Principal Linux Systems Administator at Leidos
Aurora, CO
$131,300–$237,350from the description
Aug 7, 2026
Aurora, CO
Sep 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role supports a cleared government program at Leidos, focused on day-to-day administration and maintenance of Linux and Windows systems in a secure environment. Responsibilities span account and access management, OS configuration, IT troubleshooting, capacity planning, and compliance with security standards. The position suits a highly experienced systems administrator comfortable operating within classified, intelligence-community settings.
Senior level · 15+ years · TS/SCI clearance · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Senior.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $101,310 (middle half $79,725–$129,425). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 9, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The job title says 'Principal' but the requirements describe classic senior-level systems administration work (infrastructure ops, troubleshooting, account management) with no indication of org-wide technical authority or cross-team architectural scope — the title appears to be a Leidos internal grade rather than a true principal-level role.
A Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline is listed as a basic qualification, but the posting explicitly allows substitution with 5 additional years of experience (20 years total in lieu of a degree), so no degree is treated as a hard gate.
The posting requires an active TS/SCI with Polygraph — this is a hard gate.
Location is not specified in the posting beyond Leidos's Intelligence Sector/CABA; no CBSA could be determined. The role is almost certainly on-site at a cleared facility given the clearance requirement.
The technical skills section is sparse — only Linux, Windows, and Virtualization are explicitly named as required. No specific virtualization platform (e.g., VMware, Hyper-V) is identified.
A $10,000 sign-on bonus is mentioned in the posting but cannot be represented in the compensation fields, which reflect the stated annual pay range only.
Requires a TS/SCI clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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