Senior System Admin

ABOUT THE SITE

Anduril, a leader in autonomous systems and weapons manufacturing, today announced it has selected Columbus, Ohio as the location of Arsenal-1, its first hyperscale manufacturing facility. Arsenal-1 will redefine the scale and speed that autonomous systems and weapons can be produced for the United States and its allies and partners. This is a monumental and essential step toward rebuilding America’s defense industrial base, strengthening America’s warfighting capabilities, and enhancing deterrence amid rising international threats.

ABOUT THE TEAM

ArsenalOS is the digital backbone of Anduril's hardware enterprise. It connects the full lifecycle—from concept to build to field feedback—into one operating environment built for speed, traceability, autonomy, and continuous improvement. This isn't just software for design and planning; it's the factory-facing infrastructure that connects operators, machines, test systems, and OT networks into a unified, adaptive Build Chain.

This is not a support function. ArsenalOS is a strategic investment in how Anduril out-builds, out-adapts, and out-scales the traditional defense industrial base. As the Senior Systems Administration Lead for Factory Systems, you are responsible for ensuring the systems that run our factory floor are reliable, visible, and continuously improving. When these systems work, production flows. When they don't, everything stops.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are seeking a highly skilled and exceptionally hands-on Senior Systems Administraor to drive operational excellence for factory systems at the Arsenal-1 site. This is a critical, working lead role where you will be deeply immersed in the technical fabric of our operations, personally deploying, configuring, troubleshooting, and maintaining critical systems. You will provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to a dedicated team of 3-4 Systems/Network Administrators, ensuring the seamless function of our factory systems through direct action and collaborative effort, rather than directing from afar.

WHAT YOU’LL OWN

• Lead from the front: Be physically present on the factory floor daily, embedded with the production team, understanding challenges first-hand and actively engaging in technical problem-solving.
• Systems Lifecycle Management: Drive the full lifecycle management of hardware, servers, and software systems across the manufacturing line, including hands-on provisioning, updates, tracking, and retirement.
• Network Infrastructure Design & Support: Lead the design, configuration, and support of robust network infrastructure—switches, VLANs, routing, wireless, and segmentation—to ensure reliable, low-latency connectivity for critical production environments.
• Server Build & Hardening: Oversee and actively participate in the build, hardening, and maintenance of physical and virtual servers for manufacturing applications, ensuring peak performance, security, and high availability.
• Proactive Monitoring & Resolution: Establish and enforce proactive monitoring of system, server, and network performance across the factory floor, personally identifying and resolving issues that could impact production throughput or on-time manufacturing.
• Factory Systems Integration: Spearhead the seamless deployment and integration of factory stations, endpoints, and production equipment, coordinating closely with engineering and operations for smooth transitions and minimal downtime.
• Security & Compliance: Ensure robust security controls, access management, and compliance standards are implemented and maintained across servers, endpoints, and network infrastructure.
• Complex Troubleshooting: Lead and personally engage in complex hardware, software, and network troubleshooting in time-sensitive manufacturing environments, providing clear, concise updates to stakeholders.
• Documentation & Automation: Drive continuous improvement through rigorous documentation of deployment processes, configurations, and troubleshooting guides, while championing automation to increase scalability, reliability, and factory efficiency.

Operational Strategy & Team Enablement

• Drive Daily Operational Tempo: Lead daily stand-ups, proactively identify and clear blockers, and ensure rapid ticket resolution in real-time, often by directly engaging in the technical work required.
• Inventory & Asset Management: Champion accurate, automated tracking of all IT assets. Build dashboards for real-time operational health, and streamline procurement and ordering workflows by eliminating manual data entry through automation.
• Work Tracking & Prioritization: Champion the effective utilization and continuous improvement of work tracking systems (e.g., Jira/Airtable). Ensure clear ownership, status, and priorities on all work items, maintaining system hygiene to minimize administrative burden.
• Ticketing & Knowledge Management: Establish and enforce clear intake pathways for all requests. Develop and enforce best practices for documentation, ensuring critical information lives in knowledge bases (wiki/Confluence) rather than individual heads, and crafting repeatable runbooks for common O&M tasks.

