IT - Medicaid - Senior Linux Administrator

Title

IT - Medicaid - Senior Linux Administrator

Duration

12 Months (Option to extend)

Location

Candidate will work 100% Onsite in Montgomery AL Main Office (No remote work allowed)

Position Overview

• Seeking a Senior Linux Administrator for an on-site contract engagement.
• This role operates, maintains, and secures RedHat, Ubuntu and other Linux systems running both on-prem and in Azure across both Commercial/GCC and Azure Government environments.
• This role sits at the intersection of Linux administration and Azure operations.
• Candidates should be equally comfortable at a Linux shell and working within AzureDevOps, Azure-native security tooling, and containerized workloads.

Key Responsibilities

• System Administration & Maintenance: Administer, configure, troubleshoot, and maintain production and non-production RHEL and Ubuntu Server VMs and physical servers.
• Security Hardening & Compliance: Maintain CIS-aligned hardening on Ubuntu systems, working within the agency's existing security stack, including Azure-native tooling such as Defender for Cloud and Azure Policy.
• Support compliance reporting and remediation using this stack.
• Patching & Lifecycle: Manage patching through Ubuntu Pro (Livepatch and Extended Security Maintenance) and APT, minimizing manual patch orchestration and unplanned downtime.
• Automation & Scripting: Write and maintain automation in Bash and PowerShell to support a mixed Linux and Azure environment.
• Familiarity with implementing Cron jobs and other scheduled automations.
• Azure & DevOps Integration: Familiarity and experience with on-prem Azure DevOps for source control, pipelines, and CI/CD supporting Docker configuration and deployment to a Linux environment.
• Containers & Secrets Management: Support Docker workloads running on standalone Linux VMs (outside of Kubernetes or Azure Container Instance clusters), including integrating containers with Azure Key Vault.
• Experience with using Azure Container Registry, including Push/Pull and vulnerability scanning.
• Identity & Access Management: Maintain and secure SSSD-based identity integration, including sudoers governance and PAM configuration.
• Storage & Filesystem Management: Manage LVM, filesystems (XFS/EXT4), and partition layout, including dedicated mounts such AS /VAR, /TMP, and /var/log/audit, in line with CIS guidance.
• Audit Support: Collaborate with the cybersecurity team to support audit findings, logging through auditd, and ongoing security posture, using the existing security stack and Azure-native tooling as the primary audit trail.

Required Qualifications & Technical Skills

• 8+ years of hands-on Linux administration in enterprise or government environments, with deep expertise in current Ubuntu Server LTS releases.
• Working knowledge of Azure as an operating environment for Linux VMs, including networking, managed identity, and Key Vault integration.
• Experience with Azure DevOps, including pipelines, repositories, and CI/CD workflows involving Linux systems.
• Experience with Docker on Linux, including secrets management approaches for containers running outside of managed clusters.
• Advanced Bash scripting and working PowerShell proficiency for cross-platform automation.
• Understanding of UFW, SSH hardening, AppArmor, and SSL/TLS certificate management.
• Proficiency with SYSTEMD, kernel tuning via /etc/SYSCTL.CONF, PAM, AUDITD, and log rotation.
• Ability to work independently with limited dedicated Linux peer support, as part of a small, cross-functional IT and security team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certifications: Canonical/Ubuntu certifications, CISSP, or CompTIA Security+.
• AZ-900 and/or AZ-104 preferred.
• Healthcare or public sector experience, including state agency IT environments, MARS-E, HIPAA technical safeguards, or CMS security requirements.
• Experience supporting development infrastructure with fast-changing workload requirements.