Team Lead, System Administrator

About the Role

• The Team Lead, Systems Administration, is a senior individual contributor who also leads the IT infrastructure team tactically.
• This role is responsible for both the hands-on delivery of complex systems work and the orchestration of team priorities, standards, and output quality.
• The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise in networking, cloud infrastructure, security, and automation with the leadership capability to coach a team, enforce SOPs, and drive measurable operational excellence, including leveraging AI tools to optimise how the team works.
• This role sits at the Team Lead level in Moniepoint's Talent Architecture.
• Success is defined not only by personal technical output, but by the team's consistent performance and delivery against infrastructure-wide targets.

Scope & Decision Horizon

• Leads the IT infrastructure team tactically.
• Success is the orchestration of people and priorities to ensure the team's immediate output aligns with the broader roadmap.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Operations:

• Lead, coordinate, and coach a team of Systems Administrators, ensuring consistent output quality and adherence to SOPs.
• Manage team workload, prioritise tasks across competing demands, and ensure SLA compliance across all infrastructure functions.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, deliver direct and specific performance feedback, and actively develop team members' technical skills.
• Design and enforce team workflows and escalation paths, ensuring quality is consistent regardless of who executes the task.
• Own team-level metrics: system uptime (99.9%+), ticket SLAs, incident response times, and end-user satisfaction.
• Identify gaps in team capability or process and proactively close them through training, tooling, or workflow redesign.

Infrastructure Management:

• Design, implement, and maintain a robust IT infrastructure, including servers and virtualisation platforms (Proxmox).
• Administer and optimise Windows Server, Linux systems, and hybrid cloud infrastructures.
• Maintain comprehensive system documentation, network diagrams, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Plan and execute system upgrades with minimal downtime; optimise for performance, reliability, and cost efficiency.

Cloud & Network Infrastructure:

• Design, deploy, and manage cloud network environments across GCP, OCI, and Azure, Outpost, including VPCs, subnets, peering, firewall rules, and private connectivity.
• Administer and optimise BGP routing policies, virtual routers (vRTF), and F5 load balancers across the enterprise network and cloud environments.
• Configure, manage, and troubleshoot enterprise networking infrastructure (routers, switches, firewalls, wireless access points).
• Implement and maintain network security protocols, VLANs, VPNs, and network segmentation across on-premise and cloud environments.
• Manage DNS, DHCP, Directory as a Service, and other core network services.
• Monitor network performance, analyse bandwidth utilisation, and implement QoS policies.

AI Tools & Workflow Automation:

• Manage, maintain, and evaluate AI tools used across the IT and infrastructure function, ensuring reliability, access control, and appropriate use.
• Build and maintain automation workflows using n8n and similar platforms to optimise repetitive operational processes.
• Design and implement AI-assisted workflows for network deployment, incident triage, and infrastructure monitoring.
• Coach team members on responsible AI integration, when to use AI tools, how to validate outputs, and where human review is required.
• Identify opportunities to reduce manual toil through intelligent automation and continuously improve the team's automation capabilities.

Telephony & Unified Communications:

• Administer and maintain the xCALLY PBX platform, including call routing, IVR configuration, queue management, and agent provisioning.
• Troubleshoot telephony incidents end-to-end: SIP trunks, PBX dial plans, voice quality, and carrier integration.
• Coordinate with ISPs and telecom carriers to ensure uptime and quality of voice services across all sites.

Automation & Scripting:

• Develop and maintain automation scripts (Python, PowerShell, Bash) to eliminate repetitive tasks and improve operational efficiency.
• Utilise Infrastructure as Code tools (Terraform, Ansible) for consistent and scalable infrastructure deployment.
• Build and maintain monitoring and alerting solutions using Prometheus, Grafana, and Nagios.
• Document automation and tooling clearly enough for an Associate-level team member to execute independently.

Security & Compliance:

• Implement and enforce IT security policies, access controls, and data protection measures across on-premise and cloud environments.
• Manage endpoint security solutions, patch management, and privileged access management.
• Manage user authentication systems, including SSO, MFA, and identity governance.
• Lead incident response: manage security events, conduct Root Cause Analyses (RCA), and implement permanent fixes.

User Endpoint & Technical Support:

• Oversee onboarding and offboarding procedures, ensuring seamless first-day experiences and complete account lifecycle management.
• Administer Google Workspace, including user provisioning, group management, Drive policies, and app integrations.
• Manage MDM solutions for corporate devices across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
• Provide or oversee expert-level L2/L3 support, ensuring timely resolution and minimal user disruption.
• Manage IT asset inventory, lifecycle, and procurement coordination.

Qualifications, Competencies & Skills

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or diploma in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of proven experience in systems administration, infrastructure, or network engineering roles.
• At least 2 years of formal or informal team leadership, including coaching, delegation, and performance feedback.
• Relevant industry certifications (CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft, GCP/Azure/OCI cloud, Linux) are highly desirable, but not compulsory.

Technical Skills:

• Advanced proficiency in Active Directory / Directory as a Service (e.g., JumpCloud); Linux/Unix administration (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian).
• Cloud networking expertise across GCP, OCI, and Azure: VPCs, subnets, load balancers, private service connect, VPN gateways, and cloud firewall management.
• Deep understanding of TCP/IP, BGP routing protocols, switching, VLANs, and enterprise network architecture across data centre and WAN environments.
• Hands-on experience with virtual routers (vRTF), F5 load balancers, and enterprise networking equipment (Cisco, Ubiquiti).
• Virtualisation experience with Proxmox; data centre operations including rack and stack, power, cooling, and structured cabling.
• Experience administering xCALLY PBX or equivalent enterprise telephony/unified communications platforms.
• Proficiency in scripting: Python, PowerShell, Bash; experience with Ansible and Terraform.
• Hands-on experience with n8n or equivalent workflow automation platforms for building and managing operational automations.
• Experience managing AI tools within an IT environment, including access control, integration, and responsible use governance.
• Experience with monitoring tools (Grafana, Prometheus, Nagios, PRTG) and endpoint/MDM management platforms.
• Proficiency in Google Workspace administration: user and group management, Drive, Gmail, Meet, and third-party app integrations.
• Advanced infosec tooling experience (e.g., CrowdStrike); knowledge of Disaster Recovery protocols and DR drills.
• Experience with Jira Service Management; understanding of SLIs, SLOs, and SLAs.

Leadership & Soft Skills:

• Proven ability to lead a technical team: delegate effectively, deliver feedback, and develop others.
• Exceptional analytical and systematic troubleshooting approach; moves fast without compromising rigour.
• Strong documentation discipline — produces SOPs and runbooks clear enough for junior team members to execute.
• Candid communicator: surfaces risks early, documents dissent, and challenges direction constructively.
• Customer-obsessed: identifies and permanently resolves recurring pain points, not just individual tickets.

Working Conditions:

• This role may require occasional weekend or after-hours work to perfor