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP

• Provide direct technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to 3-4 Systems/Network Administrators by actively contributing to projects, solving complex technical challenges, and building solutions alongside them. You will lead by example, demonstrating best practices and fostering continuous learning through shared technical work.
• Cultivate a high-performance, collaborative team environment where clarity on priorities and mission impact is paramount.
• Establish and maintain an efficient operational cadence including lightweight, consistent stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.

CROSS FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION

• Proactively engage with management and cross-functional teams (e.g., Production, Engineering, Infrastructure) to anticipate needs, communicate status, and resolve blockers.
• Serve as the primary technical liaison and advocate for production IT across the organization, translating technical needs and operational status to management.
• Be vocal, visible, and proactive: Chase down answers, escalate critical blockers to management, and communicate proactively across functions and with other Factory Systems teams regarding site deliverables and impediments.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Factory floor IT issues are resolved with exceptional speed and efficiency, largely due to your and your team's direct intervention.
• You consistently anticipate and address problems before they escalate.
• Your team is empowered, technically growing, and operates independently for routine tasks, built upon your shared technical expertise.
• Operational cadence is running smoothly with clear priorities and accountability.
• Systems (inventory, ticketing, work tracking) are pristine, functional, and actively used.
• Real-time dashboards provide transparent visibility into system health.
• Documentation and automation significantly reduce repetitive manual work and "tribal knowledge."
• You are a trusted, indispensable partner to production and company leadership, providing both strategic insight and technical execution.
• Communication regarding progress and issues is consistently proactive and clear, especially to management.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years as a Systems or Network Administrator in manufacturing, industrial, or high-throughput environments, with strong experience managing servers, endpoints, and production equipment.
• Demonstrated ability to remain deeply hands-on, actively contributing to technical deployments, configurations, and complex troubleshooting.
• At least 3 years in a senior technical capacity that included mentorship, technical leadership, or indirect team guidance to a small team (3-4 individuals).
• Experience with asset tracking, configuration management, and maintaining accurate inventories of deployed hardware and systems.
• Ability to diagnose and resolve complex hardware, software, server, and networking issues in fast-paced, production-critical environments.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

REQUIRED TRAITS

• Hands-on: You thrive on rolling up your sleeves and directly engaging in technical work alongside your team, building, configuring, and troubleshooting.
• Present and engaged: You are consistently on the factory floor, deeply involved in operations, not in back-office meetings all day.
• Vocal and proactive: You speak up, chase things down, anticipate issues, and don't wait to be asked.
• Owner mentality: You identify gaps and fill them without needing explicit direction, seeing the mission through.
• Clear communicator: You work in the open, keep people informed, and can articulate complex technical issues and solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences, including management.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Systems Administration: Expert proficiency in Windows/Linux system administration, including server buildout, virtualization, imaging, and endpoint lifecycle management.
• Network Engineering: Hands-on expertise configuring and troubleshooting network components such as switches, firewalls, VLANs, routing, DNS, and VPN services.
• IT Service Management: Deep proficiency with ticketing systems (e.g., Jira), knowledge base/documentation platforms (e.g., Confluence), and asset tracking systems.
• Automation Mindset: Strong scripting skills (Python, Bash, PowerShell) to eliminate toil and automate operational tasks.
• Security: Strong understanding of security principles, including access controls, endpoint hardening, and secure network design.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience supporting MES, ERP, or factory software platforms, as well as OT networks, PLCs, or SCADA systems.
• Background in designing or supporting hybrid IT/OT network architectures, virtualization platforms (VMware/Hyper-V), or containerized environments.
• Familiarity with automation tools such as Ansible, Terraform, or SCCM for server or system deployment and configuration.
• Experience with asset management platforms, CMDBs, or reliability engineering practices like redundancy and failover planning.
• Relevant certifications such as Server+, Azure Administrator, CCNA, or ITIL.