System Administrator (RHEL) - W2 ONLY

***Candidates must be local to Chicago, IL or Owings Mills, MD or Joliet, IL

***OPT-EAD/C2C candidates are not eligible to submit for this role.

***This is strictly a W2 Position.

Title: Systems Administrator - RHEL Clustering and automation

Terms Of Employment

W2 Contract, 5 months (21 weeks) with a high possibility of extension.

This position is hybrid (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday onsite).

The office is located in Chicago, IL (Top Priority), Joliet, IL, or Owings Mills, MD.

Overview

Our client is seeking a Senior System Administrator with strong technical project management capabilities to lead critical, high-impact enterprise data initiatives. This role offers an exceptional opportunity to drive complex infrastructure improvements while collaborating broadly across an enterprise Fortune 500 environment. You will be the technical lead responsible for guiding NFS storage migrations for Unit Systems - EPS Stabilization, acting as the vital link between engineering execution and application deployment.

The scope of this position involves managing and coordinating large-scale migrations with approximately 200 distinct application teams. You will discuss highly technical migration options and paths with these teams, ensure alignment, and execute the data migrations according to aggressive timelines. Additionally, you will provide ongoing hands-on administration, monitoring, and patch automation to maintain the high availability and security of the Linux and VMware infrastructure.

Responsibilities

Act as a technical project manager to guide, coordinate, and complete NFS storage migrations while consulting with ~200 application teams regarding technical deployment options.

Install, configure, maintain, and manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux (versions 6, 7, 8, 9) and Oracle Enterprise Linux servers from both a hardware and operating system perspective.

Manage and monitor VMware vSphere hypervisor platforms to host servers in a virtualized, highly available environment.

Refine, optimize, and automate regular IT processes using Ansible playbooks and custom scripting to increase resource efficiency.

Plan, coordinate, communicate, and implement routine security patching activities and infrastructure upgrades for Linux server platforms.

Configure server processes, manage access control, maintain accurate CMDB inventory information, and support the production release management system for planned IT changes.

Assist in the physical racking and stacking of servers in the datacenter, utilizing server lifts as needed to lift up to 25 lbs with assistance.

Participate in a 24x7 on-call rotational schedule and work extended hours or modified schedules for emergency or planned after-hours maintenance.

Required Skills & Experience

Bachelor s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related concentration minimum.

At least 6 8 years of professional System Administration experience working in a large-scale volume environment.

Proven experience supporting Fortune 500 financial companies or similar large-scale corporate enterprise commercial environments (non-Government/non-Transit authority profiles).

Senior-level expert proficiency in Unix/Linux system administration, specifically Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Oracle Linux (OEL).

Strong storage administration skills (ZFS, LVM, or Veritas) combined with experience supporting Red Hat PCS clustering.

Practical experience using Ansible, particularly for supporting build and patch automation across RHEL and OEL platforms.

Self-starter with a results-oriented mindset capable of driving assigned initiatives through to completion with minimal oversight.

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to translate highly technical concepts into accessible, non-technical terminology for application teams.

Proven ability to lead technical discussions among peers, direct troubleshooting sessions to rapid resolution, and take constructive direction from Team Leads and Managers.

Preferred Skills & Experience

Ability to create original, robust scripts or programs for system administration in Python, Bourne shell, Perl, or Java.

Experience working with alternative OS clustering platforms such as Veritas Infoscale or Oracle Clusterware.

Prior exposure to Oracle Exadata hardware, Solaris operating systems, or Zerto replication software.

Experience administrating virtual servers within public cloud environments, specifically Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

Relevant active certifications such as Red Hat Certified System Administrator/Engineer (RHCSA/RHCE), VMware Certified Professional (VCP), Azure Administrator, or Oracle Cloud Administrator.