Job Specification

Purpose of Position :

To provide highly technical expertise in the planning, design, development and operation and support of current and future Enterprise IT Service offerings of the ministry's large, complex driver, vehicle, carrier and related systems platform to its customers.
To provide senior-level expertise and leadership from both a technical and integration perspective (Windows, Solaris, AIX, AS/400 and Mainframe operating systems, network, database, middleware) to the operations team in the configuration, customization, implementation and support of major complex computer solutions in a variety of platforms.
To analyse data centre operating systems and middleware technologies and monitor their operations to ensure optimum performance, high availability and security requirements are met. To provide a leading role in the mitigation of risks and issues that threatens the ability of the ministry's large, complex driver, vehicle, carrier and related systems to meet these objectives.

Duties / Responsibilities :

The Road User Safety Application Environments is a Cluster Service that houses applications for client Ministries (i.e. RUS Standard Applications (SAE), PhotoCard, Photo Character Recognition, Content Manager, RMS and HESB HITS environments) as well as Java Enterprise applications. All supported Road User Safety applications deal with public safety and as such contain sensitive information that all positions, including this one, require a CPIC Level 3 Enhanced Reliability Security clearance. Access to this technology environment is tightly controlled. This position works under the general direction of the Manager, Production Support Services and has access to OPS policies, directives and standards.

1. Applies senior technical expertise in designing, developing and implementing middleware technologies (such as Windows, Solaris, AIX, MF and AS/400) and provides technical direction, consultation and instruction to the application solutions developers to ensure the benefits of the middleware technologies are achieved while maintaining the integrity of the systems.
2. Provides technical leadership in the configuration, administration and support of the Cluster service offering as an end to end service. Performs operating system and middleware upgrades and enhancements, patching, tuning and implements backup and recovery solutions including disaster recovery. Works closely with infrastructure administrators in partner organizations in the support of Cluster platforms.
3. Provides technical leadership/expertise for technical project activities, including the preparation of project work plans, leading project and operational workgroups by developing estimates of costs / resources / staffing requirements, determining schedules, monitoring activities, providing status reports, project control, hardware and software troubleshooting, testing, communication of change, promotion of changes and identifying training needs of technical users.
4. Provides senior level technical expertise design, development and implementation of strategies to monitor and alert the Service Management Branch (SMB) Cluster Operations Team of events that could potentially breach the capability to meet the service level target commitments with stakeholders.
5. Establishes, maintains and implements methods for monitoring the resource capacity and availability of the Cluster service. Analyses and identifies trends that threaten the ability of the operations team to meet commitments to clients such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Designs and leads the implementation of strategies to mitigate these risks.
6. Collaborates with partners in the definition of the technology roadmap for the Cluster hosting platform and provides authoritative advice to senior management regarding critical business operational requirements. Leads the work to define implementation of new services, technologies, road map items and enhancements. Identifies issues, risks and constraints in delivering project activities within the environment. Identifies knowledge gaps (such as new technology offerings) and provides senior technical leadership in identifying learning opportunities to narrow those gaps.
7. Assesses daily operations and alerts Manager to serious workload volume, prioritizing, cost and resourcing issues. Makes recommendations and co-ordinates with the Manager and technical staff in other service provider organizations to resolve problems. Plans resource needs and coordinates activities between partner organizations.
8. Coordinates and participates in the 24x7x365 on-call support to ensure continuous availability of the middleware environment to both internal and external clients. This also includes using off peak hours (late nights, weekends) to perform support and maintenance tasks that render portions of the environment unavailable for the duration of the tasks. Enterprise applications are typically mission-critical or business-critical, and have high availability (24x7x365) requirements.
9. Performs other duties as assigned including support in a secondary/backup capacity for the Cluster's .NET SDE hosting and application support services. Must be available for occasional travel within Ontario.

Staffing and Licencing :

Requires the ability to pass Enhanced Reliability (CPIC level 3) security clearance.

Knowledge :

