System Administrator - Software Development Lab

System Administrator - Software Development Lab

Location: Nailsea, UK

Contract duration: 12 months

Job Summary

As a System Administrator – Software Development Lab, you will be responsible for ensuring the reliability, security, and performance of the engineering lab environments that support software development, testing, and validation activities. You will manage virtualization platforms, Windows domain services, air gapped networks, backup systems, and specialized lab infrastructure. Working closely with engineering teams, you will maintain a stable, secure, and efficient technical environment that enables high quality software delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain and administer the software development lab infrastructure, including physical servers, virtual machines, networking equipment, and storage systems.

• Manage virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware, Hyper V, or similar), including provisioning, monitoring, optimization, and troubleshooting.

• Administer Windows Server–based domains, including Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and user/workstation management.

• Operate and maintain air gapped systems, ensuring strict separation, security controls, data transfer procedures, and compliance with internal policies.

• Implement and manage reliable backup and recovery solutions, ensuring data integrity, scheduling, monitoring, and routine testing of recovery processes.

• Oversee patching, updates, and system-hardening to maintain secure and compliant environments.

• Support engineers in provisioning lab resources, resolving system issues, and ensuring tools and platforms operate smoothly.

• Monitor system performance, storage utilization, and resource availability, recommending improvements as needed.

• Maintain accurate documentation of lab configurations, procedures, network diagrams, and system inventories.

• Ensure lab environments comply with company IT and security standards, including access control, auditing, and configuration management.

• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives to enhance lab efficiency, scalability, and reliability.

Fuel Your Passion – To Be Successful in This Role You Will

• Have a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

• Have experience managing virtualization platforms and Windows domain environments.

• Be knowledgeable in backup technologies, system recovery practices, and network security principles.

• Be comfortable working with isolated or air gapped networks and understand secure data transfer procedures.

• Demonstrate strong troubleshooting skills and the ability to diagnose and resolve complex system issues.

• Be detail-oriented, organized, and capable of maintaining accurate technical documentation.