Systems administrator

What does a systems administrator do?

A systems administrator keeps an organisation's servers, networks, user accounts and business software running.

The job covers setup, monitoring, patching, backup and fixing faults. Singapore's occupation classification lists it as a network, server, applications or computer systems administrator.

You usually sit in an IT or infrastructure team. That could be in a company, government agency, school, hospital or managed service provider. The cloud-focused version is often called a SysOps engineer. It adds scripting to automate repeat work and closer watch over cloud systems.

You work with the help desk, security team, network and cloud engineers, developers and business users. You also deal with vendors. In regulated firms, you answer questions from auditors.

What the work involves

• Check monitoring dashboards and alerts, then fix or escalate faults before users notice them.
• Create and remove user accounts, set access rights and support onboarding for new staff.
• Apply patches and upgrades to servers, laptops and software during planned change windows.
• Write scripts to automate repeat jobs such as account setup, log clean-up and deployments.
• Handle tickets escalated by the help desk, and record the cause and the fix.
• Test backups, update documentation and review capacity so systems have enough disk and memory.

Pay in Singapore

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Skills a systems administrator needs

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Systems administrator job description

We are hiring a systems administrator to look after our servers, networks, endpoints and Microsoft 365 services.

You will monitor systems, apply patches, manage user access, support staff onboarding and resolve incidents within agreed service levels. You will work with the help desk, security and cloud teams, and join an on-call rota.

Responsibilities

• Monitor servers, networks and applications, and respond to alerts.
• Install, configure and upgrade operating systems and software on servers and endpoints.
• Apply security patches on a schedule and record each change.
• Manage user accounts, groups and access rights, following least-privilege rules.
• Manage laptops and mobile devices through Intune or Jamf, including policies and compliance checks.
• Run and test backups, and carry out recovery when data or systems are lost.
• Write scripts to automate recurring tasks and cut manual errors.
• Resolve escalated incidents, find root causes and write procedures to stop repeat faults.
• Plan capacity and keep system documentation current.
• Support audits by providing evidence of access, patching and backup controls.

Requirements

• Diploma or degree in information technology, computer science or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Typically 1 to 3 years in IT support or systems administration for an entry-level to mid-level role.
• Working knowledge of Linux or Windows Server, plus TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP and VPN basics.
• Scripting skills in Bash or PowerShell, and familiarity with Microsoft 365 administration and Intune or Jamf.
• Understanding of incident, change and problem handling; ITIL certification is a plus.
• Willingness to join an on-call rota or do after-hours maintenance.

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Systems administrator career path

Many systems administrators start in IT support, then move into engineering as they take on automation and cloud work.

Later steps lead to team lead and infrastructure management.

1. IT support officer

   Entry

   You handle help desk tickets, set up laptops and accounts, and learn the systems the team runs.

2. Systems administrator

   Mid

   You own the day-to-day running of servers, user access, patching, backups and Microsoft 365 services.

3. SysOps engineer

   Senior · SkillsFuture title

   You automate operations with code, plan capacity, build monitoring and self-recovery, and control cloud costs and security.

4. Infrastructure team lead

   Lead

   You lead a small team, set standards for reliability and change, and handle escalations and vendors.

5. Head of IT infrastructure

   Head

   You set infrastructure direction and budget, and answer to senior management for uptime, security and compliance.

Steps marked "SkillsFuture title" follow the career pathway in the SkillsFuture Skills Framework. The others are titles commonly used in Singapore.

Related jobs and their pay

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Systems administrator interview questions

We wrote these questions from the skills this job needs. They are not an official question bank.

1. A Linux server has become slow. How do you find the cause?

   What a good answer covers

   • Checks load and top processes with tools such as uptime and top
   • Looks at memory and swap use, and at disk space and disk I/O
   • Reads system logs with journalctl or the log files
   • Checks network connections for unusual traffic
   • Changes one thing at a time and records what was found

2. How do you manage user accounts and permissions on a Linux server?

   What a good answer covers

   • Uses groups and gives only the access each role needs
   • Sets up sudo rules instead of sharing the root login
   • Uses SSH keys and turns off password login where possible
   • Links to a central directory where the company has one
   • Reviews accounts regularly and removes leavers quickly

3. A user can open an internal site by its IP address but not by its name. What do you check?

   What a good answer covers

   • Suspects DNS and tests with nslookup or dig
   • Checks which DNS server the device received from DHCP
   • Looks at search suffixes and the local DNS cache
   • Compares the result with another device on the same network
   • Checks the DNS server records and logs

