Unix/Linux - Service Operations Specialist (NIGHT SHIFT)
Docklands, London (hybrid)
£65,000 per annum + 40% shift uplift + annual discretionary bonus

On behalf of a Leading financial services organisation, I am seeking a Unix/Linux Service Operations Specialist to provide 2nd line operational shift support for internal IT Linux/UNIX infrastructure and systems in the company's 24x7 hosted environment. You will be required to take ownership of problems through to resolution over a wide variety of systems and technologies and provide remote and on-site support as part of the on-call support rota.

Please note: this is a night shift role with working hours running from 23:00 GMT - 07:30 GMT. The working week starts at 23:00 Sunday night local time, and finishes at 07:30am on Friday morning. You will be required to work x2 days in their London offices.

Responsibilities:

* Provide operational shift support for the Production Linux environments with Symantec Clustering Technology. Responsibilities include Linux backup/restores, daily checks, maintenance tasks and building new systems and applying service packs. Manage and escalate problems as appropriate.

* Provide 24/7 on-call cover on a rotational shift basis. Manage the support rota for the Linux team to ensure 24/7/365 coverage. Manage and escalate problems as appropriate.

* Ensure that the BAU service is prioritised and all incidents, problems and service requests are responded to in an efficient manner without negatively impacting SLA's and reporting metrics in place.

* Maintain and support the enterprise Production Linux server domain, VMware Virtual Infrastructure environment, datacentre server hardware infrastructure

* Work closely with 3rd party vendors to provide support for the corporate Cisco network, storage and Unified Communications services.

* Investigate defects or problems; work with internal Development team and external vendors to Identify solutions and support any fixes that are required as part of service improvement.

* Maintain and troubleshoot backup systems.

* Participate in regular Disaster Recovery testing activities.

* Follow the organisational Change Management procedure and other standard practices in installing, configuring and supporting Linux Cluster and Linux Infrastructure and relates items in Test and Production environments.

* Upgrade or maintain software at a time when the impact to the business is minimised. Execute the failover for the Linux and application services as required.

* Create, maintain and review operational process and support documentation.

* Perform daily/weekly/quarterly system checks. Ensure any issues identified are tracked and addressed.

* Participate in planned weekend work as required.

* Perform monthly operating system security patching.

* Input into the Linux infrastructure changes at the weekly/daily CAB. Ensure other team's changes do not have an impact on the delivery of the Linux services. Review and approve changes for the Linux team as required.

Skills/experience required:

* Must have strong operational support experience of Linux Red Hat Server in a Production enterprise environment.

* Experience of automation using Configuration Management tools like Ansible, Chef, Puppet, SaltStack.

* Experience of providing production support activities for business critical Linux/applications.

* Experience of supporting production VMware environments.

* Experience of supporting data backup technologies.

* Understanding of Linux and database disaster recovery technologies including SAN replication

* Knowledge of Cisco IP Networks and EMC SAN/storage technologies.

* Experience of enterprise monitoring systems

* Experience of managing and utilizing system management tools

* Experience in working with ticket systems such as Support Works or Remedy and an understanding of priorities and SLA's.

* Experience of providing cross training on technologies and operational processes to colleagues.

* Ability to collaborate effectively with other operational support teams in order to support the Production service.

* Must have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.

* Strong documentation and technical writing skills.

* Ability to plan and implement technical changes, that follow organisational change rules, without unexpected disruption to the service and with minimal oversight