System Administrator

Overview

First Supply, a fifth-generation family-owned company, has served the Upper Midwest for over 125 years. Guided by our Employee Value Proposition, Where Tradition Meets Innovation, we foster a workplace where people learn, grow, and contribute to a company that values its heritage while embracing progress. Our teams take pride in supporting customers and communities, creating meaningful work and rewarding careers every day.

 

 

The Systems Administrator responsible for maintaining, optimizing, and securing server and virtualization environments to ensure high availability and performance of business-critical systems. Works both independently and collaboratively to support infrastructure operations, including enterprise storage, while contributing to continuous improvement initiatives aligned with company and regulatory standards. Fully On-site Position in West Salem, WI.  #SupplyYourFuture

 

Responsibilities

• Maintain company server infrastructure, storage systems, and associated hardware
• Install, configure, maintain, and upgrade physical and virtual server environments
• Manage and support enterprise hypervisor platforms, including host, cluster, and virtual machine administration
• Administer enterprise SAN storage environments (LUN provisioning, zoning, multipathing, performance tuning, and capacity management)
• Monitor server and storage infrastructure to ensure high availability, performance, reliability, and security
• Respond to incidents, outages, and system alerts; troubleshoot server and storage issues; escalate and engage vendors as needed
• Evaluate and implement approved upgrades, patches, and security improvements for servers and storage systems
• Support backup operations, disaster recovery planning, testing, and business continuity
• Research, document, and recommend enhancements to server, virtualization, and storage technologies
• Create and maintain technical documentation, diagrams, and runbooks for server and storage environments
• Participate in infrastructure projects, including server deployments, storage migrations, and data center activities
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to resolve issues and support technology initiatives
• Provide technical support for server and storage-related requests via phone, ticketing system, and remote tools
• Work extended hours as needed for maintenance windows and critical projects with minimal business impact
• Travel occasionally (up to 10%) for data center work or site support as required, including overnights
• Other duties/responsibilities as assigned by supervisor

Qualifications

• Associate degree in Information Technology or related field, or minimum 3+ years of relevant systems administration experience
• Strong hands-on experience managing enterprise virtualization platforms and server infrastructure — required
• Experience with enterprise SAN storage technologies (Fibre Channel and/or iSCSI) — strongly preferred
• Basic understanding of networking as it relates to servers and storage (VLANs, vSwitches, IP connectivity, DNS) — required
• Experience supporting Microsoft Windows Server and Linux operating systems
• Experience with enterprise backup and recovery solutions, server hardware platforms, advanced storage arrays, and cloud technologies is preferred
• Solid understanding of information security best practices
• Strong troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision as well as collaboratively in a team
• Ability to multi-task, prioritize effectively, and learn new technologies quickly

About First Supply

First Supply® is a leading main channel wholesale distributor, providing industrial customers and building contractors with an extensive line of products and services. We offer a wide range of manufacturer product lines across the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, builder, waterworks, pump/well & septic, industrial, and municipal markets. Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, First Supply has more than 700 employees across 29 operating facilities serving Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan.

 

First Supply also owns and operates 18 Kitchen & Bath Stores across five Midwestern states under the Gerhard's Kitchen, Bath & Lighting and KOHLER® Signature Store by First Supply brands. Gerhard's is the largest, most versatile kitchen and bath store in the Upper Midwest, offering a wide variety of styles—from contemporary to traditional—along with unmatched service. The KOHLER Signature Stores are immersive kitchen and bath showrooms that provide a distinguished experience where designers and homeowners can get hands-on with hundreds of exclusive KOHLER products.

 

With a 128-year legacy and a people-first culture, First Supply is committed to building a workplace where employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow their careers. That commitment has earned national recognition, including a spot on USA Today’s 2024 Top Workplaces in the USA, as well as honors as a Woman-Led Top Workplace and an Industry Top Workplace for Distribution.

 

First Supply LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.