Senior Linux Systems Engineer

This position is designated as a hybrid role based out of our headquarters near Portland, Oregon. The current expectation is for employees to work onsite four days per week, subject to change based on business needs. This in‑office requirement may be adjusted at the discretion of the company.

At Columbia, we’re as passionate about the outdoors as you are. While our gear is available worldwide, we’re proud to be based in the Pacific Northwest, where natural wonders are our playground. Every product we make and every task we undertake is inspired by the famous words of our founder Gert Boyle: “It’s perfect. Now make it better.”

Technology is central to everything we do. Columbia Sportswear’s Digital Technology (CDT) group supports four global brands, a worldwide supply chain, and 500+ geographically dispersed stores—powering in‑store, mobile, and data platforms in a complex, always‑on environment.

As a Senior Linux Systems Engineer, you’ll lead reliability and performance for our Linux estate across both on‑prem and cloud platforms, partnering with infrastructure and application teams to design standards, automate operations, and ensure secure, resilient services at global scale.

• Raise reliability at scale:
  Own SLOs for critical Linux services across on‑prem and cloud; drive availability, performance, and cost‑efficient operations for a global footprint.
• Standardize and automate:
  Define hardened build standards and use automation/IaC (e.g., Ansible, Terraform) to reduce toil, accelerate changes, and improve consistency.
• Ship secure, current platforms:
  Lead patching compliance, vulnerability remediation, and configuration management across Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments.
• Protect the business:
  Ensure backup and recovery readiness (e.g., Commvault) and validate restore procedures for mission‑critical workloads.
• Design for hybrid:
  Collaborate on architectures spanning VMware, Windows interop, and public cloud (Azure/AWS); document trade‑offs and recommended patterns.
• Accelerate delivery:
  Partner with app teams to troubleshoot complex issues, streamline deployments/upgrades, and improve MTTR through high‑quality runbooks.
• Support retail ERP:
  Apply Linux expertise to enterprise systems (SAP), balancing 24/7 retail demands with change control and operational excellence.
• Lead when it counts:
  Participate in the on‑call rotation for Priority 1/2 events; drive incident response, post‑incident reviews, and preventive actions.

• A systems thinker who balances reliability, security, and speed in a hybrid environment.
• An automator who prefers pipelines and code over manual steps.
• A strong collaborator and communicator who translates technical detail into clear guidance for partners.
• Documentation‑first: you create maintainable standards, runbooks, and diagrams that teams actually use.

• Deep experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Linux systems administration at scale.
• Hands‑on with automation frameworks (Ansible, Puppet, Chef) and infrastructure‑as‑code (e.g., Terraform; containers like Docker).
• Practical knowledge of VMware, Windows interoperability, and hybrid cloud deployments (Azure/AWS).
• Backup and recovery expertise (e.g., Commvault) supporting large, distributed environments (think 2000+ servers).
• Experience supporting enterprise platforms (e.g., SAP) and operating in an on‑call rotation within a 24/7 retail context.

This job description is not meant to be an all‑inclusive list of duties and responsibilities, but constitutes a general definition of the position's scope and function in the company.

Columbia Sportswear Company is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. Columbia Sportswear is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities. https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). Your Rights
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