This is an in-office role
This position is based in Cape Town and is worked from our office. It is not a remote or hybrid role, so you'll need to be able to travel in every working day.
1-grid is a fast-growing web hosting company in Cape Town with an established customer base and a strong presence in the Internet services industry. We have the vision and resources to grow into a leading provider in South Africa, supported by an entrepreneurial culture that encourages innovation, collaboration and high performance.
Job Purpose
The Systems Operations Administrator is responsible for monitoring, availability, stability and operational support across 1-grid's infrastructure and hosting environments. The role focuses on proactively monitoring systems, identifying and responding to incidents, troubleshooting infrastructure problems, maintaining servers and services, and ensuring issues are appropriately resolved or escalated.
Key Duties and Responsibilities
Systems Monitoring and Availability
- Monitor servers and infrastructure to identify outages, degradation and potential problems.
- Respond promptly to monitoring alerts.
- Investigate system logs and identify potential server issues.
- Monitor system performance and availability.
- Perform initial diagnosis and troubleshooting before escalating where necessary.
- Contribute to maintaining optimal availability of production infrastructure.
Incident and Outage Management
- Respond to infrastructure incidents and service disruptions.
- Diagnose technical problems and implement appropriate fixes within the role's authority.
- Escalate complex or high-impact incidents to the appropriate technical team.
- Maintain clear communication during outages.
- Track incidents through to resolution.
- Document significant incidents, findings and corrective actions.
Server and Infrastructure Administration
- Assist with the administration and maintenance of server environments.
- Apply approved operating-system updates, patches and configuration changes.
- Configure, monitor and restore backups.
- Perform system performance tuning where appropriate.
- Assist with introducing and integrating new technology into existing datacentre environments.
- Troubleshoot hardware, software and operating-system problems.
Security and Operational Controls
- Assist with maintaining infrastructure security in collaboration with the Engineering team.
- Follow approved security and access-control requirements.
- Identify and escalate suspicious activity, vulnerabilities or configuration concerns.
- Ensure infrastructure changes and configurations are appropriately documented.
Technical Support and Escalations
- Provide technical assistance to the Support team for infrastructure-related customer queries.
- Investigate escalated hosting and infrastructure issues.
- Provide clear technical feedback to internal teams.
- Work collaboratively with Support and Engineering to resolve complex problems.
Backup and Recovery
- Monitor scheduled backups.
- Investigate failed or incomplete backups.
- Perform restores when required and authorised.
- Escalate recurring backup problems.
- Maintain appropriate operational documentation relating to backup activities.
Documentation and Operational Improvement
- Maintain accurate technical and system documentation.
- Document troubleshooting processes and recurring solutions.
- Identify repetitive operational activities that can be improved or automated.
- Participate in projects and operational improvement initiatives.
- Contribute to improving monitoring, alerting and operational processes.
Infrastructure Inventory
- Assist in maintaining accurate infrastructure inventory records.
- Identify equipment requirements and shortages.
- Report requirements to Procurement in accordance with established stock and reorder requirements.
Technical Knowledge and Skills
- Linux operating systems
- Windows Server environments
- TCP/IP networking
- DNS, HTTP, FTP, mail services and IIS
- Server and infrastructure monitoring
- System logs and structured troubleshooting
- Hardware and software troubleshooting
- Backup and recovery
- Server configuration and maintenance
Key Competencies
- Strong troubleshooting and analytical ability
- Detail-oriented approach to monitoring and incident handling
- Ability to remain calm during outages and high-priority incidents
- Strong sense of ownership and accountability
- Clear written and verbal communication
- Ability to prioritise multiple technical issues
- Self-motivated and proactive approach
- Commitment to continuous learning
- Collaborative and team-oriented working style
- Innovative mindset with an interest in automation
Qualifications and Experience
- Relevant IT qualification, certification or equivalent practical experience.
- Experience or hands-on exposure to Linux and/or Windows Server administration.
- Working understanding of TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP and common internet services.
- Exposure to monitoring tools and incident troubleshooting.
- Experience in web hosting, ISP, datacentre, cloud or infrastructure environments would be advantageous.
- Linux, Microsoft, CompTIA Network+, Server+ or similar technical certification would be advantageous.
Key Performance Areas
- Monitoring and Alert Response: effective infrastructure monitoring and timely, appropriate response to alerts.
- Incident and Outage Management: effective investigation, escalation, resolution and outage communication.
- Escalation Quality: appropriate diagnosis before escalation and clear technical information supplied.
- Projects and Tasks: accurate and effective completion of assigned tasks and contribution to infrastructure projects.
- Automation and Continuous Improvement: identification of opportunities to reduce manual effort and improve operational processes.
- Documentation: accurate and current operational and infrastructure documentation.
- Training and Upskilling: completion of agreed training and demonstrated improvement in technical capability.
Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is technically curious and enjoys understanding why a system or service failed, rather than only following a checklist. The person should be comfortable working with Linux and server infrastructure, disciplined about monitoring and documentation, and able to troubleshoot logically under pressure. The role requires continuous learning and effective collaboration with Support, Engineering and other technical teams.
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