2026-07 Principal Systems Administrator at 1st Edge in Huntsville, AL

1st Edge is a growing business seeking top performers to join in our mission of developing Artificial Intelligence solutions for our Government customers. We offer technically advanced, challenging work in an employee-centered environment driven by the desire to contribute to a meaningful purpose. Our employees work closely with Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM).

We believe in a balanced, quid pro quo relationship between the company and its employees, providing all benefits at no cost plus generous time off. This balanced culture allows employees to do their best work and contributes to our extraordinary success rate. From an excellent benefits package to job autonomy with challenging work, 1st Edge cultivates an innovative and collaborative environment with meaningful work.

Position Summary 1st Edge is seeking a hands-on Principal Systems Administrator to support a hybrid Windows/Linux infrastructure environment across engineering and software/AI development teams. This role owns day-to-day administration, troubleshooting, and secure infrastructure maintenance across both enterprise IT and lab/test environments supporting development and compute-intensive workloads.

Key Responsibilities • Administer and support Windows Server infrastructure, including Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and Certificate Services • Manage and maintain a fleet of Linux servers (Ubuntu, Rocky Linux, RHEL) across engineering and development environments • Design, build, and support VMware vSphere virtualized infrastructure from the ground up, including GPU-accelerated compute environments • Manage networking infrastructure including switches, VPNs, firewalls, and secure communications • Troubleshoot hardware, software, and systems integration issues across lab and test environments • Work closely with engineering and software development teams to support project- and program-level integration efforts • Maintain and support hybrid on-prem/cloud connectivity (Entra ID / GCC High) • Support infrastructure for software development and AI/ML workloads, including GPU compute resources and job scheduling • Maintain secure infrastructure in accordance with CMMC compliance requirements • Support high-performance/GPU compute infrastructure (e.g., SLURM-based clusters) for ML training and development pipelines • Provide hands-on systems administration across both Windows and Linux environments, including patching, backups, monitoring, and incident response • Write and maintain scripts to automate routine administration, monitoring, and deployment tasks

Required Qualifications • Active DoD security clearance (or clearance-eligible) • Bachelor's Degree • 10+ years of systems administration experience, including at least 3 years in a mixed Windows/Linux environment • Working knowledge of Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and PKI/Certificate Services • Experience administering Linux servers in a production environment (Ubuntu, RHEL, Rocky Linux, or similar) • Demonstrated experience designing and building VMware vSphere environments from the ground up (host configuration, cluster design, storage/network integration) — not just administering an existing environment • Practical knowledge of networking fundamentals: switching, VPNs, firewalls, and secure communications • Experience with enterprise-level backup, monitoring, and logging solutions • Practical scripting ability (Bash, Python, or PowerShell) sufficient to automate tasks and solve problems — deep software engineering expertise not required, but candidate must be able to get things done • Strong troubleshooting skills across hardware, software, and integrated systems • Ability to work cross-functionally with engineering and software development teams • Understanding of DoD/CMMC compliance requirements in a defense contracting environment

Preferred Qualifications • Experience supporting developer application platforms such as GitLab, Artifactory, MLflow, or similar tools • Experience supporting software development environments (CI/CD infrastructure, dev/test environments, artifact repositories) • Experience supporting AI/ML infrastructure — GPU-accelerated compute, model training pipelines, or job scheduling (e.g., SLURM) • Experience with hybrid cloud environments (Entra ID, GCC High) • Security certifications (Security+, CISSP, or similar) • Experience in lab/test environment support

Bonus Qualifications • Experience with configuration management and automation tools such as Ansible • Experience designing or building CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI, Jenkins, or similar) • Experience with infrastructure-as-code practices in a defense or regulated environment

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. However, please note, based on the requirements of our Government contracts, you must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.