IT SRE / System Administrator - Military veterans preferred

About Forterra

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. Amongst some of the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, Forterra is focused on building systems that protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is the go-to provider of ground autonomy solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses the technology for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

About the role

We're looking for an IT professional to operate in our newly launched Arlington office of business development and software engineering professionals. You'll be the go-to expert for everything IT-related. This is a hybrid role combining Site Reliability Engineering, System Administration, and a small amount of Tier 1 support (primarily AV and misc. onsite user issues). This is not a help desk role - you'll be working with a team of IT professionals, but you will be the first IT representative in the office.

You'll play a key role with high impact, delivering reliability and connectivity in a high-performance environment.

What you'll do

Tier 1 (Minimal but Critical)

• Be the trusted hands-on expert and friendly face when customer-facing AV or conferencing issues arise.
• Handle local IT onboarding and resolve high-priority user issues with speed and professionalism.
• Serve as a liaison between users and corporate IT teams — translating need into action.

Systems & Infrastructure

• Manage, and optimize local infrastructure, including physical and virtual servers (Proxmox experience a plus).
• Deploy and manage internal services with a bias toward infrastructure as code, observability, and automation.
• Ensure secure, scalable, and resilient systems - from authentication to backups.

Networking & Connectivity

• Design, implement, and maintain robust networking for office, lab, and meeting spaces.
• Monitor and troubleshoot LAN/WAN performance, VPN access, and secure remote connectivity.

SRE

• Implement tooling, automation, and observability to support production and development environments.
• Participate in uptime and performance improvement initiatives for internal and cloud-based systems.
• Champion CI/CD, config management, and proactive alerting/monitoring where it makes sense.

Qualifications

• Clear and concise communicator, not shy to show initiative.
• Excellent working knowledge of computer systems, security, network and systems administration, databases and data storage systems.
• Experience with our tech stack – Palo Alto, Juniper, Proxmox, Ansible, Terraform, Datadog, PowerShell, Git, Linux and Windows Server.
• Firm grasp on IT infrastructure and operations best practices
• Proactive, self-directed, and comfortable being the face of IT in the office.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills — approachable, reliable, and calm under pressure.
• Demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others.
• Demonstrated ability to create innovative solutions that create exceptional collaborative environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• M365 GCC High experience
• NIST800-171 / CMMC experience
• Experience in a start-up or similar fast-paced environment

Education & Experience

• 3+ years of experience in IT
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or a related field or equivalent experience.
• CompTIA Network+ or similar networking certifications.

US Salary Range
$120,000—$150,000 / annually

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra's overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA-eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long-term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption.
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after-tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

Forterra is an equal-opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.

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