Contract type: Permanent
Job Level: Management
Work Location: Cape Town, Western Cape
Closing Date: 19 January 2025
The National Research Foundation (NRF) (www.nrf.ac.za) supports and promotes research and human capital development through funding, the provision of National Research Facilities and science outreach platforms and programmes to the broader community in all fields of science and technology, including natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities.
The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) (www.sarao.ac.za) spearheads South Africa's activities in the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, commonly known as the SKA, in engineering, science and construction.
SARAO is a National Facility managed by the National Research Foundation.
The Senior Platform Engineer works as part of the SKA-Mid Site Reliability Engineering team to ensure the operational systems are developed, deployed and managed in a way that is highly automated and well understood.
The position also works with software engineers from around the world to support the delivery of the software systems and the CI/CD pipelines that ensure their reliability when deployed.
The Senior Platform Engineer will be expected to guide and work with more junior team members to accomplish their tasks.
Senior engineers are expected to be accountable for their deliverables.
As part of the SKA-Mid Operations team, they are expected to provide a senior level of systems support, able to investigate, diagnose and resolve complex issues with minimum guidance.
Key Responsibilities: Implement and verify SKA-Mid computing platform – Work in collaboration with the SKAO Software team to define and implement the Continuous Delivery/Continuous Integration pipeline for the SKA software system.Contribute to systems engineering and Operations documentation refinement.Support users, operators, as well as the implementation of releases, system changes and fixes.Work with other teams within SKAO construction and operations.Work with system/array integration team, supporting integration and testing.Be an integral member of the SKA-Mid Computing and Software team, as a senior technical specialist that supports the establishment of SKA-Mid Computing Platform operations.Establish and maintain a professional relationship with SARAO Compute Infrastructure and Networks team.Participate in project management and activity management activities.Attend relevant training/courses to gain experience and improved knowledge.Research new technologies, methods or approaches, with the purpose of utilizing them within the organization.Participate in innovation and technology development initiatives.Mentor and educate more junior engineers as and when required.Key Requirements: Qualification:
* BTech/ Degree/ Masters/ PHD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related fields
Experience:
* BTech coupled with 13 years' relevant working experience or Degree coupled with 9 years' relevant working experience or Masters' coupled with 7 years' relevant working experience or PHD coupled with 5 years' relevant working experience in software engineering, large scale computing, high performance computing, private cloud and virtual computing (e.g.
OpenStack, Kubernetes).
Knowledge:
* Proficient in C++ and Python programming languages.
* Experienced in administering application servers, web servers and databases.
* Experienced in integrated security practices such as secrets management into the DevOps pipelines, SSO, platform and application hardening.
* Have some experience of line management.
* Systems Engineering processes.
* Willingness to transition between system development, roll-out and system support and operations.
Additional Notes: SKILLS/ COMPETENCIES/ ABILITIES Essential Competency:
* Experience in using infrastructure provisioning tools (such as Docker, Helm, Ansible, Terraform) in a cloud environment or in a virtualized environment (AWS, OpenStack, GCP).
* Working knowledge of the git distributed version control system and related best practices.
* Proficiency with one or more Continuous Integration and automated test execution tools (Jenkins, GoCD, Gitlab, Travis-CI).
* Demonstrated understanding and enthusiasm for team based working based on lean/agile principles.
* Ethernet network technologies and management of switches and routers.
* Linux operating system and standard tools.
Desirable:
* Ability to develop or script in Python programming language.
* Experienced in administering application servers, web servers and databases.
* Ability to communicate effectively to a wide audience and a wide range of stakeholders.
Organisational Values:
The SKA-Mid Senior Platform Engineer will be expected to demonstrate the SARAO and SKAO's values, and to work actively to instil those behaviours in all SKA-Mid staff in South Africa.
Applications:
Applicants should submit a comprehensive CV by logging to https://ess.nrf.ac.za/Account/Recruitment and apply online.
Applications should be accompanied by a letter of motivation indicating the applicant's suitability for the position.
The names and contact details of at least three referees should be provided.
Closing Date: 19 January 2025 The NRF offers a challenging career and competitive remuneration package which is commensurate with qualifications and experience.
The NRF is committed to employment equity and redress and the appointment to the position will be made in line with the NRF Employment Equity Plan.
The NRF reserves the right not to make an appointment.
Correspondence will be sent to short-listed candidates only.
#J-18808-Ljbffr