooting IPv4 Networking, including Subnetting and Routing;
• Experience of working within complex or high security environments.
In addition the following skills are highly desirable but not essential:
• Experience of administration of Linux Operating Systems within large corporate environments,
including CentOS and Ubuntu;
• Experience of automating tasks using Ansible, Bash, PowerShell, Puppet, Python or Terraform;
• Experience of configuration Control using Git or Subversion;
• Experience of administration of Public Cloud systems including Amazon Web Services or Azure;
• Knowledge of Scrum or SAFE based Agile Delivery;
If you don’t meet every single requirement, we still encourage you to apply. You might be exactly who we’re looking for – either for this role or another opportunity at Northrop Grumman UK.
Security Clearance
Due to the nature of our work, you must be a UK citizen and able to gain and maintain the required UK Government security clearance. Our recruitment team will guide you through the process: talentenquiries@uk.ngc.com
Benefits
Flexible working options, including hybrid arrangements and compressed fortnights (every other Friday off)
Private healthcare, dental, life assurance, and pension
Flexible benefits package including critical illness cover and health cash plan
Holiday buy/sell scheme
Career development programmes
Annual performance incentive programme
Why Join Us?
A Mission to Believe In – Every day we contribute to building a more secure and connected world.
A Place to Belong and Thrive – Every voice matters. Find community and belonging through our Employee Resource Groups and get involved with STEM volunteering events.
Your Career, Your Way – Discover your possible with diverse roles, mentorship, and development opportunities tailored to your ambitions.
Ready to Apply?
Yes – Submit your application online.
Possibly – Reach out to our team for more information: talentenquiries@uk.ngc.com
No – Explore other opportunities with us. We’re growing across the UK.
Northrop Grumman is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce, and encourages individuals from all backgrounds and all abilities to apply and consider becoming a part of our diverse and inclusive workforce.