What are the responsibilities and job description for the IT Specialist position at Litmus?
Who is Litmus
Litmus is building the data foundation that powers industrial AI.
AI doesn’t work without real-world, contextualized data - Litmus makes that data usable. As AI adoption accelerates, most industrial environments still can’t access or use their operational data. We solve that gap.
We’re a growth-stage software company helping manufacturers access, structure, and use real-time data from machines, systems, and sensors at the edge. Our platform sits at the intersection of edge computing, AI, and industrial operations, enabling some of the world’s largest companies to run operations in real time, reduce downtime, and optimize production.
Backed by leading investors and trusted by global manufacturers and partners like Google, Microsoft, Dell, Oracle, and Mitsubishi, Litmus is powering the shift toward software-defined manufacturing.
Why join Litmus
Build the infrastructure that makes industrial AI possible
AI is moving beyond the cloud and into the physical world. At Litmus, you’ll build the infrastructure that enables real-time data to power AI and machine learning systems in production environments.
Work on problems where software meets the real world
Most AI systems fail without access to real-world data. You’ll build the layer that makes them viable in production. We solve challenges at the intersection of distributed systems, real-time data, and industrial constraints — where reliability, scale, and performance are non-negotiable.
Have real impact, fast
You’ll work on systems used by real customers in production, with direct impact on product and company trajectory. As a scaling company, we move quickly. You’ll have ownership, visibility, and the ability to shape both product and company as we scale.
Join a high-performance team
We’re building a team that holds a high bar and pushes each other to improve. You’ll work alongside experienced operators, engineers, and leaders who have done this before and are building again at scale. We hire people who take ownership, move quickly, and care about outcomes. No passengers.
Our culture
At Litmus, the team is collaborative, curious, and low ego. People are scrappy, take ownership, and look for ways to make an impact. We value empathy just as much as execution, whether that’s in how we build, how we communicate, or how we support each other.
We’re a growing company, so things move quickly and not everything is perfectly defined. If you enjoy figuring things out, working closely with others, and making steady progress, you’ll do well here.
The Role
We’re hiring an IT Systems Specialist to own on-site IT operations at our Santa Clara HQ. You’ll be the primary owner of our 8-node VMware vCenter cluster, office network, and local infrastructure (NAS, UPS, server room), while also handling U.S.-based onboarding/offboarding and helping drive down our IT ticket queue.
This is a high-impact, hands-on role with a lot of autonomy: you’ll be the go-to IT expert on site, partnering closely with our Toronto-based IT lead and global engineering teams.
What You’ll Do
On-prem infrastructure (vCenter, servers, NAS, UPS)
Litmus is building the data foundation that powers industrial AI.
AI doesn’t work without real-world, contextualized data - Litmus makes that data usable. As AI adoption accelerates, most industrial environments still can’t access or use their operational data. We solve that gap.
We’re a growth-stage software company helping manufacturers access, structure, and use real-time data from machines, systems, and sensors at the edge. Our platform sits at the intersection of edge computing, AI, and industrial operations, enabling some of the world’s largest companies to run operations in real time, reduce downtime, and optimize production.
Backed by leading investors and trusted by global manufacturers and partners like Google, Microsoft, Dell, Oracle, and Mitsubishi, Litmus is powering the shift toward software-defined manufacturing.
Why join Litmus
Build the infrastructure that makes industrial AI possible
AI is moving beyond the cloud and into the physical world. At Litmus, you’ll build the infrastructure that enables real-time data to power AI and machine learning systems in production environments.
Work on problems where software meets the real world
Most AI systems fail without access to real-world data. You’ll build the layer that makes them viable in production. We solve challenges at the intersection of distributed systems, real-time data, and industrial constraints — where reliability, scale, and performance are non-negotiable.
Have real impact, fast
You’ll work on systems used by real customers in production, with direct impact on product and company trajectory. As a scaling company, we move quickly. You’ll have ownership, visibility, and the ability to shape both product and company as we scale.
Join a high-performance team
We’re building a team that holds a high bar and pushes each other to improve. You’ll work alongside experienced operators, engineers, and leaders who have done this before and are building again at scale. We hire people who take ownership, move quickly, and care about outcomes. No passengers.
