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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IT System Administrator

💰 $ - $

Information TechnologySystems AdministrationIT Operations

🎯 Role Definition

An IT System Administrator is responsible for designing, deploying, maintaining, and optimizing an organization’s servers, networks, and core IT infrastructure. This role ensures high availability, security, and performance of on-premises and cloud environments (Windows Server, Linux, VMware/Hyper‑V, Azure/AWS) while leading incident response, patching, backup and disaster recovery, and infrastructure automation. The System Administrator works cross-functionally to align infrastructure with business needs, enforce security controls, and continuously improve operational processes using monitoring, scripting, and configuration management tools.

Key search keywords: IT System Administrator, systems administration, Windows Server, Linux, Active Directory, VMware, Azure, AWS, networking, cybersecurity, automation, backup and disaster recovery, PowerShell, Ansible.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Help Desk Technician / Desktop Support
  • Network Technician / Junior Network Administrator
  • Junior Systems Administrator / IT Support Specialist

Advancement To:

  • Senior Systems Administrator / Infrastructure Engineer
  • IT Infrastructure Manager / IT Operations Manager
  • Cloud Architect / Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

Lateral Moves:

  • Network Engineer
  • DevOps Engineer
  • Security Engineer / Cybersecurity Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, install, configure and maintain Windows Server and Linux server platforms (including Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, NFS/SMB) to ensure secure, scalable and resilient production environments.
  • Administer virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper‑V) including provisioning VMs, managing resource pools, storage allocation, snapshots, and host/cluster maintenance.
  • Manage cloud infrastructure and services in Azure and/or AWS: provision instances, manage VPCs/subnets, implement IAM policies, optimize cost and performance, and support cloud migrations.
  • Implement, test and maintain backup and disaster recovery solutions (Veeam, Commvault, native cloud backup) with scheduled restore tests, RTO/RPO validation, and documented recovery procedures.
  • Configure, manage and monitor enterprise storage solutions (SAN, NAS, iSCSI) and storage performance, quotas, and capacity planning in coordination with vendors and storage engineers.
  • Harden systems and enforce security baselines, OS patching schedules, vulnerability management workflow, endpoint protection (EDR), and system access controls in line with information security policies and compliance frameworks (PCI, HIPAA, SOC2).
  • Maintain and administer critical identity services including Active Directory, Azure AD, single sign-on (SSO), group policy objects, and federation services to support secure authentication and authorization.
  • Lead incident response and troubleshooting for server, network, and application infrastructure issues — perform root cause analysis and produce post-incident documentation and mitigation plans.
  • Deploy and maintain monitoring, alerting and observability platforms (Nagios, Zabbix, Datadog, Prometheus, Splunk) to ensure SLAs, detect performance regressions, and provide actionable metrics for stakeholders.
  • Develop and maintain automation and configuration management workflows using PowerShell, Bash, Ansible, Terraform, or similar tools to reduce manual toil and speed scaling and recovery processes.
  • Manage patch and lifecycle management for servers and firmware using SCCM, Intune, WSUS, or equivalent tools; coordinate maintenance windows and communicate impacts to business stakeholders.
  • Implement and maintain network services relevant to servers (DNS, DHCP, routing, firewall rules, load balancers), collaborating with network teams to ensure end-to-end connectivity and security.
  • Perform capacity planning, forecasting, and performance tuning for compute, storage and network resources; recommend architecture changes or upgrades based on business growth and consumption trends.
  • Manage system configurations, runbooks, and infrastructure-as-code repositories in Git to maintain reproducibility, auditability, and version control of environment changes.
  • Provide technical leadership and act as escalation for complex system issues, mentor junior administrators, participate in on-call rotations, and maintain documentation for operational continuity.
  • Coordinate vendor relationships for hardware, software, and cloud services: evaluate product offerings, manage warranty and support tickets, and oversee hardware refresh cycles.
  • Execute server and application migrations and upgrades (OS major versions, DB migrations, virtualization hosts) with detailed project plans, rollback strategies, and stakeholder communication.
  • Ensure compliance with corporate policies, regulatory requirements and audit remediation activities by preparing evidence, applying controls and remediating non-conformances.
  • Maintain secure network and perimeter infrastructure by integrating firewall rules, VPN services, load balancers, and NAT policies that align with access and segmentation strategies.
  • Implement logging and retention strategies, manage central log aggregation, and support forensic investigations by ensuring logs are captured, searchable, and retained per policy.
  • Support development and QA teams with environment provisioning, cloning, and configuration to accelerate release cycles while maintaining production parity and security.
  • Drive continuous improvement initiatives such as cost optimization (rightsizing instances, scheduling), automation of repetitive tasks, and implementation of new tooling that enhances reliability and observability.
  • Plan, coordinate and execute regular DR drills, patch cycles, and maintenance windows, ensuring minimal business disruption and clear customer communication.

