Senior Systems & Networking Administrator

ABOUT THE ROLE The Senior Systems & Networking Administrator is SAM’s infrastructure lead — designing, deploying, securing, and maintaining the museum’s servers, network, backups, and server rooms across all three sites (SAM Downtown, the Seattle Asian Art Museum at Volunteer Park, and the Olympic Sculpture Park). The environment supports approximately 400 staff and includes roughly 60 virtual servers on a six-node Hyper-V cluster, Windows and Linux systems, enterprise firewalls and switching, wireless across three public-facing sites, and the server-side infrastructure behind SAM’s ticketing, CRM, and collections platforms. This is a backfill for a colleague retiring after more than twenty years in the role, serving as SAM’s sole systems administrator for most of that tenure. Much of the environment was personally architected by that colleague and is documented tersely or not at all. The person in this role should expect to take ownership of production infrastructure early, learn a complex environment quickly and largely independently, and — critically — rebuild the institutional knowledge that is departing with them so that SAM is never again dependent on a single person. Two responsibilities distinguish this role from a standard senior administrator posting. First, it is the technical mentor to SAM’s Junior Systems & Networking Administrator, who is early in that role and actively growing into it; developing that colleague is a core, ongoing duty and not an occasional courtesy. Second, it is accountable for documentation and knowledge continuity as a deliverable in its own right, not as cleanup work that happens when there is time. ABOUT SAM  As SAM heads into its second century, we are boldly reimagining what we can and should be. Our goal is to be a model for the future of museums - a bold, dynamic hub of creativity, belonging, and cultural leadership, shaping the future of art and community. Embracing new ways of engaging communities and seeking innovative partnerships - all while keeping art and community at the center of what we do. This ambitious effort represents a transformative shift and radically redefining how art museums operate. This is a pivotal moment for SAM, and we are seeking great talent to join us on our journey. Working at SAM is not just a job—it's a chance to be part of a vibrant, creative community. RESPONSIBILITIES  Systems & Server Administration Administer and maintain on-premises servers (HPE hardware, Windows Server, Linux) supporting museum-wide applications and file services Administer the virtualization platform: approximately 60 virtual guests on a six-node Hyper-V cluster, including host maintenance, patching, capacity, and clustered storage Manage server-side infrastructure for Tessitura (ticketing/CRM) and support the Tessitura RAMP cloud migration Plan and execute server refresh and capacity projects, including the current server room UPS replacement Administer core identity and directory services (Active Directory, Microsoft 365/Entra ID) in coordination with the Director of Technology Own the backup and recovery stack end to end (on-premises backup plus cloud/offsite copies); test restores on a defined schedule and be able to meet documented recovery time objectives Network & Security Design, configure, and maintain the museum’s network: enterprise firewalls and VPN, Juniper switching, and Mist wireless across all three sites, including public visitor WiFi Lead network infrastructure projects such as the multi-year switch replacement and internet redundancy (dual-ISP failover) initiatives Administer Cloudflare for WAF/DDoS/bot protection on public-facing web properties Monitor logs, alerts, and security tooling (SIEM, EDR/MDR); investigate and remediate incidents; support penetration testing and vulnerability remediation Maintain network documentation, diagrams, and access controls; enforce least-privilege and security best practices Manage certificate lifecycle, VLAN design, and segmented networks for vendors, events, and specialty gallery systems Mentorship, Documentation & Knowledge Continuity  Serve as the day-to-day technical mentor to the Junior Systems & Networking Administrator, who is newer to the role and still developing senior-level infrastructure skills This is an explicit, recurring responsibility with a meaningful share of the week attached to it Provide structured, hands-on skill development — shadowing, paired troubleshooting, and supervised ownership of real work — across virtualization, backup and recovery, firewall and switching administration, and alert triage Written handoff alone does not satisfy this duty Build and maintain the operational record the department currently lacks: runbooks and standard operating procedures, network and system diagrams, a credential inventory, an asset register, and a vendor contract and renewal calendar Ensure no critical recovery or maintenance task has only one capable owner; deliberately cross-train so that infrastructure knowledge is held by the department rather than by an individual Maintain disaster recovery and business continuity documentation and validate it against actual recovery testing Serve as senior escalation for the help desk and junior systems staff, using escalations as teaching opportunities where practical Project & Vendor Leadership  Serve as point person on infrastructure capital projects (switch replacement, UPS replacement, internet redundancy, five-year hardware replacement plan): scoping, budgeting, and managing vendor relationships Partner with the Director of Technology on technology budget planning and purchasing recommendations for infrastructure Manage vendor and carrier relationships directly — quotes, support contracts, renewals, escalations, and invoice review — and track license and support expirations proactively Sequence maintenance and project work around the museum’s exhibition, event, and public-hours calendar in coordination with affected departm