Senior System Administrator

Suffolk University is a private, urban university located in the heart of downtown Boston. Our college green is the Boston Common and we are steps from dozens of historic sites including the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, City Hall and the Massachusetts State House. We have no real boundaries to our campus—Boston and Suffolk blend together.

Suffolk has been committed to creating an exceptional learning experience since 1906. Our vision is to be recognized as a dynamic institution that fosters engaged learning, rigorous scholarship, innovative thinking, and community collaboration across disciplines. We will ensure that Suffolk graduates are versatile and prepared for modern society and the new world market. We will provide rich curricula, experiential learning opportunities and professional mentoring through increased collaboration with alumni and community partners. We will recruit, mentor, and support a diverse faculty of teacher-scholars who are passionately committed to preparing our students to be leaders in the global community. We will inspire investment in a Suffolk community that is built on ethical, forward-thinking leadership, teamwork, and cooperation.

We compete for the best talent. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse community. We are actively seeking applicants from groups that might be under-represented because of race/color, gender, religion, real or perceived disability, national origin or LGBTQ status. As part of our commitment we encourage you to complete the demographic portion of the application in addition to submitting your cover letter and resume/CV as it will assist us in targeting our recruitment efforts.

Please note that Suffolk University conducts background checks as a condition of employment.

We are also committed to the well-being of our employees. Our terrific benefits package for benefits-eligible positions include, but are not limited to:

• Generous paid time-off programs and commitment to work-life balance
• Tuition free course benefits in the College of Arts and Sciences and in the Sawyer Business School for employees with additional tuition benefits for spouses, domestic partners, and children
• Top-notch well-being care available through Harvard Pilgrim Medical/Delta Dental and a Flexible Spending Account
• Pre-tax commuter benefit
• Employee Assistance Program that provides employees and their family members with initial assessment, referrals and short-term counseling for personal and work challenges
• Discounted home and auto insurance

Description

Suffolk University Information Technology Services Infrastructure group is seeking a highly motivated Senior System Administrator with significant experience managing, deploying and maintaining Servers, Storage, and Virtualization technologies. The candidate will be responsible for troubleshooting system issues, suggest enhancements to improve system performance as well as writing system scripts for daily administration and supporting documentation to automate repeatable tasks. Install new software releases, system upgrades, evaluate and install patches and resolve software and hardware related problems.

Successful candidate will also be tasked with performing system backups and recovery as well as maintaining data files and monitors system configuration to ensure data integrity. The Senior System Administrator will assist with securing and hardening infrastructure technologies and create/maintain system procedural and technical documentation.

Responsible for applying technology and designing system architectures to align with organizational strategic business objectives. This position will be responsible for the optimal performance of the University’s technical infrastructure and delivery of services to our users. Consults with project managers, analysts, programmers, administrators, and other IT professionals on issues such as system design, limitations and capabilities, and system performance requirements. Researches new technologies and applies new ideas to enterprise business needs. Performs post-mortem problem investigations to identify and correct inconsistencies and problems with operating system and application installations.

Principal Responsibilities:


• Assumes management responsibility for systems, including, but not limited to, Windows, AIX, and Linux platforms housing various applications.
• Provision and maintain Windows and Linux servers for production/test/development use. Coordinate with the stakeholders in the configuration and deployment of required servers.
• Manage the use of Linux/Unix based monitoring tools, such as Nagios and Nmon, and patch management and update tools such as yum, apt and dnf.
• Perform standard administration tasks including monitoring, installations/upgrades of the operating system and applicable application software.
• Manage and update the AIX NIM (Network Install Manager) server. Use of NIM server to deploy updates to AIX lpars.
• Manage and make Use of IBM HMC to manage the lpars.
• Troubleshoot, investigate and resolve operating system issues.
• Create procedures for technical processes.
• Document all production changes in the ServiceNow change management module.
• Manage file transfer integrations to and from remote servers. For example, the secure transmission of sensitive information to the bank by sftp and public key authentication.
• Perform and complete requests for services. (E.g. backups/restores, patch application, user account maintenance, etc.)
• Monitor and maintain hardware components, working with the vendor for support when necessary.
• Perform proactive measures, such as system tuning, to maintain a stable, efficient allocation of resources.
• Utilize basic project management skills to assist in the development of plans/timelines for projects. Provide status reports and exchange relevant information with management and other member of the ITS staff.
• Work closely with the network team to maintain/improve/troubleshoot various components when needed.
• Work closely with the Senior Enterprise System Admin(ERP)/DBA to ensure that the Colleague environments maintains 100% uptime.
• Work closely with and support the ITS Applications team on data flow to external applications.
• In coordination with other ITS Infrastructure team members, monitor Data Center environment (HVAC and Power) and Coordinate with facilities services and vendors to ensure the Data Center maintains reasonably optimal conditions.
• Effectively uses on-line monitoring tools such as Schneider APC interfaces such StructureWare and Symmetra.


Requirements:


• Bachelors’ Degree in Computer Science and/or equivalent combination of experience.
• 5+ years of proven knowledge working with server and storage hardware, software, including VMware, HP Server, EMC VNX, ExtremeIO, and PURE Storage Systems, AIX, Windows, Linux servers.
• 5+ years’ experience with VMware / Microsoft Server related experience or equivalency.
• Significant and current experience administering AIX. Must have the ability to perform the IBM/AIX tasks previously outlined in the responsibilities. Our current version of AIX Version is 7.2 and the current platform is Power 9 running on an IBM e950 in the primary datacenter and Power7 on an IBM p770 at the DR Site.
• Experience writing shell scripting in ksh and bash.
• Knowledge of various webserver packages such as Apache and Tomcat, and the software used by webservers.
• Knowledge of the various monitoring tools such as Nagios and IBM’s nmon, as well as load testing tools such as Apache JMeter, NewRelic, Ipswitch’s IMacro.
• Knowledge of the principals of ITIL framework and the lifecycle stages.
• A desire to expand and improve professional/technical knowledge and competency. This can be demonstrated by belonging to and participating in professional organizations, attending seminars, attending classes or tutorials, researching technical documents etc.
• Knowledge of networking concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, etc.).
• Knowledge of database management systems such as MySQL, and PostGress.
• Ability to work independently and proactively.
• Demonstrated analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Some on-call responsibilities for the position are expected and required, anticipated frequency will depend on the situation.


Suffolk University does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, genetic information, or status as a veteran in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs, activities, or employment. Suffolk University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. The University is dedicated to the goal of building a diverse and inclusive faculty and staff that reflect the broad range of human experience who contribute to the robust exchange of ideas on campus, and who are committed to teaching and working in a diverse environment. We strongly encourage applications from groups historically marginalized or underrepresented because of race/color, gender, religious creed, disability, national origin, veteran status or LGBTQ status. Suffolk University is especially interested in candidates who, through their training, service and experience, will contribute to the diversity and excellence of the University community.