Senior Systems Administrator (Sponsorship Available) At Jisc

Job Overview

• Employer: Jisc
• Job Title: Senior Systems Administrator
• Location: United Kingdom (Hybrid)
• Salary: £50,000 per annum
• Job Type: Full-time
• Working Style: Hybrid – A blend of working from home and nominated hub offices (London, Bristol, Manchester and Oxford)

About Jisc

For 30 years Jisc has pioneered digital solutions for UK education and research, transforming how knowledge is created, shared and used.

Jisc is uniquely positioned to protect, promote and lead the sector in digital and data transformation, making a difference to students, communities and society. Together, Jisc is working to build a better digital future for education and research.

Jisc raises potential through a culture of lifelong learning, focusing on growth, new challenges, skill development, and career progression.

About the Team

The role sits within the Architecture & Engineering function, responsible for critical infrastructure supporting national services including DNS, Network Time, threat engineering, SIEM, cloud/SaaS platforms, and core datacentre environments.

The team is evolving rapidly, with ongoing work including:

• Modernising on-prem virtual infrastructure
• Exploring hypervisor and virtualisation options beyond VMware vSphere
• Large-scale automation using Ansible
• Strengthening a predominantly Red Hat-based Linux estate
• Improving high-availability platforms supporting cybersecurity services
• Lifecycle improvements across storage, compute, and datacentre environments
• Adoption of modern monitoring, logging, and operational tooling

The function follows a security-focused, engineering-led approach.

The Role

The Senior Systems Administrator will play a key role in ensuring platforms supporting Jisc’s cybersecurity services remain stable, resilient, and high-performing.

The role includes working across Linux and enterprise platforms, contributing to automation and high-availability initiatives, and supporting engineering activity ranging from virtualisation strategy to national-scale cybersecurity services.

The position also provides the opportunity to influence technical direction and contribute to ongoing infrastructure evolution.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain and optimise platforms and applications supporting cybersecurity services
• Ensure services meet SLAs and remain reliable, resilient, and aligned to business needs
• Provide second-line troubleshooting for platform-related issues
• Support change management and contribute to disaster recovery planning, testing, and validation
• Maintain accurate system documentation and ensure compliance with organisational and regulatory standards
• Collaborate across teams on system improvements, automation, high availability, and infrastructure upgrades

What You’ll Bring

Essential Skills

• Strong Linux server administration experience
• Ability to deploy, integrate, and manage open-source and proprietary systems
• Experience with web technologies (MySQL, PostgreSQL, PHP, Ruby, Java, Python)
• Experience automating systems and processes
• Proficiency in at least one scripting language (e.g. Python)
• Strong planning, prioritisation, and teamwork skills

Bonus Experience

• Red Hat
• VMware
• PKI
• ISO/IEC 27001
• Datacentre operations

Working Pattern & Requirements

• Hybrid working model with flexible office attendance agreed with manager
• Occasional travel to hub offices when required
• On-call rota (post-probation):
  • Monday–Friday: 18:00–23:59
  • Weekends/bank holidays: 09:00–17:00
• May require government security clearance to SC level

Sponsorship Information

Jisc has an active sponsor licence to recruit on a Skilled Worker visa basis.

Candidates requiring sponsorship are advised to assess their eligibility against Home Office criteria. Jisc does not provide financial reimbursement for relocation, visa costs, dependants, or immigration health charges.

About Working at Jisc

Jisc is built around meaningful work, continuous learning, and professional growth. The organisation promotes flexible working focused on outcomes, not hours, and supports a healthy work-life balance.

Guiding Principles

• Customer-first approach
• Innovation-driven culture
• Creating impact
• Inclusive collaboration

Benefits

• Flexible working pattern tailored to personal commitments
• 31 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), including 3 closure days over Christmas
• Option to buy up to 5 additional leave days
• Generous pension schemes
• Health and wellbeing support, including company-paid health cash plan and mental health first aiders
• Access to LinkedIn Learning and continuous development resources
• £250 home office equipment allowance
• Financial wellbeing support (loans, savings, mortgage advice, and more)
• Retail discounts and cashback offers
• Family-friendly policies (parental, maternity, paternity, co-parental leave, and career breaks)
• Up to 3 days volunteer leave

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Jisc is committed to creating an inclusive environment that values diversity in all forms, including race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, neurodivergence, and more.

The recruitment process is designed to be accessible and candidates are encouraged to request adjustments where needed.

Application Process

• CVs are reviewed continuously
• Applicants may receive updates within 4 weeks or sooner
• Background screening is required and must match application details
• AI tools may be used for CV preparation, but applications should reflect the candidate’s own experience and voice
• Internal applicants should apply via Dayforce

How to Apply

If this opportunity interests you, head to the company’s official website for full details — click here to submit your application.