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

What We Do

Apptronik is building robots for the real world to improve human quality of life and to help solve the ever-increasing labor shortage problem. Our team has been building some of the most advanced robots on the planet for years dating back to the DARPA Robotics Challenge. We apply our expertise across the full robotics stack to some of the most important and impactful problems our society faces and expect our products and technology to change the world for the better. We value passion creativity and collaboration to help us overcome existing technological barriers in the industry to create truly innovative products.

Why Work With Us

At Apptronik we don't see a future where man competes against machine. Instead we envision a harmonious world where man and machine coexist. Our mission statement "It is not Man vs. Machine but Man + Machine" encapsulates our belief that the synergy between humans and robots will pave the way for a brighter more advanced future.

Gallery