Technical Support Specialist: OpenText at Discovery Limited

Job Purpose

The Technical Support Specialist (Server Operating Systems) provides internal specialist Windows operating system support for the Bank’s servers. This includes all aspects of server operating system management including server networking, storage, workload management, software management, configuration, monitoring and related functions. This role includes integrating with the support for the application server systems and database management systems.

The Technical Support Specialist (Server Operating Systems) forms part of a team that provides 24/7 support for all server with a focus on high availability and rapid resolution of incidents. Interfaces with various IT stakeholders (infrastructure support, production operations, business systems, IT security etc.) in ensuring comprehensive operational support for the scope of all server-based systems. Builds and maintains a knowledge base of technical support information for the support and maintenance of the environment.

Areas of responsibility may include but not limited to

Operational Support

• Be part of a team providing 24/7 support server operating system support. that are used in the execution of the Discovery Bank’s mandate and business.
• Monitor the operating systems’ availability and uptime and report any downtime and feedback to the relevant role players.
• Monitor capacity usage of operating system and related components in scope and provide input to ongoing capacity plans.
• Ensure that operating system software is maintained according to OEM specifications. Ensure that upgrades and patches to operating system components together with the underlying infrastructure are tested and performed in a structured manner in line with the Bank’s change and release processes.
• Interface with IT stakeholders and ensure that the underlying environment is maintained according to the operating system specifications and requirements through-out their lifecycle.
• Create and maintain documentation related to in scope applications and their supporting systems e.g. installation procedures, operational support documents etc.
• Support and manage any 3rd party interfaces and services
• Perform root cause analysis, performance tuning and optimisation and other service improvement activities to ensure that the applications operate optimally.
• Log, respond and action incidents in accordance with incident and problem management procedures. Communicate critical alerts, statuses and issues to management and perform actions to resolve.

Programme and Project Support.

• Provide support to the Programme Office in the build and implementation lifecycle of new services and changes to related services including support for non-production environments

Compliance, Governance, Risk and Control Processes

• Liaise with Change and Release Management in the planning of changes and releases of services in scope.
• Partake and assist in the build and maintenance of the CMDB and ensure that the logical view of services is maintained.
• Participate in the design, planning and testing activities for the resilience and recovery of in scope applications and systems in support of business continuity and disaster recovery functions.

Other

• Provide input to periodic operational reports according agreed intervals (daily, weekly and monthly reports).
• Identify, document and publish knowledge for internal and customer consumption. Participate in the technical knowledge review processes and in ensuring the quality of published content.
• Work with internal colleagues to ensure they have the appropriate information and knowledge at hand to be successful in what they do.
• Proactively identify interconnected problems, develop and model alternative solutions as well as contingency plans to resolve value chain conflicts.
• Establish and maintain effective business relationships with customers and IT stakeholders to ensure compliance and establishing a healthy feedback channel.
• Continuously identify improvement areas that will enhance efficiency.
• Ensure that tickets in the ITSM tool are attended to all times and reflect the correct status.

Education And Experience

• Relevant Tertiary qualification.
• At least 6 years’ experience in Windows server operating system support or related experience.
• ITIL Foundation certification is an added advantage.
• Experience in application or technical support in a corporate environment.
• Previous experience in the banking or financial services industry will be advantageous.

Technical Skills Or Knowledge

• Technical support strategies and approaches.
• Technical documentation creation and maintenance.
• Server operating system and hypervisor technologies (Windows, VMWare).
• Network technologies.
• Storage technologies.
• Database Management systems.
• Incident Management and Problem Management procedures