RHEL Lead

Job Title - Linux System Administrator RHEL L3 Technical Manager

Location - Navi Mumbai

Experience

• 8+ years of hands-on experience in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Administration
• 2+ years of experience leading IT Operations, Service Delivery, or Infrastructure teams (preferred)

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced RHEL L3 Technical Manager to lead enterprise Linux operations supporting mission-critical production environments. This role requires a highly skilled technical leader who can manage complex Linux infrastructure while driving operational excellence, service reliability, customer satisfaction, and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate will combine deep Linux expertise with strong operational leadership to oversee production support, incident management, automation initiatives, infrastructure optimization, project execution, and people management. The individual will work closely with customers, business stakeholders, and cross-functional infrastructure teams to ensure high availability, SLA compliance, and operational efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

Linux Infrastructure & Technical Leadership

• Provide L3 technical support for RHEL servers across Production, UAT, DR, and Development environments.
• Lead resolution of complex OS, filesystem, hardware, kernel, network, and performance issues.
• Perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for recurring incidents and implement permanent corrective actions.
• Plan and execute OS patching, upgrades, security hardening, and lifecycle management.
• Design and implement automation using Ansible and Shell scripting.
• Configure and troubleshoot enterprise storage solutions including LVM, multipathing, SAN, and NAS.
• Manage High Availability (HA), clustering, load balancing, disaster recovery, and business continuity environments.
• Perform server provisioning, migration, capacity planning, performance tuning, and decommissioning with minimal downtime.
• Collaborate with Application, Database, Storage, Security, Network, Cloud, and Middleware teams to resolve cross-functional issues.
• Ensure Linux infrastructure complies with enterprise security standards, audit requirements, and regulatory policies.
• Maintain technical documentation, SOPs, architecture diagrams, and operational runbooks.

Operations & Service Management

• Own day-to-day Linux Operations ensuring adherence to SLAs, KPIs, and operational commitments.
• Lead Major Incident Management (MIM) calls and drive rapid service restoration during critical outages.
• Manage Incident, Problem, Change, Release, and Capacity Management processes in accordance with ITIL best practices.
• Ensure production stability through proactive monitoring, preventive maintenance, and risk mitigation.
• Drive operational governance by conducting service reviews, operational health checks, and continuous service improvement initiatives.
• Oversee patch management, vulnerability remediation, compliance activities, and audit readiness.
• Review operational dashboards and define improvement plans to enhance service availability and platform performance.
• Identify opportunities for automation to reduce manual effort and improve operational efficiency.

Project & Delivery Management

• Plan and manage infrastructure projects, OS upgrades, migration programs, and technology refresh initiatives.
• Coordinate project schedules, resource planning, and implementation activities across multiple teams.
• Ensure successful delivery of releases with proper change control and rollback planning.
• Prepare project plans, risk registers, status reports, dashboards, and executive summaries.
• Track project milestones, budgets, dependencies, and delivery timelines.
• Manage risks, issues, escalations, and stakeholder expectations throughout project lifecycles.

People Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop L1, L2, and L3 Linux administrators.
• Allocate work, manage shift schedules, on-call rotations, and resource utilization.
• Conduct technical coaching, knowledge transfer (KT) sessions, and skill development initiatives.
• Perform performance reviews, competency assessments, and individual development planning.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Ensure adherence to operational processes, documentation standards, and organizational policies.

Required Technical Skills

• Expert knowledge of RHEL 7/8/9/10 administration.
• Advanced experience with:
• User/group management, permissions, ACLs
• LVM, multipathing, filesystem tuning
• System services and performance optimization
• SSH, SCP, SFTP, secure configurations
• YUM/DNF/RPM package management
• Log analysis, kernel tuning, debugging
• Strong networking knowledge: TCP/IP, DNS, NFS, FTP/SFTP, firewalls, routing.
• Proven experience in patching, vulnerability remediation, and compliance audits.
• Proficiency in Shell scripting and automation frameworks (Ansible preferred).
• Experience with virtualization (VMware) and cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Familiarity with monitoring tools.
• Strong knowledge of ITIL processes (Incident, Change, Problem Management).

Preferred Skills

• RHCE certification (mandatory preferred), RHCSA as baseline.
• Experience in containerization (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes).
• Knowledge of backup tools, disaster recovery solutions, and monitoring frameworks.
• Ability to design and implement scalable, secure Linux infrastructure.
• PMP certification or equivalent project management credential (preferred).

Soft Skills & Leadership Competencies

Operational Leadership

• Strong ownership of end-to-end IT operations with a service-first mindset.
• Ability to manage 24x7 production support environments while ensuring SLA, KPI, and customer commitments are consistently achieved.
• Experience managing operational governance, service reviews, audits, compliance, and continual service improvement (CSI) initiatives.
• Proven ability to balance operational stability with infrastructure modernization and automation initiatives.

People Management

• Demonstrated experience leading and developing infrastructure support teams in a multi-shift or global delivery environment.
• Strong capability in workforce planning, resource allocation, shift scheduling, succession planning, and performance management.
• Skilled in coaching, mentoring, conflict resolution, team motivation, and building high-performing engineering teams.
• Ability to foster collaboration across geographically distributed teams and create a culture of accountability and continuous learning.

Customer & Stakeholder Management

• Excellent customer-facing communication and relationship management skills with the ability to engage technical teams, business stakeholders, and executive leadership.
• Experience managing customer escalations, executive communications, service reviews, and operational governance meetings.
• Strong focus on customer satisfaction, service quality, and proactive communication during incidents and major changes.
• Ability to translate technical challenges into business-friendly updates and actionable recommendations.

Leadership & Communication

• Strong analytical and decision-making abilities under high-pressure situations.
• Excellent presentation, documentation, and reporting skills.
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, and competing deadlines.
• Proactive, solution-oriented mindset with a focus on innovation, automation, and operational excellence.