Systems Engineering Lead (UNIX) at Shoprite Group of Companies

Job Objectives

Systems management and engineering:

• Manage the provision of efficient technical administration and support for system upgrades, change requests, improvements, fixes, and overall structure and operations, under task based and Agile methods
• Effectively manage overall availability, structure, and content of the system, as well as system performance and monitoring.
• Analysing and troubleshooting performance and workload trends. 
• Coordinate and perform change assessments, attend change control boards, provide, or perform required change documentation and procedures
• Coordinate and conduct research and recommend fit-for-purpose solutions to improve systems and technology usage
• Effectively manage all system change requests within area of technology, applying established change management guidelines, developing, and updating systems design documentation, including supporting regression testing, and providing demos of the changes incorporated.
• Plan and coordinate installation, upgrades, configuration, development, and testing of system and relevant technology
• Write scripts to automate and assist with the day-to-day administration of the UNIX and LINUX. 
• Ensure backups and testing of the recoveries are done on a scheduled basis. 
• Ensure that best practices are conformed to in terms of security, user, server, backup, and recovery administration. 
• Maintaining service configurations as and when they change or are deployed. 
• Manage and conduct testing and evaluate enhancement and modification of the system. 
• Ensure information security and system security meets regulatory compliance.
• Manage server security remediation activities which will include conducting vulnerability scans and patching. 
• Assist with Disaster Recovery (DR) management, procedures & documentation. 
• Ensure DR environments are in sync with the production environment.
• Assist with DR trials by recovery of all UNIX and LINUX systems and applications.
• Assist with creation of DR plan and recovery procedures for all systems and applications.
• Assist with creation of DR documentation for all systems and applications.
• Ensure the successful recovery of the backed-up systems onto DR Hardware. 
• Manage Logging and audit systems and conduct regular user and group audits.
• Assist with information security practices, policies, least privilege, RBAC, encryption (GPG, SSL/TLS, PKI). ?
• Coordinate various team actions during planned maintenance slots as well as during unplanned outages.
• Coordinate the shut down and start-up actions during planned maintenance between various teams. 
• Guide, coach, and support internal and external teams with systems integration.
• Coordinate and drive the creation\updating of system documentation.
• Complete RCA documentation.

Incident and Vendor Management:

• Provide expert-level technical support, manage, and ensure resolution of all logged incidents/problems within area of technology according to agreed Service Level Agreement (SLA) and quality standards
• Ensure the resolution of incidents and fulfilment of service requests using a service management ticket queue and Change Management processes. 
• Ensure that all incidents are logged to various vendors and 3rd parties, and ensure vendors provide relative feedback on all stages of the query resolution as per the agreed SLA
• Responsible for managing and coordinating 3rd party or technology partner/vendor technical support activities on installations, upgrades or to resolve escalated incidents. 
• Coordinate technical support and license renewal with vendors and ensure monitoring and license metric agents are installed on UNIX and LINUX and Servers and ensure that the correct metrics are being monitored for system availability. 
• Ensure vendors comply with Shoprite standards and best practices. 
• Manage available Vendor hours as per support contract.

Qualifications

• Degree or Diploma in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field.
• Relevant industry or system certifications.

Experience

• +3 years’ experience as a Systems Engineer or similar role with proven knowledge and soundexperience in designing, implementing, and administering solutions for highly complex IT systems.
• In-depth experience of documenting environment and processes.
• Experience with scripting and/or automated deployments using Python, PowerShell, Bash, etc.

Knowledge and Skills

• Sound knowledge of system administration within a large system infrastructure environment, including Advanced Roadmaps Administration.
• Strong proficiency in MS Office 365.
• System administration knowledge on UNIX/Linux platforms and relevant technology tools to support the system.
• Solid functional experience of incident response, diagnostic activities, Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Corrective Action Plans, and advanced troubleshooting.
• Knowledge of standard security guidelines.
• Leadership skills - Natural leader with the ability to easily establish trust-based relationships. 
• Coaches and mentors others to deliver end-to-end business solutions in a collaborative and professional manner.
• Advanced knowledge and application of skill in system operation, maintenance, and repair - Able to analyse, evaluate and predict system and equipment performance. Skilled in the analysis and development of recommendations to maintain and improve system efficiency, reliability, security, compliance, and cost performance. 
• Advanced knowledge and application of skill in optimal technical support - Demonstrates sound skills in technical troubleshooting and problem resolution. Demonstrates in-depth skills in using key system functionality, set up and testing. Able to guide others in providing technical support.
• Expert Technical aptitude with a passion and excitement for engineering systems, new technologies and solutions and its range of possibilities, applications, and value for the business. 
• Excellent problem-solving skills – Able to collect, organise and assimilate disparate, multiple and complex pieces of information to draw sound conclusions and arrive at optimal solutions. Demonstrates an understanding of how one issue may be a part of a much larger system.
• High level of self-motivation and drive to meet and exceed on goals and expectations and drive, coach, engage and energise others to deliver on expectations. Comfortable taking decisions and dealing with a range of problem-solving challenges independently. 
• Detailed, organised and quality focused – Has an affinity for detail, structure and efficiency, balancing planning and execution. Is diligent and vigilantly watches over work processes, tasks and outputs to ensure accuracy while independently actioning and correcting any quality concerns. 
• Excellent communication skills – excellent written and verbal communication skills. Is able to confidently explain and simplify complex technical concepts and their real-world advantages/disadvantages to a diverse business audience. 
• Collaborative partner - Works effectively across functions and as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Is collaborative and able to build sound, professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure and under tight time constraints, efficiently prioritising workloads, balancing multiple and competing priorities and managing time effectively in a high-volume, fast-moving environment. Enjoys challenging work and has the proven ability to effectively adapt to and manage change.
• Is curious and adaptable, finds agile and rapid ways of answering business questions and implementing solutions fast.