How to hire a unix administrator

How to hire a unix administrator, step by step

Here's a step-by-step unix administrator hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a unix administrator job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new unix administrator
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your unix administrator job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a unix administrator for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A unix administrator's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, unix administrators from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of unix administrator salaries for various roles:

   Type of Unix Administrator	Description	Hourly rate
   Unix Administrator	Computer networks are critical parts of almost every organization. Network and computer systems administrators are responsible for the day-to-day operation of these networks.	$30-50
   Information Technology Administrator	An Information Technology (IT) administrator is a professional responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of an organization's IT systems and ensuring that the systems are running effectively. IT administrators must conduct consistent analyses of the computer system and install updates when needed... Show more	$24-50
   Network/Server Administrator	A Network Administrator ensures an organizations' network is operational and up to date. They solve problems that arise within computer networks, maintaining computer networks, interacting with clients, and consulting with them to determine their system requirements... Show more	$27-51

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Linux Servers
   • Solaris
   • SAN
   • OS
   • Database
   • Web Servers
   • NFS
   • Veritas Netbackup
   • Red Hat
   • DNS
   • RHEL
   • System Administration
   • IBM AIX
   • Disk Space

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage NIS, LDAP and DNS environment files to maintain security and accessibility to systems.
   • Develop Linux shell scripts to accomplish redundant tasks to simplify in distribute administration.
   • Configure and administer network protocols and software including TCP/IP, NIS, DNS, NFS and SMB.
   • Do all UNIX server and EMC software installation and hardware configuration for UNIX servers.
   • Administer servers in heterogeneous environments which include Solaris and Linux systems.
   • Configure and modify bash scripts.

   More unix administrator duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your unix administrator job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A unix administrator salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a unix administrator in Wisconsin may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level unix administrator usually earns less than a senior-level unix administrator. Additionally, a unix administrator with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average unix administrator salary

   $83,208yearly

   $40.00 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level unix administrator salary

   $64,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average unix administrator salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$103,869	$50
   2	District of Columbia	$97,719	$47
   3	Maryland	$91,505	$44
   4	Virginia	$87,612	$42
   5	Ohio	$86,738	$42
   6	New York	$84,695	$41
   7	Arizona	$83,776	$40
   8	Massachusetts	$83,747	$40
   9	New Jersey	$83,348	$40
   10	Illinois	$82,131	$39
   11	North Carolina	$80,892	$39
   12	Delaware	$80,830	$39
   13	Texas	$80,422	$39
   14	Rhode Island	$80,076	$39
   15	Georgia	$79,915	$38
   16	Missouri	$79,528	$38
   17	Florida	$79,447	$38
   18	Michigan	$79,263	$38
   19	Tennessee	$78,425	$38
   20	Iowa	$77,756	$37

   Average unix administrator salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	NVIDIA	$125,501	$60.34	3
   2	Cegedim Inc	$124,317	$59.77
   3	Greyhound Lines	$109,161	$52.48
   4	Choice Hotels	$106,654	$51.28
   5	State Street	$106,350	$51.13	35
   6	Sanofi Genzyme	$104,982	$50.47
   7	Populus Group	$104,798	$50.38
   8	Envision	$102,670	$49.36
   9	Expeditors	$99,912	$48.03	1
   10	Mouser Electronics	$98,797	$47.50
   11	BullsEye Telecom	$96,180	$46.24
   12	Pace Inc	$93,530	$44.97
   13	NCH	$92,804	$44.62	1
   14	Amdocs	$91,883	$44.17
   15	Sierra-Cedar	$91,570	$44.02
   16	Data	$91,363	$43.92
   17	RTC	$90,395	$43.46
   18	The Aerospace Corporation	$90,250	$43.39	8
   19	Quantum Vision	$89,995	$43.27
   20	Merdian Technologies	$89,881	$43.21

4. Writing a unix administrator job description

   A unix administrator job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a unix administrator job description:

   Unix administrator job description example

   UNIX ADMINISTRATOR
   
   Job Location: Remote
   
   Minimum Clearance: IT-I - Critical Sensitive IA
   
   Xenith Solutions is a small family focused business where we focus on taking care of our employees and customers equally. We are focused on serving Federal / Civilian, Defense and Intelligence organizations with superior service. If you want to be a part of a rapidly growing business with an exceptional culture, then you want to be a part of the Xenith Solutions family.
   
   Xenith offers unmatched Benefits:
   
   • 100% of Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits paid by employer
   
   • FSA or HSA available
   
   • Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)
   
   • 401(k) matching (100% up to the first 4%) with NO vesting period
   
   • Tuition / Certification / Training reimbursement
   
   • Accident / Disability / Universal Life Insurance
   
   • And much more...
   
   Job Description:
   
   Xenith Solutions is seeking a candidate to design, configure, implement, and maintain UNIX hardware and operating system environments including AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris. They will optimize backup processes; optimize disk space allocations; perform installations and upgrades; monitor and review logs; apply appropriate operating system security measures; design and implement high availability solutions, and plan data migrations between systems. Candidate will provide technical expertise and assistance to team members as required. They will monitor operating system, hardware, storage, and backup procedures. Candidate will determine execution and recovery times during disaster recovery and production environment testing, along with designing and implementing efficiency improvements. The candidate will engineer and implement redundant systems; develop and enforce policies, procedures, and tests for disaster recovery and data archiving to ensure effective protection and integrity of data assets. They will participate in initial project analysis including feasibility studies, scope, timeline, task list, for the duration of projects. They will design, implement, and perform UNIX authentication and security audits while providing solutions and remediation for identified discrepancies. Candidate will conduct reviews of real-time trending information, and contact tiered support, when necessary. They will maintain regular contact with users and supervisor/manager regarding status of open or pending service calls. Must have the ability to assess and develop long-term strategic goals for production operating systems versions in conjunction with data owners.
   
   Minimum Required Qualifications:
   
   Must be a U.S. Citizen with the ability to pass a background investigation, criteria include but are not limited to:
   
   • Seven (7) years systems administration experience on UNIX operating systems AIX, Solaris, or HP-UX.
   
   • Five (5) years' experience with Disaster recovery and data replication.
   
   • Five (5) years hands-on troubleshooting, tuning and patching experience.
   
   • Five (5) years administration, configuration and troubleshooting experience with UNIX Server Cluster, Load Balancing and Virtualization.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find unix administrators for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your unix administrator job on Zippia to find and recruit unix administrator candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with unix administrator candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   If your interviews with unix administrator applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new unix administrator

   Once you've selected the best unix administrator candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new unix administrator. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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