Technical Specialist Opportunity

Remuneration:	Market related
Location:	Cape Town, Southern Suburbs
Job level:	Mid
Type:	Permanent
Reference:	#HCH433_201506081316

 

Job description

Technical: solution design, architecture and management

• Prioritise activities of the technical staff in accordance with business needs

 

• Work across all technology domains and bring together infrastructure subject matter experts and project delivery teams to help create infrastructure solutions

 

• Understand and interpret both business and technical requirements and develop solutions accordingly

 

• Define, document and be accountable for the definition of HomeChoice and affiliate solutions that meet the business requirements

 

• Ensure that projects and outcomes are developed in alignment with a predefined and best practice/ architecture standards

 

• Project manage and/ or work with Project managers to plan projects by researching, evaluating, implementing new technologies and assist the ICT manager by providing formal recommendations for changes in technology or management practices

 

• Create and monitor fiscal resources as related to specific projects, aiding in operational and strategic planning and represent the department in the planning of renovations or new facilities

 

• Plan, manage and track assigned projects to ensure they are completed on time, within budget, and within scope using our project management methodology (standards and guidelines) as well as other available tools

 

• Manage and direct the work of contractors and/ or vendors

 

• Define Requests for Proposal (RFP) and Request for Information (RFI) related to our Information Systems Infrastructure, Datacentre(s), Contact Center Telephony and Network Systems

 

• Negotiate vendor contract terms and conditions, service level agreements and where required payment structures

 

• Stay current with technological developments related to computer hardware, software, networks as well as management practices

 

• Support and maintain project related or ad-hoc production system(s) from inception and completion to operational handover

 

• Capture and define requirements, stakeholder management and technical solution design

 

• Create and maintain department operational and strategic plans while effectively managing vendors in relation to our requirements

 

• Define, manage and monitor the work performance of technical solutions, vendor, and stakeholder management which also includes program effectiveness based on our strategy
  

Performance reporting and quality management

• Assess, document and communicate performance on a regular basis across all applications and ICT services

 

• Ensure a stable working solution and / or service that meets the customer’s requirements by implementing necessary quality control processes

Change management

• Ensure that the impact of business processes and/ or information system changes on the organisation are identified and that the necessary communication and training strategies, organisational structures, job designs and performance measures are implemented to successfully bring about the desired change

Risk management

• Identify, track, resolve and mitigate any and or all known risk to the HomeChoice and affiliated companies

Sustainability of solutions and/or service

• Ensure that the necessary operational teams are put in place, operational roles are defined and well understood, operational processes and system are defined and well understood and working

 

• Ensure that service level agreements and operational service levels are in place and are met

Budgets and resource planning

• Input to obtain final approval of the division’s budget and present the budget(s) to management

 

• Work with the ICT manager and identify, plan and acquire/ recruit necessary resources

Management in conjunction with direct line-management

• Mentoring of staff, identifying training needs where and when required

 

Requirements

Qualifications and accreditations

• Three year degree with Information Technology being the core subject

 

• Relevant Microsoft certifications

 

• ITIL Foundation qualification

 

• Project Management qualification would be advantageous

Experience and skills

• Five to eight years’ experience in delivering infrastructure solutions from start to finish within an IT service management (networks/telecomms) environment

 

• Experience in designing, implementing and supporting the following infrastructure technologies including but not limited to: Client operating systems and platforms; telephony related services and solutions, particularly in contact centers; virtualisation technology around client, server, storage, applications; data centre technologies, including authentication, storage enterprise service management tools

 

• Working knowledge of the leading solutions from leading vendors such as Microsoft, Citrix, VMWare and NetApp

 

• Experience and live exposure to SAN, NAS, HP Switches, Cisco Routers and Wireless equipment

 

• Experience of large-scale transformation and migration projects

 

• Business continuity planning and cisaster recovery and implementation

 

• Hands-on experience of WAN/ LAN infrastructure coupled with diagnostic skills supported by detailed technical knowledge of protocol

 

• Experience on various hardware and software environments including operating systems, application servers and relational databases

 

• Ability to provide high quality documentation that is suitable for a wide range of audiences and purposes with strong customer facing interpersonal skills

 

• Strong experience in developing and designing network and hardware infrastructure

 

• Advanced experience with Microsoft Solutions eg: AD, SQL, SharePoint, GPO’s, Exchange

 

• Proven track record in understanding business strategic requirements and turning them into solutions, thinking conceptually and delivering practical results

 

• Must host meetings and hold workshops with good client relationship management skills

 

• Proactively identify and implement solutions for both technological and business issues

Attributes and behaviours

• Strong leaderships skills with a positive energy and fresh insight

 

• Effective and clear communicator (oral, written and presentation) – with both technical and non-technical personnel

 

• Deadline and results driven
  Work well under pressure and able to adapt very well to change

 

• Continuously recognise opportunities for improvement and use initiative to introduce them

 

• Business insights and experience with the ability to think strategically and commercially with a customer focus

 

• Strong planning and organizational skills

 

• Analytically minded with critical thinking and problem solving skills

 

• High performance delivery orientation with a quality focus and within tight deadlines

 

• Ability to lead transformation, with a flexible approach to change

Posted on 08 Jun 14:24