City : Hamilton

Category : Other

Industry : Education

Employer : McMaster University

Hamilton, ON
 
Unit/Department Description:
 
The McMaster University Library supports a diverse array of critical and campus-wide systems to support the teaching and research activities of the university. Most of these systems are resident in the Library’s data centre in Mills Memorial Library, while some are provided by vendors as SaaS solutions. Working closely with a team of application administrators and developers, the person in this role provides essential systems administration support for these applications. We emphasize collaboration, creativity, and sustainability in our technical work. We encourage experimentation and exploration, while being guided by evidence and data.
 
 
 
General Description:
 
The Senior Systems Administrator acts as a technical and consulting resource for complex issues related to various University departments and units with respect to the implementation and maintenance of information technology systems. Supports the University's academic and administration departments by acting in a technical capacity in all phases of the Project Life Cycle for small to medium projects and components of large projects, including post-production support and ongoing maintenance. Continuously gains an understanding of the University's operations and processes and how systems are used in support of those operations. Works under general direction within a clear framework of accountability and exercises substantial personal responsibility and accountability to deliver results to the University.
 
 
 
Representative Duties & Responsibilities: Provide design and support for technology in server and related environments, data network infrastructure and related environments, datacenter technology and facilities, storage area network and other storage related environments, voice network infrastructure and related environments, and information security infrastructure and other related environments. Critically evaluate information gathered from multiple sources, reconcile conflicts, decompose high-level information into details, abstract up from low-level information to a general understanding, and distinguish user requests from the underlying true needs. Elicit requirements using interviews, document analysis, requirement workshops, surveys, site visits, business process descriptions, use cases, scenarios, business analysis, and task and workflow analysis. Perform advanced levels of analysis, problem solving and research skills to formulate solutions to complex business needs. Conduct gap analyses. Develop strategies for implementing new services and upgrades on production systems. Troubleshoot computer system issues that may require an end-to-end evaluation of University wide systems often spanning multiple heterogeneous hosts and locations across the University and with external service providers. Ensure the availability and performance of the current production storage, information processing, and computing environment in assigned and related areas of the organization. Test system architecture in order to minimize risks to the production systems. Investigate, evaluate, compare, and demonstrate new hardware and software products, and new computing techniques which could enhance the University’s computing, information processing, and network environment. Undertake study and pilot projects to assess and select commercial technology alternatives. Provide technical assistance to individual user groups, user support, and operational staff in the introduction and development of specialized systems and services. Ensure individuals conform to organizational information processing, use of network, and computing standards through the proper publication and awareness of policies. Plan and coordinate the technology refresh for large and complex interconnected systems. Contribute to the development of cost and time estimates for the technical architecture components of project implementation. Deliver workshops and demonstrate new technologies to campus staff as systems are being implemented. Prepare and present training for user support and operational staff through technical seminars and documentation. Prepare procedures for restoring systems to full operation after hardware and software component failures on both production and test systems. Prepare contingency plans for recovering services and operations after incidents including, but not limited to, power blackouts, water damage, or structural building failures and contribute to the planning and development of disaster recovery scenarios. Undertake projects such as performance monitoring and capacity planning to monitor the overall reliability and effectiveness of the computing systems and information processing architecture including storage area networks. Liaise with computer vendors, other institutions, and associated computer user groups as a means to maintain communication between all parties involved in technical projects and day-to-day operations. Design, implement, and document support processes, procedures, and mechanisms that inter-connect heterogeneous systems in support of the integration of processes and data flow. Gather and compile information and create reports and graphs for capacity planning, and performance metrics. Prepare technical specifications and requests for quotes from suppliers and requests for proposals. Participate in negotiations with suppliers to discover options and acquire the most cost-effective solutions for technology requirements. Utilize the appropriate control tools to coordinate small and medium size projects according to Project Management Office methodologies. Develop success criteria and risk assessments for small to medium size projects and changes. Develop, implement, and document best practices to align with departmental and University strategies and processes. Work independently with users to define concepts. · Ensure that projects meet specified functionality requirements. Prepare and review recommendations and other project initiation documents. Document system functionality, particularly related to new enhancements. Develop and maintain information technology process flow, methodology, and control documentation. Assist with the development of project proposals and estimates. Resolve problems in the test, production implementation, and post-implementation phases in coordination with other technical and business groups. Liaise between the technology and support teams. Communicate project, issue, and system status to others. · Communicate testing results to other stakeholders. Facilitate effective dialog between user community and technical staff. Interact with and exchange information with colleagues. Follow a test script and document defects. Work with others to prioritize and schedule issues resolution. Plan, schedule, and monitor own work within short time horizons. Organize individual time, work and resources to accomplish objectives in the most effective and efficient way. Understand and use appropriate methods, tools, and applications to complete work tasks. Demonstrate a rational and organized approach to work and identify development opportunities. Absorb technical information when it is presented systematically and apply it effectively. Use measurement methods to monitor progress toward goal attainment, tenaciously working to meet or exceed those goals, while deriving satisfaction from the process of goal achievement and continuous improvement. Ensure that the internal and external customer perspective is a driving force behind decisions and activities. Follow service practices that meet customers’ and University needs. Interact with others in a way that gives them confidence in one’s intentions and those of the University. Work collaboratively with others to achieve departmental and institutional goals. Actively participate as a member of a team to move the team toward the completion of goals. Perform a range of varied work activities in a variety of structured environments. Successfully engage in multiple initiatives simultaneously. Apply and enforce department change control policies and procedures. Read and understand a complex project plan and develop simple project plans. Remain current with relevant development and project methodologies. · Remain current with security policies and procedures and work with System Administrators to implement security changes. Remain current with the different levels of testing and develop simple use cases and test scripts.
 
 
 
Supervision: Ensure adherence to quality standards and procedures for short-term staff and volunteers.
 
 
 
Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Business, or a related field of study. Requires 4 years of relevant experience
 
 
 
Assets: Experience and expertise with Red Hat, CentOS, Debian Linux distributions essential Experience and expertise with PostgreSQL, MariaDB (MySQL), SQL Server essential Experience with LAMP stacks and Tomcat environments essential Experience with virtualization technologies such as QEMU-Linux essential Experience with building Linux containers, virtual Linux, and Windows machine images essential Experience building and maintaining backup strategies for virtualized and static infrastructure essential Experience with maintaining disaster recovery plans and contingency plans for outage mitigation essential Familiarity with storage arrays NAS, ZFS, NFS etc. essential Knowledge of networking topologies and concepts such as Subnetting and Netmasking essential Experience with installing and maintaining SSL certificates on all web properties essential Experience building Docker files for rapid deployments and managing existing Docker environments is an asset Experience with provisioning tools such as Ansible, Chef, or Puppet, and the ability to compose Playbooks desirable Knowledge of orchestration tools such as Kubernetes is an asset Experience with LDAP, Shibboleth, Azure, or other authentication services desirable Ability to program system admin tasks in Python, PHP, Bash, Shell desirable Ability to communicate and collaborate well with developers, other system administrators, non-technical staff, and library vendors essential Proactive, problem-solver with a team-focused and solutions-oriented work ethic essential Familiarity with Windows Server and IIS is an asset Experience with Proxmox desirable Experience with Zabbix or other system health monitoring tools is an asset Familiarity with EZProxy is an asset Familiarity with OLRC (Ontario Library Research Cloud) and/or cloud computing is an asset Experience with Shibboleth and Azure implementation and configuration desirable Knowledge of Bluecat network management console is an asset Knowledge Sectigo Certificate Manager is an asset