Sr AIX Linux Administrator

Description :

Senior AIX & Linux Systems Administrators at American Greetings keep our most critical business systems highly available, secure, and performant.

In this SME role, you'll own a mixed AIX (IBM Power Systems / PowerVM) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment, leading design, automation, and operations for core platforms that support manufacturing, distribution custom, and enterprise package applications.

As a SME, you'll partner closely with network, storage, database, and application teams to deliver resilient infrastructure, drive modernization (PowerHA SystemMirror, Ansible-driven builds, standardized patching / backup), and guide best practices across the environment. If you enjoy solving hard production problems, tuning performance at scale, and mentoring others while raising the reliability bar, this is for you.

Role and Responsibilities :

This position is responsible for providing hands-on technical support and perform as the SME for large enterprise-wide AIX and Linux servers environment including daily AIX and Linux administration, provision / decommission, backup / restore, monitor, problem determination and resolution, optimization, supporting highly virtualized environments, and other AIX and Linux systems administrator related activities

Required Skills :

• Engineer and administer AIX 5.3 / 7.x on IBM Power7 / Power8 / Power9 with HMC and PowerVM (LPAR / VIOS); design LPAR layouts, CPU / memory tuning, and I / O virtualization (NPIV, vSCSI, SEA).
• Build and maintain images with NIM; create repeatable mksysb strategies; perform OS upgrades and patching.
• Configure and support High Availability using PowerHA SystemMirror (formerly HACMP); document and test failover procedures.
• Plan and execute Live Partition Mobility (where applicable), firmware updates, and frame maintenance with minimal downtime.
• Troubleshoot complex performance issues using nmon, topas, vmstat, sar, and other diagnostic tools; drive root cause analysis.
• Administer Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 / 8 / 9 on x86 across VMware ESXi and KVM; standardize gold images and hardening baselines.
• Automate provisioning / configuration with Ansible; codify common tasks and enforce via pipelines.
• Manage kernel / OS patching, package repositories, and vulnerability remediation in partnership with Security.
• Monitor and tune system performance (CPU, memory, I / O, filesystem); analyze and resolve production incidents.
• Own backup / restore for OS and application data using IBM Spectrum Protect (TSM); run regular restore tests and document RPO / RTO coverage.
• Administer enterprise schedulers (HCL Workload Automation, Broadcom Autosys) on AIX; coordinate with application teams.
• Partner with Network and Storage teams on SAN zoning, multipathing, and throughput optimization; validate NPIV / vSCSI designs.
• Lead incident, problem, and change management (ITIL-aligned); write clear change plans, perform post-incident reviews, maintain runbooks.
• Drive capacity planning and forecasting; provide estimates for new workloads, migrations, and refresh projects.
• As a SME mentor junior administrators; review designs and automation for quality and security; champion best practices across the team.
• Participate in an on-call rotation and after-hours maintenance windows; continuously reduce toil through automation and better observability.

Experience Required :

Required :

• 8+ years of progressively responsible experience administering AIX (5.3 / 7.x) on IBM Power7 / Power8 / Power9 with PowerVM / VIOS, and administering Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 / 8 / 9 in enterprise environments.
• Hands-on experience with HMC, NIM, PowerHA SystemMirror (HACMP), and Live Partition Mobility.
• Strong skills in scripting (Korn / Bourne shell, Perl, or Python) for automation and process improvement.
• Experience supporting virtualized environments (VMware ESXi, KVM) and enterprise job schedulers (HCL Workload Automation, Broadcom Autosys).
• Knowledge of backup / restore procedures using IBM Spectrum Protect (TSM) and proven ability to execute DR tests.
• Solid foundational knowledge in server hardware, SAN / storage virtualization (NPIV, vSCSI), and networking fundamentals.
• Effective communication, documentation, and collaboration skills with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to participate in on-call rotation and perform after-hours maintenance as needed.
• Leadership experience mentoring junior administrators or leading infrastructure projects.

Preferred :

• Experience with AIX 6.x or legacy AIX 5.3 migrations in production environments.
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) for hybrid infrastructure integration.
• Experience with Ansible automation at scale, including CI / CD integration of infrastructure code.
• Performance tuning expertise using nmon, topas, vmstat, sar, perf tools.
• Experience with ITIL-aligned change / incident / problem management processes.
• Familiarity with security compliance frameworks and vulnerability management (e.g., CIS hardening, patch orchestration).