Systems Administration Manager

About Bluestaq Limited

Bluestaq starts with our people. We are looking for teammates who THINK strategically, SERVE the mission and LEAD from wherever they stand. If you bring curiosity, ownership and a thirst for delivery, we would like to hear from you.

You will establish and lead Bluestaq's UK systems administration capability supporting our NATO delivery. Initially hands-on, you will help recruit and develop the team, implement proven operating practices and own UK service delivery, incident response and structured handovers with our US team. As the capability grows, the role will move towards team and service leadership while retaining technical accountability.

• Establish and run the UK systems administration capability, including processes, tooling, service controls and escalation paths, using proven Bluestaq practices.
• Recruit, onboard and develop a high-performing team of Linux systems administrators, owning feedback, performance and career development.
• Act as the UK technical authority for systems administration, operational tooling and incident response, remaining hands-on where it matters.
• Own UK operational coverage and structured handovers with the US team, with tested runbooks for uptime, failover and rapid response.
• Maintain security, patching, configuration compliance and audit readiness in partnership with cyber and information technology teams.
• Provide operational support to data providers, data owners, data consumers and internal teams, from access and identity issues through to complex service incidents.
• Represent systems administration in programme reviews and customer discussions, communicating progress, risks and blockers clearly while building a culture of ownership and psychological safety.

Think, Serve, Lead
. You will also bring:

• Strong hands-on experience operating Linux systems in complex, secure production environments.
• Experience with cloud or virtualised infrastructure. AWS experience is valuable, but skills from platforms such as VMware vSphere are transferable.
• Working knowledge of operational automation, scripting, monitoring and infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Experience leading, mentoring or providing technical direction to colleagues. Formal line-management experience expected.
• Sound incident-management discipline, including structured handovers, escalation paths, service restoration and clear operational communication.
• A customer-service mindset and the judgement to resolve issues at the service boundary while managing expectations across technical and non-technical teams.
• A builder's mindset: comfortable establishing a capability in an evolving environment while working within an established engineering framework.

• Right to work in the UK.
• Ability to meet the security requirements set out above.
• Willingness and eligibility to travel up to approximately 10% of the time, including to Bluestaq headquarters in USA and to sites across the UK and Europe.

• Familiarity with NATO structures, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) or other allied defence programmes.
• Experience with Kubernetes or other containerised platforms, Dev Sec Ops , Secure by Design or infrastructure-as-code delivery.
• Experience with database administration or data-platform operations.
• A background in cloud, cyber security or Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance environments.

• Competitive salary based on qualifications, experience and achievements.
• Competitive pension via salary-sacrifice scheme.
• Group income protection and group life assurance.
• 25 days annual leave plus United Kingdom bank holidays.
• Private medical cover and 24/7 remote general practitioner (GP) access for you and your family.
• Professional subscription support and ongoing development.
• Continuous development is expected, not negotiated.

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant. Service leavers and reservists who know watch-keeping, escalation and operating under pressure will find this role speaks their language.

Salary Range (CO): £75,000 GBP - £95,000 GBP

Bluestaq Limited is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, including those returning from career breaks, military service-leavers, and those underrepresented in the defence technology sector. We make recruitment decisions based on merit, in line with the Equality Act 2010.