Vacant Post – Ska Mid – Senior Platform Engineer Skao/Sarao

Contract type:
Permanent

Job Level:
Management

Work Location:
Cape Town, Western Cape

Closing Date: 28 April 2024

The National Research Foundation (NRF) ) 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) ) 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 and incorporates radio astronomy instruments and programmes such as the MeerKAT in the Karoo, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in Gauteng, the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (AVN) programme in nine African countries as well as the associated human capital development and commercialisation endeavours.

The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) ) is a next-generation global radio-astronomy facility that will revolutionise our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics.

It is one observatory with two telescopes – SKA-Mid in South Africa and SKA-Low in Western Australia.

South Africa is a co-host member of the SKAO, an intergovernmental organisation headquartered at Jodrell Bank (near Manchester in the United Kingdom) responsible for SKAO construction and operations globally.

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)
• Experience with systems administration, provisioning of MAAS, preferably using Linux and open source tools (such as Docker, Helm, Ansible)
• Proficiency with one or more Continuous Integration and automated test execution tools (Jenkins, GoCD, Gitlab, Travis-CI).

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.
• Experienced in integrated security practices such as secrets management into the DevOps pipelines, SSO, platform and application hardening.
• Ability to communicate effectively to a wide audience and a wide range of stakeholders, gathering information and distilling information and tailoring it appropriately for the target audience.
• Ability to develop and convey a technical solution as part of a team
• Ability to reliably estimate and plan work as part of a team.
• Agile approaches to systems development
• Engineering systems architecture concepts
• An understanding of DevOps processes
• Services, Operations and Support management
• Risk management

Skills:

• Modern software collaboration tools such as Github, Containers, Google Drive, JIRA etc.
• Understanding and experience in implementation of project management and system engineering principles.
• Experience with test-driven development and integration testing techniques, methodologies and frameworks; and supporting systems like revision control and build systems.
• Experience with quality assurance processes and software development processes and willingness to participate in improving software development processes and software quality procedures.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Cooperates with others to achieve organisational objectives and may share team resources in order to do this. Collaborates with other teams as well as industry colleagues.
• Judgement and

Problem Solving:
Anticipates and manages problems in ambiguous situations. Develops and selects an appropriate course of action and provides for contingencies.

Evaluates, interprets and integrates complex bodies of information and draws logical conclusions, synthesises proposals and defends options with reasoned arguments.

• Adaptability: Demonstrates flexibility in thinking and adapts to and manages the increasing rate of organisational change by adjusting strategies, goals and priorities.
• Willingness to participate in formal and informal learning and mentorship programs.

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.

SKAO's values are:

• Diversity and Inclusion
• Excellence
• Collaboration
• Creativity and Innovation
• Sustainability

SARAO's values are:

• Passion for Excellence
• World-class service
• People-centered
• Respect
• Integrity and Ethics
• Accountability

Both SARAO and SKAO value and respect difference and are committed to building an inclusive culture by creating an environment where you can balance a successful career with your commitments and interests outside of work.

We believe that you will do your best at work if you have a work / life balance.

Some roles lend themselves to flexible options more than others, so if this is important to you, please raise this during your interview, as we are open to discussing flexible working opportunities during the hiring process.

Information:
The website provides more details on the NRF initiatives and activities.

Applications:
Applicants should submit a comprehensive CV by logging to 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: 28 April 2024
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

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