On Site Systems Administrator (US)

Location: Maryland

Team: Research
Employment Type: Full-Time

About VulnCheck

VulnCheck is transforming vulnerability intelligence by helping security teams act faster and with more confidence. Our platform delivers early, high-quality exploit intelligence, deep asset correlation, and contextual insights to help organizations stay ahead of emerging threats.

About the Role

While this is a hybrid role, the position requires regular onsite management of physical lab equipment in Baltimore area on call off hours and weekends. 

VulnCheck is looking for a Systems Administrator / Lab Manager to build, maintain, and operate the lab infrastructure that supports our vulnerability research team. This role is responsible for standing up and managing a research environment that includes networking equipment, IoT / OT devices, and the supporting compute, storage, and network infrastructure our researchers depend on to discover, analyze, and validate vulnerabilities.

You'll work closely with our exploit developers and threat researchers to ensure they have reliable, secure, and reproducible environments for testing against real-world hardware and software. The lab is central to VulnCheck's mission — our researchers need to move fast, and the infrastructure has to keep up. 

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and maintain the physical and virtual lab infrastructure used by VulnCheck's vulnerability research team.
• Procure, configure, and manage networking equipment (routers, switches, firewalls, wireless access points) and IoT / OT devices used for security research and exploit validation.
• Manage lab network architecture — including segmentation, VLANs, out-of-band management, and isolated test environments to safely run exploit code against live devices.
• Administer Linux and Windows servers, hypervisors, and virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware, Proxmox, KVM) that host vulnerable software and services for testing.
• Maintain firmware libraries and device inventories, ensuring researchers have access to specific hardware and software versions needed for vulnerability analysis.
• Provide remote access infrastructure (VPN, jump hosts, remote console access) so distributed team members can interact with physical lab equipment.
• Automate environment provisioning, configuration management, and lab reset workflows using tools such as Ansible, Terraform, or similar.
• Monitor lab systems for availability, performance, and security — and respond to issues promptly.
• Collaborate with researchers to understand upcoming research targets and proactively prepare the lab environments they need.
• Manage vendor relationships for hardware procurement, warranties, and RMA processes.
• Document lab architecture, procedures, and runbooks to ensure operational continuity.

What You'll Bring

• 8+ years of experience in systems administration, lab operations, or infrastructure engineering.
• Experience managing physical lab infrastructure remotely, including out-of-band management (IPMI/iLO/iDRAC), remote PDUs, and KVM-over-IP.
• Strong systems and network monitoring experience, building and tuning, Prometeus, Grafana, Zabbix, Netfolw, Zeek
• Strong hands-on experience with Linux system administration (Ubuntu, CentOS/RHEL, or similar) install and ownership.
• Solid networking fundamentals — TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, firewall, router configuration. Top of rack
• Experience managing and configuring networking equipment (Cisco, Juniper, MikroTik, etc), must have physical firewall and network switching experience..
• Familiarity with IoT devices and embedded systems — comfortable working with serial consoles, JTAG, firmware flashing, and device provisioning.
• Familiarity with OT/ICS devices and protocols is a huge plus.
• Experience with virtualization and containerization technologies (VMware, Proxmox, KVM, Docker).
• Experience with configuration management and infrastructure-as-code tools (Ansible, Terraform, or similar).
• Ability to work independently and manage priorities across multiple concurrent research efforts.
• Strong documentation habits and clear written communication.
• Scripting skills in Python, Bash, or Go for automating lab workflows; familiarity with Go is a plus. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience using Claude or other AI models for task automation. 
• Prior experience supporting a security research, penetration testing, or red team lab environment.
• Prior cybersecurity work experience (at a vendor or in government).

*IMPORTANT NOTE: This position may involve access to technology subject to U.S. export control regulations. Employment is contingent upon the company's ability to authorize access under applicable export control, sanctions, and any other applicable legal or contractual requirements. The company does not guarantee and is under no obligation to seek such authorization if it would be necessary.

What We Offer

We believe people do their best work when they feel supported, trusted, and valued. VulnCheck offers benefits designed to meet a wide range of needs and lifestyles.

Benefits and Perks

• Competitive salary with employee equity program
• Health, dental, and vision coverage
• Unlimited PTO
• 401(k) plan
• Remote friendly environment with flexibility
• Expense reimbursement for home internet and phone
• Ongoing professional development, coaching, and learning resources
• Opportunities for career advancement within a fast-growing team

Why Join Us

Built on over two decades of cybersecurity experience, our team of experts understands the intricacies of vulnerabilities, their exploitation in the wild, and how to leverage this data to build more effective cybersecurity products that produce better outcomes for organizations.

VulnCheck gives organizations a tactical advantage by providing best-in-class exploit & vulnerability intelligence information. We have a sense of duty to protect the critical infrastructure we rely on including medical devices, power grids and telecommunication networks. We were founded in 2021 in Lexington, Massachusetts.

VulnCheck has a transparent, collaborative, and supportive culture — we are looking for people who have a growth mindset, are curious and innovative. Our team is smart, but humble, hardworking, and supportive.

VulnCheck is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. VulnCheck is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities.