Virtualization Systems Administrator
Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Transparency.
As a Virtualization and Systems Administrator, you will own the virtual infrastructure and server environment that underpins both our IT operations and OT/manufacturing systems, including MES servers and related production applications. You will define and maintain how systems communicate across IT and OT boundaries, manage hypervisor platforms, and serve as the primary systems administrator for day-to-day IT operations. This role demands hands-on virtualization expertise, a strong understanding of OT/IT integration, and a security posture aligned with CMMC and NIST 800-171.
Responsibilities
- Architect, deploy, and manage virtualization platforms (VMware vSphere/ESXi or equivalent) hosting both IT and OT workloads including MES servers, historian systems, and business applications.
- Own the design and administration of virtual machine environments including resource allocation, snapshots, templates, HA/DR configuration, and capacity planning.
- Define, document, and maintain integration points between OT and IT systems including MES-to-ERP data flows, historian feeds, and inter-system APIs. Enforce CMMC-aligned access control and boundary protections at all integration layers.
- Administer MES servers and supporting infrastructure including OS patching, service health, backups, and vendor coordination. Ensure systems remain available and performant for production operations.
- Provide general systems administration for IT infrastructure including Windows/Linux servers, Active Directory, DNS/DHCP, file services, and endpoint management.
- Maintain system documentation, configuration baselines, and SOPs for all supported platforms.
- Partner with Operations, Engineering, Quality, and Finance to support system needs and improvement initiatives.
Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business.
Qualifications
- 3+ years of systems administration experience with at least 1 years focused on virtualization platforms in a production environment. Manufacturing, defense, or government-regulated environments preferred.
- Direct hands-on experience with VMware vSphere/ESXi, vCenter, or equivalent hypervisor platforms. Experience with VM templates, clusters, vMotion, and storage configurations required.
- Experience administering MES, historian, or SCADA-adjacent server environments. Familiarity with OT system requirements including uptime constraints, patching limitations, and vendor support considerations.
- Working knowledge of NIST 800-171 control families and CMMC practices as they apply to server and virtualization infrastructure. Experience supporting or preparing for CMMC assessments strongly preferred.
- Solid Windows Server administration skills including Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, and file/print services. Linux experience a plus.
- Ability to map and document how systems communicate, identify integration gaps, and implement or modify integrations with appropriate access controls and logging.
- Prior experience supporting federal contractors, DoD programs, or government-adjacent facilities with CUI handling and export-controlled environments (ITAR/EAR).
- Ability to lift up to 50 lbs, work in a manufacturing environment, and perform physical server and rack work as needed.
- VMware VCP, Microsoft MCSA/MCSE, CompTIA Server+, CompTIA Security+, or equivalent.
Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.
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