Sr. Systems Administrator

About the role

The Sr. Systems Administrator is a senior-level, hands-on infrastructure role responsible for supporting the reliability, security, and lifecycle management of IT and OT-adjacent systems across IP Corporation’s manufacturing environments.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary technical owner for manufacturing IT and OT-adjacent infrastructure at assigned plant locations.
• Maintain and support Windows Server environments supporting manufacturing and operational systems.
• Manage virtualization platforms including VMware environments and future-state Nutanix AHV infrastructure.
• Support infrastructure hosting SCADA, HMI, historian, and manufacturing applications.
• Design, maintain, and troubleshoot industrial and manufacturing IT networks including switches, VLANs, firewalls, routing, and DMZ environments.
• Maintain secure OT/IT connectivity and segmentation aligned with cybersecurity and operational best practices.
• Develop and maintain scripting or automation solutions for infrastructure, monitoring, configuration management, and network operations.
• Plan and execute infrastructure activities during scheduled plant shutdowns, maintenance windows, upgrades, and cutovers.
• Provide onsite support for production-impacting incidents, manufacturing connectivity issues, and operational infrastructure needs.
• Support basic onsite IT needs such as workstation connectivity, printer support, and plant-floor access issues while partnering closely with Desktop Operations.
• Participate in vulnerability remediation, incident response activities, risk reviews, and OT security initiatives.
• Maintain accurate documentation including network diagrams, inventories, SOPs, lifecycle tracking, and operational standards.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with manufacturing operations, engineering, automation, vendors, and enterprise IT teams.
• Drive continuous improvement efforts that reduce operational risk, improve resiliency, and reduce vendor dependency.

Requirements

• 5+ years of Systems Administration, Infrastructure Engineering, or related IT infrastructure experience.
• Proven experience supporting manufacturing, industrial, or OT-adjacent environments.
• Hands-on experience supporting onsite infrastructure operations in production environments.
• Experience supporting plant shutdowns, infrastructure cutovers, maintenance windows, or high-risk operational changes.
• Strong Windows Server administration experience.
• Experience supporting virtualization platforms such as VMware; Nutanix experience is preferred.
• Strong networking fundamentals including switching, VLANs, routing, firewalls, ACLs, and segmentation.
• Familiarity with manufacturing technologies such as SCADA, HMI, historians, FactoryTalk, ThinManager, or similar industrial platforms.
• Experience with scripting, automation, or infrastructure-as-code concepts for operational efficiency.
• Strong troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and organizational skills.
• Ability to work independently while maintaining strong accountability and ownership.
• Willingness to travel approximately 20–25% to manufacturing sites as needed.
• Ability to support occasional after-hours or weekend work during shutdowns or maintenance activities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting multi-site manufacturing environments.
• Exposure to OT security frameworks and industrial cybersecurity best practices.
• Experience transitioning environments from vendor-led to internally managed support models.
• Prior mentoring, technical leadership, or lead Systems Administration experience.
• Experience supporting enterprise manufacturing environments with high uptime and operational reliability expectations.