Manager Linux Operations

NO SPONSORSHIP - NO OPT

Manager, Linux Operations

SALARY: $130k - $170k plus 15% bonus

LOCATION: CHICAGO, IL

Hybrid 3 days onsite

We are seeking a seasoned Linux Operations Manager to lead and oversee our Linux infrastructure operations team. This role is responsible for ensuring the stability, performance, and security of all Linux-based systems and services, managing day-to-day operations, and driving strategic initiatives to optimize infrastructure performance and reliability.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Manage and mentor a team of Linux administrators, providing technical leadership and guidance.
2. Oversee the daily operations and maintenance of Linux servers (on-prem and cloud).
3. Develop and implement strategies for monitoring, performance tuning, and capacity planning.
4. Ensure system availability, uptime, and business continuity through best practices and incident management.
5. Lead root cause analysis of critical issues and implement preventive measures.
6. Manage patch management, system upgrades, and configuration management (e.g., Ansible, Puppet).
7. Develop and maintain operational documentation, policies, and standard operating procedures.
8. Collaborate with DevOps, security, and network teams to align infrastructure goals.
9. Evaluate and recommend new tools, technologies, and methodologies to support business needs.
10. Ensure compliance with security policies and data protection standards.
11. Participate in budgeting, resource planning, and vendor management as needed.

Qualifications:

1. Deep understanding of Linux (Red Hat) operating systems and internals.
2. Strong experience with virtualization (e.g., VMware, KVM), cloud platforms (AWS, Azure), and containerization (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
3. Hands-on experience with infrastructure automation and configuration management tools.
4. Solid understanding of networking concepts, security best practices, and monitoring systems.
5. Proven ability to manage large-scale production environments and lead teams through incident response and recovery.
6. Excellent communication, leadership, and organizational skills.
7. [Preferred] Linux certifications (e.g., RHCE)
8. [Preferred] Experience with ITIL frameworks and service management tools.
9. [Preferred] Background in supporting CI/CD pipelines and agile workflows.

Technical Skills:

1. Linux Experience: Provide advanced system administration, operational support and problem resolution for a large complex Linux computing environment, including both virtualized and physical servers. Create and Patch AMIs, perform pull requests, write Automation code using tools such as Ansible, Terraform, etc.
2. Cloud Experience - Strong knowledge of secure cloud infrastructure design and components, such as: servers, operating systems, networks, IAM, and storage. Cloud Certifications, specifically AWS Cloud certification would be preferred.
3. Infra Automation - Expert knowledge in core automation development toolchain including Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins, Git, Harness.
4. CICD Experience - Mastery of CICD best practices in a large organization. (GitOps/DevOps, secure builds, secure code promotion, deployments (Harness\Argo), automated testing (app and infra), integration of policy frameworks, cost-optimization, SLSA best practices)
5. Resilient Design - Experience with architecting, implementing and maintaining highly available mission critical environments for 24/7 availability.
6. Communication Skills - Great communication skills, especially with working with diverse and distributed teams
7. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
8. Deliver on commitments - Ability to work independently as well as lead a team to solve complex problems in a timely manner.

Education and/or Experience:

1. Bachelor s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or related field (or equivalent experience).
2. 7+ years of experience in Linux systems administration
3. 2 years in a leadership or managerial role.