Linux Server Engineer Senior

ITS supports the University of Michigan faculty, researchers, staff, and students by creating cohesive digital experiences and enabling university-wide innovations. We value proactive problem-solving, a sense of urgency, and a collaborative, inclusive work environment. Our mission is to be trusted enablers of technology for the U-M community. For more information, visit (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). .

Information and Technology Services (ITS) is seeking a Linux Server Engineer Senior to join the Systems Operations group. In this role, your primary focus will be engineering and supporting the core Linux infrastructure at ITS-including server platforms and critical systems-while collaborating closely with the ITS Container Service team. You will leverage high degrees of automation and integrate with modern cloud-native systems.

This position reports to the Linux Infrastructure Engineering Manager.

• Provide daily support and administration for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, and other enterprise Linux distributions across both on-premise and cloud platforms
• Develop, automate, and document procedures to install, patch, configure, manage, and maintain Linux operating systems using configuration management tools
• Research, diagnose, and resolve complex technical incidents, performing root-cause analysis (RCA) and implementing long-term remediations
• Collaborate with project teams and system architects to design and build scalable, secure infrastructure aligned with organizational standards and vendor requirements
• Proactively monitor system performance, manage capacity planning, and conduct security hardening and vulnerability remediation
• Support disaster recovery planning, backup operations, and system restoration processes to ensure continuous availability
• Utilize analytical and creative problem-solving skills to protect systems, enforce security compliance, and ensure overall infrastructure stability
• Demonstrate quality service, operational accountability, and effective technical leadership in resolving requests and mentoring junior team members

• Education:
  
  Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, business computing, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education, certifications, and experience
• Experience:
  
  Minimum of five years of progressive experience in a related role, with a focus on troubleshooting, analyzing, and independently supporting enterprise Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Ubuntu, and other Linux distributions across on-premise and cloud environments
• Automation & Scripting:
  Demonstrated experience writing, debugging, and maintaining Python or Bash scripts to automate administrative tasks, deployments, and operational workflows
• Technical & Diagnostic
  
  Skills:
  
  Advanced ability to leverage administrative tools for root-cause analysis, log analysis, performance monitoring, and service restoration (including backup, recovery, and failover operations)
• Networking, Storage & Security:
  Sound foundational knowledge of enterprise storage management (LVM, NFS), core network services (DNS, TCP/IP, SSH), and OS hardening/security standards
• Leadership &
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Demonstrated ability to manage complex technical projects, maintain awareness of emerging industry best practices, and effectively mentor team members or influence technical decisions through a consensus-building approach

• Automation & Infrastructure as Code:
  Hands-on experience developing and maintaining playbook/configuration repositories using automation tools such as Ansible, Terraform, Puppet, Chef, or Salt
• Containers & Kubernetes Systems:
  Experience supporting Linux host OS nodes, container runtimes (e.g., Docker, Podman, containerd), or Kubernetes and container orchestration platforms
• Cloud Infrastructure:
  Practical experience architecting, deploying, and managing Linux workloads within cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform)
• Automated OS Provisioning:
  Experience implementing automated operating system deployment and image creation tools (e.g., Kickstart, Cloud-init, Packer)
• Observability & Log Analytics:
  Familiarity with enterprise monitoring and log analytics tools such as Splunk, Elastic Stack (ELK), Prometheus, or Grafana
• Virtualization:
  Experience configuring and managing virtual machines within VMware vSphere or hyperconverged infrastructure environments
• Hardware & Data Center Operations:
  Experience configuring, maintaining, and troubleshooting physical…