Senior System Engineer (L3-Linux /Solaris)

Senior System Engineer (L3 -Linux / Solaris)

• Location: Irvine, California
• Hybrid 3 days in the office
• 12-month contract or could be CTH
• Client : Billion Dollar Managed Service firm

We are seeking an experienced L3 Systems Engineer with expertise in both Linux (RHEL/CentOS) and Oracle Solaris to support mission-critical financial applications. You will serve as the highest escalation point for complex platform issues, drive performance optimization, and lead automation initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as L3 escalation point for complex Linux and Solaris infrastructure issues
• Perform deep-dive root cause analysis (RCA) for system failures and performance issues
• Lead performance tuning and capacity planning for critical systems
• Administer and maintain RHEL/CentOS and Oracle Solaris 10/11 environments
• Develop automation scripts (Shell, Python, Ansible) for provisioning, monitoring, and maintenance
• Manage Solaris Zones, LDOMs, and Linux virtualization (KVM/VMware)
• Configure and manage ZFS, LVM, VxFS file systems
• Execute system patching, upgrades, and security hardening
• Participate in Major Incident bridges and coordinate with vendors (Oracle, Red Hat)
• Mentor L1/L2 engineers and conduct knowledge transfer sessions
• Create and maintain technical documentation, SOPs, and runbooks

Required Skills

Linux (RHEL/CentOS):

• Expert in RHEL 7/8/9 administration, kernel tuning, and troubleshooting
• Strong experience with LVM, ext4, XFS, NFS, systemd
• Proficient in performance analysis (sar, vmstat, iostat, strace)

Solaris (Oracle Solaris 10/11):

• Expert in Solaris administration, SMF, and ZFS
• Strong experience with Solaris Zones, LDOMs
• Proficient in performance analysis (DTrace, mdb, prstat)

Common:

• Expert Shell scripting (Bash/Ksh); proficient in Python
• Experience with Ansible or similar automation tools
• Strong networking skills (TCP/IP, DNS, NFS, NIS)
• Experience with enterprise monitoring tools (Splunk, Grafana, Nagios)
• Solid understanding of ITSM processes (Incident, Problem, Change)

Preferred Qualifications

• RHCE or RHCSA certification
• Oracle Certified Professional Solaris
• Experience with clustering (Solaris Cluster, Veritas, Pacemaker)
• Experience with SAN/NAS storage and enterprise backup solutions
• Banking or financial services domain experience
• ITIL Foundation certification

Education

• Bachelor s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or equivalent

Working Conditions

• Location: Irvine, California (Hybrid)
• On-Call: Participation in 24x7 on-call rotation for critical escalation