Senior Systems Administrator

The Focus Group Johannesburg, South Africa 10 September 2025 Mid / Senior 40000 - 50000 Full Time Cost to Company 3 years - 5 years Skills Cyber Security Disaster Recovery Microsoft Azure Network Administration SQL Industries Information Technology (IT) Job Description
**Department**: IT Infrastructure and Support
**Reports To**: IT Operations Manager
**Location**: Bedfordview (With possibility of hybrid)
**Company Overview**:
An established player in the South African long term insurance market with over 25 years of experience in non-traditional sectors. We sell and administer a full range of funeral insurance products in the trade union environment and have a very close working relationship with NEHAWU. We are focused on client centricity and solving needs for South Africans with innovation, unique & creative solutions, and products.
**Role Description**:
**Key Responsibilities**:

- Security
- Analyse security risks and develop response procedures.
- Evaluate, recommend, and implement other security and monitoring devices.
- Install computer security software.
- Conduct regular security audits.
- Preparing of security status reports.
- Educating users on computer security.
- Creating security documentation for users.
- Assisting in disaster recovery and gathering evidence regarding cybercrimes.
- Oversee patch management policy.
- Manage user access, permissions, and security policies across network and server environments.
- Network and system infrastructure
- Administer, monitor, optimise and maintain all company network infrastructure (LAN, WAN, VPN, wireless, and firewalls).
- Install, configure, and maintain physical and virtual servers (Windows, Linux, etc.), ensuring optimal performance and availability.
- Manage and maintain telephony infrastructure and systems and the optimisation of thereof.
- Steer and administer the cloud migration process with cost projections, planning, and implementation.
- Monitor systems for performance, reliability, and security, responding to alerts and resolving issues proactively.
- Manage and report on root cause analysis for faults with remedial action.
- Troubleshooting and monitoring network related performance focusing on the remote and on-site deployment.
- Setup monitoring software for performance on servers to do preventative maintenance.
- Assist support team on complex technical issues.
- Work together with the department manager to define policies and procedures relating to network performance and security.
- Secure server environments by creating documented polices with procedures, implementation, and the monitoring thereof.
- Ensure network protocols are documented refining security between network devices.
- Back ups and disaster recovery
- Implement and oversee regular system backups, performing test restores to ensure data integrity and availability.
- Document network/server configurations, processes, and recovery procedures.
- Develop, update, and test disaster recovery and business continuity plans to minimise downtime and data loss.
- General
- Budget control and administration of software licensing.
- Maintain vendor and supplier relations.
- Stay abreast of emerging technologies and best practices to recommend improvements and ensure compliance with industry standards.
**Qualifications, Skills, and Experience**:

- Minimum of 3 years experience with infrastructure maintenance.
- Understanding of SQL backups
- Understanding of cybersecurity principles and best practices.
- Previous experience in developing and testing disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
- Microsoft Azure experience
- Advantageous:

- BSC in Computer Science or a related field
- Microsoft certifications
- Security certifications
- Expertise or experience with
? ManageEngine range of products.
- Proven expertise in network administration (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, firewalls, wireless).
- Strong knowledge of server technologies (Windows Server, Linux/Unix, Active Directory, virtualisation platforms such as VMware or Hyper-V).
- Experience with backup solutions (e.g., Veeam, Commvault, Acronis) and disaster recovery planning.
- Extensive experience with Hyper-V replication, Veeam backup and replication.
- Certifications such as CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator, Cisco CCNA, or similar.
- Familiarity with monitoring and management tools (e.g., Nagios, SolarWinds, Zabbix).
- Experience in cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
- Knowledge of scripting languages (PowerShell, Bash, Python) for automation.
- Strong skills for daily operational challenges
- Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team, including participation in an on-call rotation if required.

Success Criteria
- All company systems remain available, and work optimally.
- All networks are operational and work optimally.
- A robust cyber security plan is in place, which includes minim