Linux Systems Engineer Journey

Minimum Pay Rate: $111,092.80 

Maximum Pay Rate: $147,201.60 

Civil Service Status: Civil Service 

Apply by Date: 11/20/2024 

Posting Type: Open 

 

SMUD has been serving the Sacramento region for over 70 years and provides over 1.5 million customers with reliable electricity at affordable rates. SMUD's IT Infrastructure Platform Services department is hiring for a Linux Systems Engineer for its Compute Platform Engineering team. The team is responsible for architecting, deploying and managing compute services for enterprise applications.

 

As member of the Compute Platform Engineering team, the Linux Systems Engineer position plays a key lead role and will help deliver innovative compute solutions to our customers and business partners. This specialist will cover administrative duties such as architecting, provisioning, monitoring, upgrading, and capacity planning for the SMUD's enterprise Linux environment, server hardware, and server virtualization technology. The incumbent will also expend to cover additional cloud technologies such as public cloud administration and cloud native platform administration.

 

We are posting this opportunity for the Linux Systems Engineer Journey along with our Linux Systems Engineer Entry level position. The department will be filling one position at either of those levels. If you are interested in the Linux Systems Engineer Entry position you will need to apply to that position separately.

 

Official SMUD classification: Enterprise Technology Infrastructure Specialist Journey

Purpose

To perform technical system support and maintenance for SMUD's corporate-level distributed computing infrastructure in the areas of system design, development, installation, operation, maintenance and support to ensure SMUD's use of technology supports its current and future business practices.

Nature and Scope

This classification is comprised of two levels: Level "E" is the entry-level where incumbents are provided formal training and/or certification for progression to the journey-level of the classification. The incumbent is promoted/progressed to the journey level "J" upon successful completion of all training and/or certification requirements for the classification. Incumbents hired at the entry-level are required to successfully progress to the journey-level within 18 to 60 months, depending on the length of the training and/or certification program. If an employee is unsuccessful with progressing to the journey-level, they will return to last class held or separate from SMUD.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Serves on multi-departmental networking computer projects by planning, designing, developing, implementing and maintaining a network infrastructure including backup and recovery, physical and logical network design, network topology, network architecture, security architecture and corporate server complex architecture; assisting in identifying and defining corporate level network computing projects; defining functional system requirements and specifications; developing technical standards and procedures; developing the system design; developing system and user acceptance tests; installing and integrating systems; performing post-implementation reviews; and providing technical consultation and solutions for technical issues. To support the Districts strategic information technology goals and direction while ensuring an efficient, stable and secure network infrastructure is available to all District business units.
• Analyzes the need for new hardware and software systems, upgrades and modifications by evaluating the effectiveness of the current systems; analyzing networking operating system software and related hardware performance and capacity utilizing software and hardware tools; conducting feasibility studies; defining user and system requirements; preparing procurement and bid documents; designing modifications; addressing integration issues; and implementing new software/ modifications. To ensure the Districts distributed computing environment meets and serves the Districts current and future business needs.
• Supports the overall effectiveness of the use of the network infrastructure by offering technical expertise and leadership on network systems; providing network consultation; solving a variety of complex networking design, operational and maintenance problems using unconventional methods; troubleshooting user obstacles; and providing 24-hour on call support to departments. To ensure the Districts network systems are readily available and accessible to system users.
• Assists in planning, reviewing and conducting work activities and researching required project information associated with department internal/external projects in accordance with established task objectives and schedule as outlined in the project plan/contract. To support the overall achievement and completion of department projects.
• Performs related duties as required.

Required Education

• High School diploma or equivalent

Required Experience Qualifications

Three or more (3+) years of progressively responsible relevant work experience in the areas of system planning, design, development, test, implementation, maintenance in a network based computing environment including utilizing network topologies and architectures for multi-vendor, multi-protocol networks.

Required Licenses/Certificates

Certificates in information technology and/or a products/technology related field from education institutions or vendor certified programs.

Knowledge Of

Methods and techniques for training staff; techniques and concepts related to teamwork; methods and techniques for report preparation and writing; characteristics and operational needs of various organizational units; concepts and principles related to implementing technology solutions; techniques and practices for problem research and resolution; techniques and practices for resolving complex technical issues; concepts of network design and configuration and operation; fundamentals of networking hardware and software; standards for application development; concepts of centralized and distributed computing; concepts and operation of multi-user, multitasking operating systems; familiarity with network system hardware including Routers, Bridges, Switches, Gateways and Hubs; network operating systems including Microsoft Windows NT and/or Unix; fundamentals of the system development life cycles; concepts of information processing hardware, software and data communication; methods and techniques for system documentation; policies, procedure and standards related to business applications; concepts of application development and integration; principles of statistics; concepts of data retrieval and reporting; techniques for data modeling and administration; concepts of network protocols including TCP/IP, NetBIOS/NetBEUI and topologies including Ethernet; practices of software/hardware troubleshooting tools such as sniffers, RMON, flukes, HP Openview, Netview and SNMP; concepts of relational and network data base management.

