Senior Systems Administrator

Ability to work in-office from our Santa Monica, CA studio five days a week is required.

For 40 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of interactive storytelling, gameplay, and technology. Naughty Dog recently released The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Part II Remastered for the PS5. We're also proud to say that both games are now available for the first time on PC. We’re currently busy at the kennel working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and we'd love to find talented individuals to join us.
Naughty Dog games have long been lauded for their evocative, character-driven stories and attention to detail. We are committed to innovation within our games and as such have curated some of the top creative and technically innovative minds in the industry. We welcome diverse candidates and believe that a broad range of cultural and life experiences contribute to the overall well-being and success of the studio and the titles we craft together.

Naughty Dog is seeking a Senior Systems Administrator to join our IT team in supporting our Windows environment, core infrastructure, and development teams. This position will be the primary point of contact for administration of Windows systems and core infrastructure as well as provide escalated support to all members of the studio. The ideal candidate will have an expert technical background, exceptional customer service skills, collaborate well in a team environment, and is well versed in all matters of hardware and software within a studio environment. The ideal candidate would also have a strong passion for researching, deploying, and supporting cutting edge hardware and software solutions. If you are interested in supporting and learning from some of the most talented people in the industry, taking on new challenges, and being an integral part of developing great games we would love to hear from you.

What you will do:

• Serve as the on-site technical expert and domain administrator for Windows and Linux operating systems
• Serve as the primary administrator of applications, user accounts, operating systems and tools such as Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and Group Policy
• Performance monitoring and reporting of system performance, IT system operations, internal tools, patching tools, and virtual machines
• On-going technical analysis of studio IT infrastructure to recommend potential improvements
• Administration and support for various enterprise applications such Office 365, SharePoint, Slack, Zoom, MS Teams, JIRA, Confluence, Parsec, etc.
• Administration and support of hybrid cloud infrastructure such as Azure and AWS
• Administration of authentication platforms such as OKTA, Entra ID, Google Authenticator, etc.
• Creation, deployment and management of Group Policies
• Maintenance and auditing of domain and endpoint security
• Configuration, deployment, and maintenance of Windows and Linux servers
• Configuration, deployment, and maintenance of database servers and repositories
• Assist in configuration, deployment, and maintenance of virtual machines
• Racking and installation of server, storage, and networking equipment
• Perform patching and updating workstation, server, and networking equipment
• Create and maintain installation, procedure, and support documentation
• Collaborate with multiple development stakeholders to assist in troubleshooting, identifying root causes, and provide escalated technical support when needed
• Collaborate with Naughty Dog, SIE, and studio partner stakeholders to execute development related projects while ensuring IT standards and procedures are followed
• Provide mentorship and training to other members of the IT team

Requirements & Skills:

• Must have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, MCSE certification, or equivalent education + experience
• Must have 10+ years experience administrating and supporting a large, highly distributed, studio environment in media, entertainment or games industries
• Must have experience supporting artists, designers, and engineers through the development and release of at least 2 completed titles or projects
• Expert understanding of Windows server 2022 and later
• Expert understanding of Unbutu 20.04 and later • Expert troubleshooting skills for server and desktop hardware
• Strong understanding of TCP/IP networking and routing
• Strong understanding of Intel and AMD Server Hardware
• Strong understanding of deployment tools such as Windows Deployment Services, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
• Strong understanding of virtualization technologies such as VMWare and Hyper-V
• Strong understanding of automation tools such as Ansible, Jenkins, Puppet
• Strong understanding of containerization practices and software such as Docker and Kubernetes
• Proficient in a scripting language such as PowerShell or Python to automate tasks
• Experience with configuration management or infrastructure as code
• Experience with vulnerability management solutions such as Qualys
• Experience with project and incident tracking systems such as JIRA, ServiceNow, etc.
• Experience with backup systems such as Cohesity, Rubrik, Commvault, etc.
• Experience with analytics and interactive visualization web applications such as Grafana or Prometheus
• Experience with using AI tools
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, customer service, and organizational skills
• Ability to be on-call to cover out of hours support
• Ability to learn quickly and demonstrate excellent problem-solving skills

Bonus Skills: (Optional)

• Familiarity with Netapp hardware
• Experience with terminal services
• Experience with Perforce
• Experience with cloud AWS management
• A passion for games

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