4. Describe a Bash script that finds log files older than 30 days, compresses them and reports the space saved.

   What a good answer covers

   • Uses find with a time filter and quotes variables safely
   • Compresses with gzip or similar and checks the exit status
   • Runs a dry run first and writes its own log
   • Stops on errors, for example with set -euo pipefail
   • Schedules it with cron or a systemd timer

5. How would you roll out a new security baseline to 500 laptops using Intune?

   What a good answer covers

   • Starts with a small pilot group before wider release
   • Uses configuration and compliance policies assigned to device groups
   • Releases in stages and watches the reports for failures
   • Plans a rollback and tells users what will change
   • Notes that Mac devices would need a similar plan in Jamf

6. A manager says a shared mailbox has vanished from Outlook. How do you troubleshoot?

   What a good answer covers

   • Checks the user's permissions on the mailbox in the admin centre
   • Confirms the user's licence and account status
   • Considers delay in permission changes and auto-mapping behaviour
   • Tests in Outlook on the web to separate mailbox faults from client faults
   • Rebuilds the Outlook profile only after other checks

7. What is the difference between an incident, a problem and a change?

   What a good answer covers

   • An incident is an unplanned interruption that needs restoring quickly
   • A problem is the underlying cause of one or more incidents
   • A change is a planned modification that goes through approval
   • Gives an example of each from past work
   • Explains how a problem record stops repeat incidents

8. How do you decide what to back up, and how do you prove a backup works?

   What a good answer covers

   • Asks the business how much data loss and downtime it can accept
   • Follows a rule such as three copies on two media with one offsite
   • Protects at least one copy from ransomware, for example offline or immutable
   • Schedules regular test restores and records the results
   • Documents the recovery steps so others can follow them

9. How do you use ChatGPT in your work, and what would you never paste into it?

   What a good answer covers

   • Uses it to draft scripts, explain error messages and outline documents
   • Reviews and tests every output in a safe environment before use
   • Never pastes passwords, keys, customer data or internal configurations
   • Follows the employer's policy on AI tools
   • Treats the answer as a suggestion that still needs checking

1. At 8am on Monday, many staff cannot log in. What do you do in the first 30 minutes?

   What a good answer covers

   • Confirms the scope: who is affected, which systems, since when
   • Checks the identity service, VPN and any change made over the weekend
   • Posts a short status update to users and the service desk
   • Escalates early to the right team or vendor if needed
   • Restores service first, then writes up the cause afterwards

2. A director asks you to give a vendor admin access to a server today, without an approval form. How do you respond?

   What a good answer covers

   • Explains the reason for approval without jargon
   • Offers a fast approval route as well as saying no to the shortcut
   • Creates a named, time-limited account with the least access needed
   • Logs the access and removes it when the work ends
   • Informs the security team if the request goes around policy

3. Monthly patches broke a business application on some servers. What do you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Confirms which servers and users are affected
   • Rolls back the patch on affected servers if that is the fastest fix
   • Tells the application owner and users what is happening
   • Raises the issue with the vendor and logs a change record
   • Adds a test group so future patches reach production only after testing

1. Tell me about a time you automated a task you did often.

   What a good answer covers

   • Describes the task, how often it ran and how long it took
   • Names the tool or language used, such as Bash or PowerShell
   • Explains how the script was tested and who reviewed it
   • Gives the result, such as time saved or fewer errors
   • Mentions documentation so others can maintain it

2. Describe a time you explained a technical fault to a non-technical manager or user.

   What a good answer covers

   • Starts with the business effect before the technical detail
   • Uses everyday words and avoids jargon
   • Gives a clear next step and a time estimate
   • Follows up once the fault is fixed
   • Shows how the explanation changed the manager's decision

1. A staff laptop holding customer data is lost on a business trip. How does the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) affect what you do?

   What a good answer covers

   • Reports the loss to the security team and data protection officer at once
   • Locks or wipes the device remotely and checks whether the disk was encrypted
   • Works out what personal data was on it and how many people are affected
   • Leaves the decision to notify the Personal Data Protection Commission and individuals to the data protection officer, who follows the rules on timing
   • Keeps a record of the facts and actions taken

2. Our client is a financial institution regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). What controls would you expect around server access and changes?

   What a good answer covers

   • Says MAS sets technology risk expectations for regulated firms
   • Expects least-privilege access, approvals and logging of privileged accounts
   • Expects formal change approval, testing and rollback plans
   • Expects regular access reviews and evidence kept for audit
   • Says they would check the current MAS guidelines and the firm's own policies

Common questions about a systems administrator job

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