Secondary Functions

  • Produce and maintain runbooks, architecture diagrams, standard operating procedures and knowledge-base articles for both technical teams and end-users.
  • Deliver end-user and stakeholder training on new systems, security best practices and self-service tools to reduce recurring support requests.
  • Participate in IT project planning, vendor selection, procurement and budgetary reviews for infrastructure-related investments.
  • Support audit readiness activities, compile evidence for compliance, and implement remediation plans for security and operational findings.
  • Evaluate and pilot new infrastructure technologies (containerization, serverless, edge compute) and provide recommendations for production adoption.
  • Assist with license management, software asset tracking and renewal planning to ensure compliance and budget forecasting.
  • Coordinate cross-functional change management activities and ensure timely communication across application owners, business units and IT teams.
  • Perform procurement and physical asset management tasks for on-prem hardware, including rack & stack, cabling standards, firmware updates and disposal.
  • Contribute to SLA/KPI reporting and continuous improvement programs by tracking incidents, MTTR, and system availability metrics.
  • Participate in capacity and budget planning cycles to align infrastructure growth with business roadmaps.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Windows Server administration (2012/2016/2019/2022), Active Directory, Group Policy and AD Federation Services (AD FS).
  • Linux administration (Ubuntu, CentOS, RHEL): package management, systemd, SELinux/AppArmor, services and kernel tuning.
  • Virtualization technologies: VMware vSphere/vCenter, ESXi, VMware tools, and Microsoft Hyper‑V management.
  • Cloud platforms: Azure (VMs, Virtual Network, Azure AD, Managed Disks), AWS (EC2, VPC, IAM, S3), and familiarity with cloud migration patterns.
  • Networking: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, VLANs, VPNs, load balancing, and firewall rule configuration (Cisco, Palo Alto, Juniper basics).
  • Backup & disaster recovery tools: Veeam, Commvault, native cloud backup, snapshot management and restore procedures.
  • Scripting & automation: PowerShell, Bash, Python basics, and Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, CloudFormation) or configuration management (Ansible, Puppet, Chef).
  • Monitoring & logging: Nagios, Zabbix, Prometheus, Datadog, New Relic, Splunk, or ELK stack for alerting and observability.
  • Patch and configuration management: SCCM/ConfigMgr, WSUS, Intune, or equivalent endpoint and server management tools.
  • Security & compliance fundamentals: encryption, IAM, vulnerability management (Qualys, Tenable), EDR tools and security hardening best practices.
  • Storage and SAN/NAS knowledge: NFS, SMB, iSCSI, and enterprise storage vendor familiarity (Dell EMC, NetApp).
  • Database support basics: ability to support and troubleshoot SQL Server, MySQL or PostgreSQL at the OS/host level.
  • Containerization and orchestration exposure: Docker and Kubernetes fundamentals (desirable for modern environments).
  • Version control and CI/CD awareness: Git, pipelines for automated deployments and testable infrastructure changes.
  • ITSM and process tools: ServiceNow, Jira Service Desk, or other ticketing/change management systems.

Soft Skills

  • Strong analytical and problem-solving ability with a methodical, root-cause driven approach.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Customer-focused mindset and proven experience delivering IT services with a service-level mentality.
  • Effective time management, prioritization and ability to handle on-call rotations and incident pressure.
  • Collaborative teamwork across cross-functional teams including developers, network, security and business owners.
  • Attention to detail for documentation, configuration accuracy and security controls.
  • Adaptability to learn new platforms quickly and lead change in dynamic environments.
  • Organizational skills for project coordination, asset tracking and maintaining runbooks.
  • Mentoring and knowledge-transfer capabilities to develop junior staff.
  • Vendor and stakeholder management skills to coordinate third-party support and escalations.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Associate degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience; OR
  • Equivalent hands-on experience in systems administration and infrastructure support.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Network Engineering, or a related technical field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology
  • Network Engineering
  • Cybersecurity
  • Systems Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years for mid-level System Administrator roles; 0–2 years (junior) or 5+ years (senior/lead) depending on scope.

Preferred:

  • 3–7+ years of progressive experience in enterprise systems administration supporting mixed Windows/Linux environments.
  • Demonstrated experience with virtualization (VMware), public cloud (Azure and/or AWS), backup & DR, and automation through scripting and Infrastructure-as-Code.
  • Proven track record of supporting production systems, incident response, system hardening, and cross-team collaboration.

Recommended certifications (helpful but not always required): Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate / MCSA/MCSE, CompTIA Network+/Server+/Security+, RHCE/RHCSA, VMware VCP, AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, ITIL Foundation.

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