Restek Server Administrator

Position Summary

ResTek’s Server Administrators are responsible for maintaining the servers that support the University Residences department. ResTek manages the web presence of University Residences and provides many critical web applications that a range of students and staff use every day.

Server Administrators have the unique opportunity to lead their colleagues into the forefront of modern technology practices, pursuing 100% uptime and excellent service to our residents. Our Server Administrators foster their own specialties and niches while engaging in collaborative teamwork on innovative projects.

While nearly all the skills essential for Server Administrators can be learned on the job, the strongest candidates often have a passion for understanding, explaining, and creating complex, maintainable systems, and a great respect for fulfilling commitments.

Qualifications

We’re looking for someone with experience with some of these things, but on-the-job training is a large part of the position. If you meet most of the following criteria, we encourage you to apply.

  • Experience working with UNIX-like systems (e.g. Linux, BSD)
  • Motivated to learn new things independently
  • Excellent problem solving and communication skills
  • Desire to build great systems and improve existing ones
  • Experience in leadership roles
  • Experience making projects successful
  • Ability to work independently and in a team environment effectively
  • Ability to explain technical details to a non-technical audience
  • Understanding of common network protocols (e.g. TCP/IP, HTTP, DNS) and troubleshooting steps
  • Willingness and availability to have a flexible, on-call schedule for the duration of employment

Additionally, experience or knowledge of any of the following is a plus:

  • Public cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform)
  • Software development
  • Network security practices
  • Virtual machine and/or container management
  • Active management of a production-ready system
  • REST API use and concepts
  • Basic experience using databases (MySQLPostgresSQLiteMongoDB, etc.)
  • Experience troubleshooting and fixing complex issues while retaining uptime

Timeline

Application is currently closed.

Questions?

Position Terms

  • Must be available to work 15-19 hours per week during the academic year and at least 20 hours per week during the summer.
  • Hourly wage is $16.41 per hour for both work-study and non-work study students.
  • You must maintain a 2.00 GPA minimum during employment and be taking at least 10 credits (8 for graduate students).
  • Preference is given to on-campus residents.
  • Summer on-campus housing is available at a discounted rate.

Setup Specifics

We know at least a few of you are curious about our current setup, so here is a list of some of the tools we currently use.

  • We manage Debian servers and workstations.
  • Icinga2 and an ELK stack are used for service monitoring.
  • Node.js, PythonPostgresNginx, Nomad, and GitLab are at the core of our development environment.
  • We use Python, shell scripts, GitLab pipelines, and Puppet for configuration management and server automation.
  • VMware vSphere, Proxmox, and Docker host parts of our infrastructure, in addition to physical machines and cloud providers.

Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action

Western Washington University does not discriminate in its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and parenting status), disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status or genetic information. Inquiries may be directed to the Vice Provost for Equal Opportunity & Employment Diversity, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Equal Opportunity Office, WWU, Old Main 345, MS 9021, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360-650-3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); eoo@wwu.edu.