Job requires:
• Expert knowledge of the underlying technologies that make up the Cluster hosting environments – including (but not limited to): Oracle Weblogic, IBM WebSphere, Entrust Services (PKI, SSL, TruePass), Reflection for Secure IT, Harvest, Mercury Quality Centre, Essbase, Content Manager, WebSphere MQ, Webfocus, Informatica, Oracle EBusiness Suite, Oracle Seibel, Oracle Directory services, Splunk, Internet Information Services (IIS), in order to design, install, monitor, maintain, performance tune and operate systems running the Cluster technology stack while ensuring high availability requirements are met.
• General knowledge of .NET Middleware technology including System Centre (Operations Manager, Configuration Manager, Virtual Machine Manager), Dynamics, Forefront (Universal Access Gateway or UAG and Threat Management Gateway or TMG), Integration Services (Biz Talk, Host Integration Services, MSMQ), SharePoint, SQL Server, SQL Server Analysis and Reporting Services to provide support in secondary/backup capacity,
• Thorough understanding of system architectures, including technical, data, application and network architectures, multi-tier systems development and integration methodologies to provide expert level technical support of the Cluster service with the application solutions hosted within it, and the infrastructure services as an end to end service.
• Expert knowledge and experience with integrated multi-tier / multi-platform environments including the underlying operating systems, LAN / WAN, firewalls, PC hardware, desktop software to analyse existing Cluster technology, and identify improvements / developments, which will respond to complex technical design problems related to complex integration of technologies and improve administrative productivity.
• Expert knowledge of processes and procedures such as industry standard IT Service Management frameworks such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) used in large organizations to perform upgrades, enhancements and maintenance to enterprise level services with minimal disruption to availability of business critical systems.
• Expert knowledge of methodologies in automation to provide technical leadership in the design and implementation of the automation of repeated manual tasks to improve quality and capacity of the operational delivery of the team.
• Excellent knowledge of theory and principles of business design, systems analysis, design and development, and related methods, techniques, practices and standards, in order to lead a team in: initiating projects, establishing scope, objectives, requirements and analysis and definition of clients business and information technology requirements; design, development, testing and implementation of systems solutions; ensuring preparation of technical documentation and technical support, and; preparation of training and implementation plans for all aspects of the technical system.
• Excellent knowledge of OPS IT administrative policies and directives to ensure compliance of recommendations on acquisition of technology and services.
• In-depth knowledge of the OPS IT project planning methodology, the Cluster Operations mandate, clients' business, processes and requirements to recommend solutions which promote the IT strategies and goals of the OPS and Cluster operations while also meeting business needs and priorities of the client. Job requires understanding of operational disciplines and processes.
• In-depth knowledge of government/ministry directives, standards, policies and guidelines governing systems development and use/acquisition of information technology to develop proposals for ministry information technology plans in relation to the information technology strategy and plans.

Skills :

• Job requires technical problem-solving skills and planning skills to co-ordinate and perform hands-on problem solving with team members to identify and implement both break-fix and long term solutions, analyse Windows, Solaris, AIX, AS/400 and zOS systems management issues / concerns / initiatives, identify and define multi-platform system integration issues or problems and co-ordinate complex resolution processes with service providers, partners and stakeholders through meetings and information sharing.
• Job requires analytical skills to: analyse and identify trends in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as the ability to meet Service Level Targets, and when necessary plan and implement remediation plans to maintain compliance with commitments, and; analyse and develop systems proposals for optimizing use of database and telecommunications technology by reviewing systems performance and systems assurance issues in relation to stated requirements and Cluster business strategies and recommending design and implementation changes for new software releases.
• Job requires analytical and decision-making skills to identify and prioritize major issues any time (day or night) and superior communication skills to clearly and concisely communicate within a group of people to quickly solve problems.
• Job requires evaluative skills to co-ordinate the systems management function by: developing technical design features and alternatives to ensure effective system back up, recovery and security, and; developing systems assurance guidelines and initiating procedures to improve reliability, availability and integrity.
• Job requires written communication skills to: prepare reports, briefs and papers on systems management/database policies and standards and write reports on systems performance, including assessment of technical specifications and considerations (eg. technical design features ensuring data integrity/availability/reliability.
• Job requires oral communication skills to explain technical solutions and make presentations to management and technical staff on proposals for systems management aspects of information technology plans/strategies.
• Job requires interpersonal skills to: provide team leadership to the operations team; present and discuss benefits/ drawbacks of recommended solutions to issues occurring in Cluster Operations with senior managers and encourage support for recommended approach, and; discuss systems design with client groups and encourage/promote approach which facilitates achievement of information technology objectives.
• Job requires research, comprehension and training/mentoring skills to quickly learn new technologies and train or mentor the team members in order to keep the Cluster's technology footprint current.

Freedom of Action :

• Job requires working within OPS policies and guidelines for delivery of systems consulting services, ministry and government directives for information technology development and acquisition and within overall Ministry objectives and strategies for use of information technology.
• Job exercises latitude in decision-making by recommending and leading work-around and break-fix solutions during major incident and problem resolution to bring services back up and running, recommending project terms of reference and design specifications, leveraging relationships with partners (both internal and external) to recommend and implement solutions, defining client needs with vendors, recommending opportunities for productivity improvements and collaboration amongst team, partners, stakeholders and Ministry IT users.
• Work is reviewed at key stages of project task and operational delivery by Manager for accomplishment of goals and objectives and completion of deliverables for clients.
• Job refers to Manager changes to operating systems, major enhancements to achieve greater organizational efficiency or major changes in technical direction/requirements or development approach.