Ruby on Rails Hosting - Blue Box Group

BLUE BOX GROUP NEEDS ANOTHER PROFESSIONAL LINUX GEEK!

We are looking for the next great system administrator to join our invigorating work environment. Since our inception in 2003, Blue Box Group has focused on providing personalized, professional and reliable hosting services for businesses of all sizes. Our customers range from Fortune 250 corporations to mom and pop operations. Our tremendous growth, fueled by our passion for the success of our customers in the Ruby on Rails managed hosting space has created a necessity for smart and creative system administrators to join our existing team. It is our sole mission to serve our customers to the best possible extent.

Our Systems Administrators (aka System Gurus) perform a wide variety of tasks directly related to the administration and support of Linux and BSD systems in our high availability web-hosting environment. Additionally, this position will help handle level 2 tech support emails and phone calls relating to web hosting and dedicated server questions.

We are looking for someone in the Seattle / Tacoma (Washington) corridor who can have a physical presence at our data center and work out of our head quarters in downtown Tacoma, WA.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Systems Administrator will be involved day to day with:

• The administration of Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS, Ubuntu, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD boxes.
• Hardware support Intel and AMD server hardware
• Shell scripting for various system administration tasks.
• Providing phone and email support to customers.
• System performance optimization

QUALIFICATIONS

Our core niche is in the Ruby on Rails managed hosting space, so the ideal candidate would have experience in the field. We’re in the process of launching some exciting new rails oriented products and our desired candidate will hopefully share that enthusiasm. An individual who is currently active in the rails community is a plus.

We’re a company of self-starters and self-learners. We’re looking for an individual who is able to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing and potentially demanding environment. Because of the wide variety of software and skills required, it is not expected that the candidate be familiar with all systems currently in use (see a semi-complete list at the bottom of this document). However, the candidate should come to the job with an advanced understanding of computer networking. These include Internet protocols such as TCP/IP, HTTP, SMTP, POP3, and DNS. Furthermore, the candidate should posses the following traits:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to seek creative, viable solutions to problems.
• Strong analytical and computer skills.
• Ability to work independently.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

The desired candidate will have or be in the process of obtaining a degree in Computer Science or posses 3 or more years of systems administration experience. Proven experience is more valued than education. Prior experience in the data center industry is a plus, but not necessarily required. Experience with Ruby on Rails is highly sought after.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of the job, dexterity in using a telephone, computer keyboard, mouse, and calculator while seated at desk are required. The employee will be required to occasionally visit our data center located in Tukwila, WA. The employee must be able to lift up to sixty pounds during server installations. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work is conducted from our headquarters in downtown Tacoma, WA. Hours are flexible (we’re looking for some one to work 4pm to midnight or weekends). There is no formal dress code, although employees are requested to keep a tidy appearance when in the office. There is a potential for a telecommute setup. The candidate should be willing to be scheduled into a rotating on-call schedule for after hours work. This includes the possibility of working some weekends or holidays.

BENEFITS

Blue Box Group is a rapidly expanding company and thus our benefits package is constantly improving. As of present, this position includes medical and dental benefits through Regence Blue Shield and Assurant. These benefits are paid at 90%. Spouse and child benefits are offered through our providers. We include a week and a half of paid vacation annually (this will grow as our staff increases). We offer flex hours, and a cell phone paid for by the company. We want this job to be enjoyable for our employees, and as we continue to grow, we will reward your performance handsomely. Beyond the traditional benefits package, the excitement of interacting with companies you see and hear about on a day-to-day basis makes this job exceptionally unique.

NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES

Below is a list of different network technologies and vendors we work with regularly. Familiarity with most of these is a big plus.

• Ruby on Rails, et al. (Subversion, Gems, Mongrel, Phusion)
• F5 BigIP LTM Load Balancers
• Cisco Switches and Routers
• Red Hat Linux ES 5, CentOS, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, OpenBSD
• Communigate Pro Email Server
• BIND
• LAMP Stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
• MySQL and MySQL Clustering
• Direct Admin
• OpenVZ

HOW TO APPLY

Please send a cover letter and resume to careers@blueboxgrp.com. Please, no recruiters or phone calls.