System/Network Administrator

Peraton Overview

Peraton is a next-generation national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies to protect our nation and allies. Peraton operates at the critical nexus between traditional and nontraditional threats across all domains: land, sea, space, air, and cyberspace. The company serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies and supports every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Each day, our employees do the can’t be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we’re keeping people around the world safe and secure.

Responsibilities

As the world’s leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets.

Our First Responder Solutions program is seeking a System/Network Administrator to enlarge our team responsible for supporting the California Dept of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The System/Network Administrator is the hands-on technical practitioner responsible for the day-to-day configuration, maintenance, monitoring, and troubleshooting of the CAL FIRE CAD network infrastructure. This role is essential during the Knowledge Transfer and Onboarding and Technical Enhancements and Infrastructure Transition phases and becomes the operational backbone of the engagement during the Operations Support phase.

Key Responsibilities

• Administer, configure, and maintain all network infrastructure components supporting the CAL FIRE CAD environment, including routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, and wireless access points.
• Execute network changes, upgrades, and enhancements in accordance with approved change management procedures, ensuring zero disruption to dispatch operations.
• Monitor network performance, availability, and security using enterprise monitoring tools (e.g., SolarWinds, PRTG, Nagios, or equivalent); respond to and resolve alerts in accordance with defined SLAs.
• Participate actively in the Knowledge Transfer phase, shadowing CAL FIRE network staff, documenting configurations, and building runbooks and standard operating procedures.
• Support the Technology Assessment by conducting network audits, capturing device inventories, and validating architecture documentation against physical and logical configurations.
• Perform system administration tasks for servers and infrastructure supporting the CAD environment, including OS patching, backup management, and performance tuning.
• Implement and maintain network security controls including ACLs, firewall rule sets, VPN configurations, and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS).
• Respond to and resolve network incidents and service requests, maintaining detailed records in the ITSM ticketing system.
• Support disaster recovery and business continuity testing, including failover validation for CAD-critical network paths.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date network documentation including topology diagrams, IP address management (IPAM) records, and configuration baselines.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, Network Engineering, or a related field with 5 years’ experience.
• Minimum 5 years of hands-on network and systems administration experience, with at least 2 years in public safety, government, or critical infrastructure environment.
• Must be a US Citizen.
• Cisco CCNA required certification.
• Proficiency with Cisco IOS/IOS-XE, routing protocols (OSPF, BGP, EIGRP), switching (STP, VLANs, trunking), and firewall platforms (Cisco ASA/FTD, Palo Alto, or Fortinet).
• Solid understanding of TCP/IP networking, DNS, DHCP, QoS, and network security fundamentals.
• Experience with ITSM platforms (ServiceNow, Remedy) and change management processes in a regulated environment.
• Working knowledge of Windows Server and Linux administration in a networked environment.
• Ability to work on-call rotations and respond to after-hours incidents as required by operational SLAs.

Preferred Qualifications

• CCNP (Routing & Switching or Enterprise) strongly preferred. CompTIA Network+ and/or Security+ a plus.
• Familiarity with CAD system network requirements, including low-latency design, redundancy, and integration with radio/telephony systems preferred.
• Experience with SD-WAN platforms (Cisco Viptela, VMware VeloCloud, or equivalent) preferred.

Target Salary Range

$86,000 - $138,000. This represents the typical salary range for this position. Salary is determined by various factors, including but not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the position, the individual’s experience, education, knowledge, skills, and competencies, as well as geographic location and business and contract considerations. Depending on the position, employees may be eligible for overtime, shift differential, and a discretionary bonus in addition to base pay.

Benefits Statement

Peraton offers eligible employees a variety of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, health savings account, short/long term disability, EAP, parental leave, 401(k), paid time off (PTO) for vacation, and company paid holidays. A full listing of available benefits can be viewed at https://www.careers.peraton.com/benefits.

Application Statements

The application period for the job is estimated to be 30 days from the job posting date. However, this timeline may be shortened or extended depending on business needs and the availability of qualified candidates. By applying to this job, you are expressing interest in the role and the Company. During the review of your application, you may be required to participate in an on-camera interview, as well as participate in a process to verify your identity. Use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools of any kind during Peraton interviews is strictly prohibited unless the candidate has obtained prior written authorization. All interview responses must be the candidate’s own.

EEO

EEO: Equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veterans, or other characteristics protected by law.