Systems Administrator

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Department: NOAA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

At Relative Dynamics we value knowledge as a process rather than knowledge as an answer. Founded in 2011 our goal is to define the new space era by continuously pushing the boundaries of engineering models services and technology development. Visit us ativedynamics.space.

Relative Dynamics is seeking a System Administrator to provide support for the SWFO Antenna Network (SAN) for the NOAA Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) program and the follow-on development to SWFO: SOLAR.

The Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) and SOLAR missions are to provide space weather observations to enable space weather forecasting by NOAA. SWFO and SOLAR will make direct, in-situ, measurements of the solar wind thermal plasma and magnetic field “up-stream” of the Earth. In addition, SWFO and SOLAR will observe the Sun’s corona to detect expulsions of plasma and magnetic field, called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), which may be directed towards the Earth.

The data produced by SWFO will help NOAA provide watches and warnings for space weather events that can disrupt the electrical power grid and communications systems as well as navigation and timing systems like the Global Positioning System (GPS).

The SAN is a global antenna network to continuously receive mission data from the SWFO-L1 observatory, and to support SWFO-L1 observatory operations by providing telemetry, command, and ranging services. The SAN is that part of the GS that provides radio frequency (RF) communications with the SWFO-L1 observatory. It interfaces with the C2 and the SWFO-L1 observatory. The SAN is designed, developed, built, tested, deployed, and exercised during mission rehearsals, and is ready for operations following the launch of the SWFO-L1 spacecraft in September 2025.

The SAN architecture consists of 2 CONUS antenna installations Wallops Island, Virginia (Wallops) and Consolidated Backup Station (CBU) near Fairmont, West Virginia, with OCONUS terrestrial networking based on a commercial services approach. SOLAR will be a follow-on to modify the current SAN to enable the antennas to communicate with additional spacecraft at L1.

You will be responsible for the overall performance, security, and design of all Windows Server 2019 computer systems on the SWFO project.

Perform in-depth server and workstation administration for Windows with continuous implementation of IT security best practices and requirements for:

• server backups
• server maintenance
• Systems security monitoring and remediation
• Demonstrate Experience in servers, storage and network hardware for a virtual environment.
  • All VMware vSphere products, including vCenter, ESXi, and Virtual SAN.
• Administration of the Microsoft Windows Active Directory for SWFO project.
  • Group Policy management in a FIPS-compliant facility
  • Design and implement upgrades, security remediation, routine maintenance, and support.
• Administer support tools, including
  • Windows Print Server
  • RDS
  • DFS and others.

Work closely with other system engineers responsible for networking, UNIX administration, and antenna station devices.

Serve as system administrator for SWFO Lab Environment.

• Maintain lab specific machines.
• Support buildup of new/repaired hardware that is test and then deployed to site.

Perform variety of engineering work in the development of an operable system capable of meeting requirements within imposed constraints schedule.

Perform functional analysis of a system to ensure it meets performance criteria and mission constraints and to feed the analysis results back to the subsystem development teams.

Support regular staff meetings and participate in discussions regarding IT project status updates and resolutions.

Travel is required.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related discipline (Engineering, Network/communications, etc.)
• 6-8 years related experience
• Knowledge and familiarity with:
  • IBM Big Fix and application
  • Dell R-series Hardware and RAID configuration
  • System Administration, Networks and…