Senior Linux Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 16, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 13, 2026. BAE Systems scores B on the Alion truth index.
Senior Linux Engineer
Job Location: South Australia (Edinburgh Parks or Flinders Street) or Melbourne
We work in a thriving sector - one that puts us at the forefront of exciting and meaningful work. Every day we push boundaries to produce some of the world’s most innovative and ground breaking technology. Individually we all contribute to our success. Collectively we make the impossible possible.
Recognised for delivering projects of global and national significance that help keep Australia safe, it is our shared passion that shapes our culture, and our people that make it a great place to work.
Who we are:
Join BAE Systems and you’ll be part of something bigger. As a valued member of our global colleague network, you’ll bring your unique skills and perspectives to help pioneer progress and protect what matters most. You’ll be trusted to play your part in delivering the advanced, technology-led defence, aerospace and security solutions of tomorrow - shaping a safer future, for all of us.
We embrace flexible work arrangements at BAE Systems Australia, such as working a 9-day fortnight hybrid working.
From the depths of the ocean, to the far reaches of space - there’s no limit to where a career at BAE Systems could take you.
Role Description
We are seeking an experienced Linux Engineer who enjoys solving complex problems, building reliable platforms and occasionally being presented with a support request that simply says: “It’s broken.” If your first response is “Can you be slightly more specific?” then we would like to hear from you.
You will help build, support and evolve the Linux platforms that underpin our engineering, development and research environments. You will work closely with developers, engineers, architects, and researchers to understand what they are trying to achieve and translate requirements into practical, secure, and maintainable solutions.
We value diverse perspectives and welcome applications from people of all genders, cultures, backgrounds, abilities, and experiences. We recognise that great engineers come from a variety of career paths. If this role excites you, but you do not meet every requirement, we would still love to hear from you.
Core Duties:
- Design, build and maintain Linux environments supporting software development, engineering and research workloads.
- Develop and maintain SOEs across RHEL, Ubuntu and related technologies while preserving the long-standing tradition of developers requesting “just one small exception”.
- Troubleshoot issues across compute, storage, networking and operating systems, usually before anyone has agreed whose fault it is.
- Translate log files, application requirements and “it seems a bit slow” into actionable technical solutions.
- Partner with developers and engineering teams to understand requirements, separate genuine business needs from wish lists, and deliver practical outcomes.
- Build environments that let teams move fast while staying inside security and governance requirements. Think fast, but with seatbelts.
- Occasionally act as a translator between “what the business wants” and “what the technology can realistically do”.
- Support and enhance large-scale compute environments using BCM, Slurm and Open OnDemand.
- Work with users to improve scheduling efficiency, utilisation and performance.
- Help users shave hours off compute runs without violating the laws of physics.
- Gently explain that “the queue is long” is a scheduling matter, not a bug.
- Develop automation using Bash, Python, PowerShell and Ansible. Bash for the quick fix, Python for the quick fix that somehow lived for six years.
- Reduce repetitive work through repeatable and scalable solutions because life is too short to click the same button 500 times.
- Improve platform consistency, resilience, and operational efficiency.
- Balance security requirements with usability because “lock everything down” and “give everyone admin rights” are rarely the right answers.
- Help ensure systems remain boringly reliable. Excitement is best left to project milestones, not production infrastructure.
- Mentor engineers and share knowledge across teams, including writing the runbook before someone is messaged at 2am.
- Foster a culture where questions are welcomed and “I don’t know, let’s find out” is a perfectly acceptable answer.
What Success Looks Like
- Improved the experience for development and engineering users.
- Enhanced HPC capabilities through improvements to Slurm, BCM or Open OnDemand.
- Solved a performance issue everyone was convinced was DNS, certificates, networking, storage or cosmic rays.
- Politely talked someone out of “can we just run it as root?”
- Become the person colleagues seek out when something unusual appears in a log file.
About YOU
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or related field or equivalent experience.
- Strong experience administering enterprise Linux environments, including the “temporary” ones from 2014.
- Experience with RHEL, Ubuntu and associated enterprise tooling (atleast 5+ years).
- Strong troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills.
- Ability to understand business and technical requirements and translate them into practical outcomes.
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to explain why “just restart it” is sometimes the fix and sometimes the problem.
- A curious mindset and desire to continually learn and improve.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Baseline security clearance.
- Experience with HPC environments and workload schedulers such as Slurm would be a bonus.
- Worked with Azure Stack Hub, Azure Local or hybrid infrastructure experience (you know what ‘hybrid’ means when the cloud is in your own server room).
Why BAE Systems?
Here you’ll build a career with purpose and limitless possibilities. With lifelong learning and meaningful work - this is a place where you can grow your career with confidence and be empowered to be your best. You’ll be recognised for your contribution and enjoy rewards tailored to what’s most important to you and your family - support for your financial and personal wellbeing, as well as a balanced lifestyle. In an environment embracing sustainable ways of working and with a strong sense of shared purpose, our supportive culture is a place you can feel you belong and proud of the difference you make.
A place where everyone can thrive
We’re committed to building an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and supported. We know that a diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences strengthens our teams and is vital to the work we do.
We support our veteran community through VetNet Australia, along with initiatives such as Reserve Service Leave, a Veteran Mentoring Program, and partner-supported programs.
We welcome applications from all candidates and strongly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply.
We are proud to be recognised as an employer of choice for women by WORK180 and recipients of the Benchmarcx Top Employer for Candidate Experience Excellence 2026. As members of the Circle Back Initiative, we commit to responding to every applicant.
If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please contact our recruitment team to discuss the support you may need. You can also connect with us via Careers and Employment.
Security statement
Please note, as a defence security clearance is required for this role, applicants must be Australian citizens and either possess or be eligible to obtain and maintain one. Further information regarding security clearances.