Unix/Linux - Service Operations Specialist (NIGHT SHIFT)

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.
• Knowledge of IT Service Management (ITIL) framework OR understanding of Incident, Problem, Change Experience of leading production technical operational support teams.