System Administrator

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is seeking applicants for the full-time position of System Administrator to join our Technical Operations team. The System Administrator will help build and maintain the organization’s digital infrastructure as part of the Technical Operations Department. EFF is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. We work to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows.

Essential Functions:  

Design, Development, and Deployment (50%) 

• Designs and delivers production Linux platforms, network infrastructure, services, and network-attached devices (including phone & conference systems). 
• Deploys hardware systems, cloud platforms, and hosted services, as appropriate. 
• Assists the Tech Projects and Engineering & Design teams on site and project deployments. 
• Collaborates with other Tech Ops team members on system design, documentation, code review, and training. 

Monitoring and Maintenance (50%) 

• Participates in a regular on-call rotation and incident response, including 24x7 response for critical services. 
• Responds to support requests within team-defined Service Level Agreements (SLAs). 
• Reviews and responds to potential security incidents affecting EFF’s digital infrastructure and data. 
• Keeps systems updated by applying patches and best practice configurations. 
• Configures and administrates system accounts and access privileges. 

Other projects and tasks determined in collaboration with the Techops Director.  

Qualities We’re Seeking (i.e. Competencies)  

Successful candidates bring these qualities:  

• Deep respect for user privacy and organizational security. 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills. 
• Strong team player with experience working in collaborative settings, who is also able to work and prioritize independently. 
• Demonstrates care and respect toward coworkers, outside partners, members of the public, donors, and others with whom this role interacts;
• Works to positively and collaboratively resolve conflicts and overcome challenges
• Available and responsive to colleagues, outside partners and others over email, phone,
• and online chat, with the ability to respond and reliably to time-sensitive requests for assistance and opportunities during agreed upon working hours;
• Contributes to the creation of a diverse, equitable and inclusive work culture that encourages and celebrates differences including race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability and socio-economic circumstance.

Required Education & Experience  

• Experience with systems administration, operations engineering, or other engineering experience providing deep exposure to Linux environments. 
• Working knowledge of working knowledge of shell scripting/programming to automate system administration tasks. The team currently includes Python, bash, Go, and Ruby users, but fans of other languages are more than welcome. 
• Knowledge of deploying and maintaining computer network hardware (including switches, routers & firewalls). 

Preferred Education & Experience  

• Experience operating cloud infrastructure including the configuration and maintenance of virtual servers & load balancers. 
• Working knowledge of containerization and orchestration tools (such as Docker, Kubernetes). 
• Knowledge of configuration management tools (such as SaltStack, Puppet, Chef, Ansible). 
• Knowledge of collaborating with small- to mid-sized teams (e.g. up to 30 people) on engineering projects and processes. 
• Knowledge of DevOps and Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment processes. 
• History of open-source contributions (such as bug reports, pull requests, projects/packages). 

Application Deadline: February 7, 2022