IT Systems Administrator

JOB SUMMARY

As Apptronik continues to scale its humanoid robotics platform, we are seeking an experienced IT Systems Administrator to own the day-to-day operation of our on-premise Linux infrastructure in Austin, TX. This role is responsible for the health, security, and reliability of the physical servers, storage, networking, and compute environments that engineering teams rely on to design, simulate, train, and validate our robots. You will administer Linux fleets at scale, harden and automate the environment with configuration management and scripting, and partner closely with robotics, ML, and infrastructure engineering teams to keep our build, lab, and data center systems running. The ideal candidate brings deep hands-on Linux expertise, a strong operational mindset, and the ability to balance reliability, security, and velocity in a fast-moving robotics R&D environment.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Administer and maintain a fleet of on-premise Linux servers (Ubuntu, RHEL/Rocky/Alma, Debian) supporting engineering, simulation, training, and lab workloads
• Own server lifecycle management end-to-end: racking, provisioning, imaging, patching, decommissioning, and hardware refresh planning
• Operate and tune on-prem virtualization and container platforms (VMware vSphere, Proxmox, KVM/libvirt, and Docker/Kubernetes on bare metal) for internal workloads
• Design, deploy, and maintain on-premise networking — switches, VLANs, routing, DNS, DHCP, NTP, and firewall rules — in partnership with the network team
• Manage on-prem storage systems including NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, and SAN/NAS arrays, along with the associated snapshot, replication, and backup strategies
• Implement configuration management and infrastructure-as-code using Ansible (preferred), Puppet, Chef, or Salt to ensure consistent, auditable system state across the fleet
• Operate monitoring, logging, and alerting stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki/ELK, Zabbix, or Nagios) and respond to incidents with strong root-cause analysis
• Harden Linux systems and apply security best practices: least-privilege access, SSH key management, SELinux/AppArmor, kernel and package patching, CIS benchmarks
• Administer identity and access for on-prem systems via LDAP, FreeIPA, Kerberos, SSSD, and integration with the corporate identity provider
• Author and maintain automation scripts (Bash, Python) for provisioning, reporting, log analysis, and routine operational tasks
• Plan, test, and document backup and disaster recovery procedures for critical on-prem services; participate in regular restore drills
• Maintain accurate documentation, runbooks, and architecture diagrams for all administered systems; participate in an on-call rotation for production-impacting issues

SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

• 4+ years of hands-on Linux systems administration experience in production environments, with primary expertise on Ubuntu and/or RHEL family distributions
• Strong working knowledge of on-premise infrastructure: racking and cabling, BIOS/firmware, IPMI/iDRAC/iLO, PXE boot, and hardware troubleshooting
• Solid experience with on-prem virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere/ESXi, Proxmox, or KVM/libvirt
• Proficient with configuration management tooling (Ansible preferred; Puppet, Chef, or Salt acceptable) and comfortable applying it to a non-trivial fleet
• Deep familiarity with Linux networking and core network services: DNS (BIND/Unbound), DHCP, NTP/Chrony, TCP/IP, VLANs, routing, and firewalling with iptables/nftables/firewalld
• Experience administering on-prem storage and filesystems: NFS, SMB/CIFS, LVM, ZFS or ext4/XFS, RAID, and SAN/NAS arrays
• Strong scripting skills in Bash and Python for automation, monitoring, and operational tooling
• Working knowledge of Linux security fundamentals: SSH hardening, sudo policy, SELinux/AppArmor, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability and patch management
• Experience operating monitoring and observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Zabbix, Nagios, ELK/Loki) and using them to drive availability and capacity decisions
• Familiarity with backup and DR tooling for on-prem environments (e.g., Bacula, BorgBackup, Veeam, rsync-based pipelines, or commercial equivalents)
• Excellent troubleshooting and incident-response skills, with the discipline to write up clear post-incident analyses
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to work cross-functionally with robotics, ML, and infrastructure engineering teams
• NICE TO HAVE
  • Experience supporting compute clusters, GPU fleets, or build farms for ML, simulation, or CI workloads
  • Hands-on experience with Kubernetes on bare metal (kubeadm, k3s, RKE2, or similar)
  • Exposure to robotics, hardware engineering, or manufacturing IT environments
  • Red Hat (RHCSA/RHCE), LFCS/LFCE, or comparable Linux certifications
  • Experience integrating on-prem Linux systems with cloud environments (GCP, AWS, or Azure) for hybrid workflows
  • Exposure to ISO 27001, SOC 2, or other compliance frameworks as they apply to IT infrastructure

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

• 4+ years of relevant Linux systems administration experience required; Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field preferred
• Relevant Linux certifications (RHCSA, RHCE, LFCS, LFCE) are strongly preferred

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Frequent on-site work in the server room and lab, including racking, cabling, and hands-on hardware tasks
• Must be able to lift up to 40 pounds (server and networking equipment) at times
• Vision to read printed materials, equipment labels, and a computer screen
• Hearing and speech to communicate, including in noisy data center / lab environments