Skills To

Identify and assess training needs for staff; interpret policies, procedures, system requirements and/or other special agreements; compile and prepare technical, statistical and/or analytical reports; analyze complex issues and develop/implement resolution alter- natives; analyze procedures/systems and develop/implement operational improvements using information technology systems software, tools and processes; analyze situations, documents and data for conformance to established policy and procedures; interpret, analyze and apply pertinent policies, procedures, regulations and requirements related to information technology projects; utilize logic and analysis to identify the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches; read and interpret plans, diagrams specifications, program languages and contracts; schedule and prioritize own work assignments to meet expected timeframes; serve as reference person for other employees; plan, develop and implement automated solutions for business functions; stay abreast of new IT technology, tools and methods to develop and support business practices; write systems specifications, functional specifications and requirements and documentation; explain complex technical issues to non-technical personnel; work independently with little guidance and/or effectively as part of a team; prepare procurement documents; conduct feasibility studies; lead small projects; safety policies, practices and procedures; standard operating procedures for modern office equipment including a computer and applicable software; English grammar, punctuation and vocabulary standards; utilize a personal computer and/or computer terminal, systems and software relevant to the job; communicate effectively orally and in writing internally/externally; establish and maintain effective working relationships internally/externally.

Desirable Qualifications

• BA/BS degree from an accredited college or university majoring in Computer Science, MIS, or related field or equivalent
• RedHat, Azure, or VMware professional certification
• 3 or more (3+) years of experience in design, implementation, and support of RedHat Enterprise Linux in a VMware or Azure medium to large enterprise environment
• Experience with container platform for deployment, configuration, management, utilizing enterprise orchestration tools
• Experience with x86 server infrastructure, such as Dell PowerFlex
• Infrastructure as Code principles, automation and orchestration tools and automating administrative procedures using scripting languages - Ansible & Ansible Tower, utilizing Source Code Control Systems (Git)
• Familiarity with compliance requirements for Cyber Infrastructure Protection (CIP) standards, Server Vulnerability, and Patch management processes

Physical Requirements

Applicants must be able to perform the essential job functions with or without a reasonable accommodation.

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) - Who We Are

As the nation's sixth-largest community-owned electric service provider, we're proud of our reputation as one of the best places to work in Sacramento. Our employees tell us in our engagement surveys they're "Happy, satisfied and engaged" which helps create a workplace that best serves our customers. Sacramento was named as the 2nd happiest place to work in America by Forbes Magazine. Lake Tahoe, San Francisco and the world-renowned Napa Valley are within easy driving distance of our locations.

 

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

SMUD celebrates diversity, and inspires an inclusive culture based on trust and respect to create belonging and connection among our employees, customers, and communities. By working together, we are powering positive, equitable opportunities for all. We aspire to be a workplace where you can be yourself, achieve your best, and thrive together. 

 

An example of our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging is when SMUD signed the California Equal Pay Pledge in 2020. This requires equal pay for employees who perform “substantially similar work,” when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility at the time those employees started within that classification.  As such, initial hiring salary range is not subject to negotiation and salaries will vary over time based on performance.

 

SMUD is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, veteran status, or any other applicable legally protected characteristic. All employment decisions are made on the basis of individual qualifications, merit, and business needs and interests.

 

Why Sacramento, California?

The capitol of California, Sacramento is the state's sixth-largest city, and the 35th largest in the U.S. Local universities include California State University, University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law, and the University of California, Davis and several competitive community colleges. The UC Davis Medical Center, a world-renowned research hospital, is one of more than a dozen hospitals and shared services centers in the Sacramento region. Part of the agriculturally-rich Central Valley, Sacramento is at the forefront of the farm-to-fork food movement. Northern California is home to some of the country's top technology companies, including Google and LinkedIn, and a multitude of startups in many industries. Sacramento is home to the NBA Kings, the River Cats (AAA baseball), the Republic FC (soccer) and the San Francisco Giants, NBA Warriors and NFL 49er's aren't far away. Sacramento offers an affluent liberal arts community with Broadway, Mondavi Center, Crocker Museum and summer musical theater to name a few.

 

Hybrid Work 

This position may be eligible for SMUD's hybrid (office/home) work employee benefit, the schedule of which will be determined by the successful candidate and the Hiring Manager. SMUD takes pride in powering the Sacramento region community where we live and work. We value the strong working relationships we develop with our colleagues. Our approach to hybrid work will continue to evolve. Please be aware that should SMUD’s business needs change, emergencies occur, or various other reasons arise, you may be required to report onsite on a part-time or full-time basis.