Our culture
At Litmus, the team is collaborative, curious, and low ego. People are scrappy, take ownership, and look for ways to make an impact. We value empathy just as much as execution, whether that’s in how we build, how we communicate, or how we support each other.
We’re a growing company, so things move quickly and not everything is perfectly defined. If you enjoy figuring things out, working closely with others, and making steady progress, you’ll do well here.
The Role
We’re hiring an IT Systems Specialist to own on-site IT operations at our Santa Clara HQ. You’ll be the primary owner of our 8-node VMware vCenter cluster, office network, and local infrastructure (NAS, UPS, server room), while also handling U.S.-based onboarding/offboarding and helping drive down our IT ticket queue.
This is a high-impact, hands-on role with a lot of autonomy: you’ll be the go-to IT expert on site, partnering closely with our Toronto-based IT lead and global engineering teams.
What You’ll Do
On-prem infrastructure (vCenter, servers, NAS, UPS)
- Own day-to-day operation, monitoring, and lifecycle management of our 8-server VMware vCenter cluster (capacity planning, patching, upgrades, performance tuning).
- Manage NAS storage, backups, and recovery procedures for lab and production environments.
- Lead stabilization of power and HVAC for the server room in partnership with Facilities, including:
- Right-sizing workloads on the cluster.
- Reviewing and improving UPS configuration and load.
- Implementing monitoring/alerting for power, temperature, and capacity.
- Document runbooks, configurations, and recovery procedures.
- Own Santa Clara office network operations: switches, Wi-Fi, firewalls, VPN, and ISP connectivity.
- Implement and maintain network segmentation, secure remote access, and QoS for engineering/test workloads.
- Proactively monitor network health, investigate incidents, and drive root-cause fixes, not just workarounds.
- Serve as the on-site point of contact for employees in Santa Clara: deskside support, conference rooms, demo labs, and visitor setups.
- Work tickets from the global IT queue (we currently see ~250 per month) with a focus on SLA adherence and backlog reduction.
- Identify recurring issues and drive automation or process changes to prevent them.
- Own U.S.-based onboarding/offboarding: hardware provisioning, account creation/deactivation, access management, and first-day support for new hires.
- Maintain accurate asset inventory for laptops, peripherals, lab equipment, and network/compute hardware.
- Partner with HR and Security to ensure compliant account and device handling during offboarding.
- Implement and maintain best practices for endpoint management (MDM, patching, endpoint protection) in coordination with Security.
- Contribute to access control, MFA enforcement, and secure configuration baselines for servers, network devices, and SaaS apps.
- Propose and lead small to medium projects to modernize our stack (e.g., backup redesign, monitoring improvements, consolidation or cloud offload of lab workloads).
- 5 years in hands-on IT infrastructure / systems administration / site IT roles supporting a technical organization.
- Strong experience with VMware vSphere/vCenter in a multi-host environment (capacity management, HA/DRS, templates, snapshots, upgrades).
- Solid understanding of networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, VLANs, routing, firewalls, VPNs, and Wi-Fi in an office setting.
- Experience operating and troubleshooting on-prem server hardware, NAS/SAN storage, and UPS systems.
- Comfortable supporting both Windows and Linux servers and endpoints.
- Experience with modern ticketing systems (e.g., JIRA, Zendesk, ServiceNow or similar) and a disciplined approach to documentation.
- Ability to work independently on site while collaborating with a globally distributed IT and Engineering team.
- Strong communication skills and a calm, customer-oriented approach under pressure.
- Experience in a software or IIoT / industrial tech environment.
- Scripting abilities (e.g., PowerShell, Bash, Python) for automation.
- Familiarity with monitoring/observability tools (e.g., Zabbix, Prometheus, Grafana, PRTG, etc.).
- Experience with identity and access management (SSO, SAML/OIDC), MDM/endpoint management, and security tooling.
- This role requires regular on-site presence in Santa Clara to manage physical infrastructure and support the office.
- Ability to safely lift and move IT equipment (servers, UPS units, monitors, etc.) up to approximately 50 lbs, with reasonable accommodations as required by law.