Linux Systems Administrator

HEAnet – Linux Systems Administrator

HEAnet is Ireland’s National Research and Education Network, providing internet connectivity and ICT shared services across all levels of the Irish education system, reaching in excess of 1,000,000 end users. We connect learners and researchers across all of Ireland to education resources and to fellow national educational and research networks in Europe, and the rest of the world.

HEAnet also provides our client base with support in the procurement of ICT hardware, software and services. The Brokerage Services portfolio covers a wide range of products and services, delivering significant savings for the sector annually.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Linux Systems Administrator to join our Systems Team on a permanent contract basis.

This role is primarily based at our Dublin 1 offices, but we are pleased to offer a flexible remote working arrangement. This allows you to work from home up to three (3) days a week. You will be expected to work at least two (2) days a week in the office, giving you the opportunity to enjoy a balanced and dynamic work environment.

What the Systems Team does

The Systems Team drives the deployment and maintenance of HEAnet’s systems and services. The Teams responsibilities fall into 3 streams:

Core infrastructure: This is a combination of virtual infrastructure, physical servers, and appliances, spread across our datacentres, and now an increasing foothold in containerisation and the Cloud. Essential for smooth operation is the automation and management of these resources.

Internal Services: All the pieces that go on behind the scenes to be able to deliver services, such as monitoring, logging, load balancers, database clusters, storage, authentication, as well as providing tools and services to other internal technical teams.

External Services: All the above help us to provide a diverse range of shared services to IT departments, educators, learners and researchers. Some of our more widely used services include Identity and Access Management (Edugate), Wi-Fi roaming (eduroam), large file transfers, and video hosting services.

What the Linux Systems Administrator does

This role will help support the delivery and maintenance of our Federated Identity Services, and associated internal tooling and infrastructure. You will play an important part in ensuring the reliability, security, and efficiency of these services.

How we do it

Our company values underpin how we do things in HEAnet. We believe in and live by our values and understand they are integral to making HEAnet a great place to work.

            COLLABORATION - EQUALITY & FAIRNESS - FUTURE FOCUSED - POSITIVE IMPACT

For further information about who we are and our core values, see https://www.heanet.ie/who-we-are

What you get from us

We promote a healthy work/life balance, and we take the care of our team members mental health seriously. Work outside of standard hours is rare and agreed in advance.

We value knowledge sharing and communication.  We have frequent team meetings combined with regular 1:1 catch-ups to make sure no one is hitting any roadblocks.

We encourage critical thinking and the exploration of new ideas. We often form cross-team special interest groups for specific topic discussions, both ongoing and for fixed projects.

Our Technology stack, current and in development:

• OS: Ubuntu / Debian / CentOS
• Virtualisation: VMWare NSX-T
• Infrastructure: Physical Datacentres/ AWS / Azure
• Containerisation: Docker Swarm / Kubernetes (RKE)
• Network: Optical (DWDM) / MPLS / IP / ISIS / BGP / VXLAN
• Databases: Percona
• Orchestration & Automation: Ansible / Foreman / Terraform / GIT
• Logging & Monitoring: Elastic (OpenSearch) / Icinga2 / Munin / Cacti

Company Benefits

• Hybrid Working
• Flexible start/finish times
• Health insurance for employees
• Defined contribution pension scheme
• On-going well-being initiatives
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Tax Saver Ticket scheme
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Professional education support
• Comprehensive group and individual training & development initiatives

What we need from you

Required Technical Skills:

• Linux Administration: Strong foundational knowledge in Linux system administration (e.g., CentOS, Ubuntu), including file systems, configuration management, and networking
• Basic Scripting & Troubleshooting: Foundational skills in scripting (Phyton, Bash) and system troubleshooting

Desired Technical Skills:

• Container Infrastructure: Exposure to container maintenance and deployment (e.g., Docker, Swarm)
• Automation & Configuration Management: Exposure to automation and configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet or Chef

Required Skills:

• Communication & Collaboration:
  • Clear written and verbal communication skills with the ability to create basic documentation
  • Ability to work well in a team environment, supporting and learning from Senior team members
  • Ability to explain technical issues to non-technical users with guidance
• Continuous Improvement: Eagerness to learn new skills, improve technical knowledge and support process enhancements
• Self-Motivated Learner: Enthusiastic about growing in the role and expanding technical skills
• Detail-oriented: Focused on delivering accurate and quality work
• Adaptable: Willingness to embrace new challenges and tasks

Bonus points:

We don’t expect you to have experience in all of the following areas, but it would be a plus if you do:

• Shibboleth/SAML Exposure: Experience or knowledge of working with IdP and SP setup. Familiarity with troubleshooting and maintaining SAML services.
• Security Awareness: Basic understanding of security best practices in system administration.
• DevOps & CI/CD Exposure: Familiarity with DevOps practices and tools like CI/CD pipelines.
• Cloud Platform Exposure: Experience or knowledge of working with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure).
• Monitoring and Performance Tuning: Exposure to system monitoring and performance tuning

More important information

At HEAnet we celebrate diversity and understand how important it is to our ongoing success.  We would like to hear from candidates who are great at what they do and whose values align with ours.

If you need any adjustments made to the application or selection process so you can do your best, please let us know.

HEAnet are delighted to be awarded with the Ibec Keep Well Mark. We take pride in developing, maintaining and enhancing our culture of wellbeing and continue to focus on this in 2025 and beyond.