Event ID 6482 was repeating in the event log:

Event ID: 6482
Source: Office SharePoint Server
Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance
(d5bf0335-1cfa-8094-84bb164b7439). Reason: Access to the path 'C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS' is denied

This is resolved by allowing adding permission to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 \DRIVERS\ETC for <local_machine>\wss_admin_wpg group (Modify, Read & execute, List folder contents, Read, Write permission).

This error may only occur once a new SSP is created and a timer job kicked off.