IFS
Company Description
IFS is a billion-dollar revenue company with 6000+ employees on all continents. Our leading AI technology is the backbone of our award-winning enterprise software solutions, enabling our customers to be their best when it really matters–at the Moment of Service. Our commitment to internal AI adoption has allowed us to stay at the forefront of technological advancements, ensuring our colleagues can unlock their creativity and productivity, and our solutions are always cutting-edge.
At IFS, we’re flexible, we’re innovative, and we’re focused not only on how we can engage with our customers but on how we can make a real change and have a worldwide impact. We help solve some of society’s greatest challenges, fostering a better future through our agility, collaboration, and trust.
We celebrate diversity and understand our responsibility to reflect the diverse world we work in. We are committed to promoting an inclusive workforce that fully represents the many different cultures, backgrounds, and viewpoints of our customers, our partners, and our communities. As a truly international company serving people from around the globe, we realize that our success is tantamount to the respect we have for those different points of view.
By joining our team, you will have the opportunity to be part of a global, diverse environment; you will be joining a winning team with a commitment to sustainability; and a company where we get things done so that you can make a positive impact on the world.
We’re looking for innovative and original thinkers to work in an environment where you can #MakeYourMoment so that we can help others make theirs. With the power of our AI-driven solutions, we empower our team to change the status quo and make a real difference.
If you want to change the status quo, we’ll help you make your moment. Join Team Purple. Join IFS.
Job Description
The Database Administrator role in the Database Services Team is responsible for the overall delivery of the Oracle Database-related pieces for all the applications within the IFS Cloud Suite. Additionally, the role is expected to cover a 24/7 shift pattern as well as support customers in different continents.
The responsibilities include:
• Daily DB Operations
• Design common processes for the Cloud Service Centre (CSC) teams to use in their day to day duties supporting and maintaining our Cloud services.
• Act as an experienced DBA resource to help perform some of those daily duties when the need arises to address issues with client systems
• Act as a final point of escalation for challenging issues with our database services
• Work as needed to support the CSC and other teams during investigations and corrective actions during problem management investigations.
• Work with R&D alongside the CSA to provide guidance and feedback to improve the IFS product set in future releases.
• Backup Solutions
• Implement, in conjunction with the CSC team, agreed backup solutions for the IFS Application suite to satisfy our own and our customers’ needs
• Performance Tuning
• Design processes and approaches for the CSC team to manage performance issues in our cloud environments
• Work with the CSA and R&D teams to address performance issues through both short term and long-term methods
• Disaster Recovery
• Implement and test regularly, in conjunction with the CSA, RnD and CSC teams, any agreed disaster recovery solutions and ensure the solution suits the needs of IFS and our customers
• Monitoring
• Implement appropriate tooling to monitor and manage the database availability within our cloud services.
• Design processes and approaches for the CSC team to manage availability issues in production environments.
• Automation and Tooling
• Work with the CSC, CSA and Automation teams to design automation to reduce time and overhead for common tasks wherever possible.
• Training and skills transfer
• Deliver DBA knowledge transfer/training sessions to selected internal teams.
Qualifications
Experience
• Mandatory
• At least 5 years’ experience performing Oracle Database administration functions in cloud computing or enterprise IT service delivery
• At least 3 years’ experience writing shell scripts to automate repeatable tasks
• Demonstrated knowledge of cloud computing services or IT service management methodologies and best practices
• Experience in a modern ticket/service desk tooling such as ServiceNow, Jira Service Desk or a similar tool
• Value Add
• Experience in ITIL, ISO 20000 or a similar service delivery framework
• Experience in provision of cloud computing services or IT service delivery
Certifications
• A formal qualification (degree, HND, etc.) in Computer Science/Information Technology is useful but not mandatory.
• ITIL qualifications would be useful but are not mandatory.
• Vendor provided technical certification (CCNA, OCP, MCSA, etc.) would be useful though not mandatory.
Personal Abilities
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills including a business fluent English
• Ability to work to deadlines, targets and needs of the role
• Ability to manage own time, efficiently and effectively
• Be proactive and energetic in the work situation, seeking to get things done without constant supervision and at the same time being able to multi-task.
• Ability to self-learn and quickly understand new and changing technologies in a fast-moving cloud world, how and if these changes can be leveraged to improve the solution and the overall impact of these in the technical design and operational delivery.
Technical Skills
• Experience of implementing and managing critical production systems, especially in the cloud, including a strong awareness of customer-driven priorities and commercial pressures is essential.
• Experience of supporting multi-tenant Oracle databases (CDB/PDB)
• Experience administering Oracle databases (minimum 12c) on Linux and Windows operating systems
• Strong technical experience with performance tuning – AWR/ASH/ADDM/TKPROF/tracing sessions, etc – in a multi-tier architecture
• Good technical experience using OEM for various database administration purposes.
• Strong technical experience with backup/restore – RMAN, data pump export/import.
• Good experience with disaster recovery; dataguard – setup and troubleshooting.
• Experience with database cloning – RMAN active duplicate
• Strong technical experience writing shell scripts: lnux bash (knowledge of powershell scripting and windows command also nice to have)
• Experience with database upgrades (12c to 19c and above) and patching
• Experience working within a strict ticketing system, such as Service Now, JIRA, etc
• Basic understanding of Cloud Technologies – Azure, AWS or GCP
• Knowledge of database encryption – row level, backups, etc
• Exposure to 3rd party monitoring systems, e.g. Nagios, Prometheus, ELK
• Exposure to DevOps CI/CD tools – GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket, etc.
The following skills and exposure are not essential but are very useful:
• Knowledge of other database systems – Azure SQL, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.
• Microsoft Azure PaaS (e.g. App Services, SQL Database, Storage, Redis Cache, PostgreSQL), Event Hub, Automation, monitoring, Security Centre.
• Network architectures, especially related to Microsoft Azure (e.g. vNets, NSGs, VPN, ExpressRoute, SSL/TLS certificates, DNS).
• Native Azure monitoring
• DevOps Practices (Terraform, Chef and related tools), and how these are leveraged in design and operations to be able to deliver and support hundreds of instances seamlessly.
• Familiarity with other SaaS Cloud solutions (e.g. Salesforce, Office 365)
• Security principles – encryption, authentication, authorisation, integrity, auditing, pen testing etc – and how these are applied in a cloud environment.
The successful candidate will have a proven track record working with a wide range of teams including operations, R&D, consulting and support services. They will work effectively in an internationally distributed, multi-discipline team and must be highly self-motivated and proactive, with excellent problem solving and communication skills.
Additional Information
Working Environment
• The role is primarily working 24/7 on an 9hrs shift pattern
• Extra hours may be needed to discharge all associated duties
• The role includes remote working as part of its role, with office attendance from time to time
Note: This role profile serves to provide objective criteria for selecting a candidate who best fits the requirements. This document summarizes the main duties and responsibilities of the role and is not intended as an exhaustive list.
We believe that coming together as a community, in person, is important for innovation, connection and fostering a sense of belonging. Our roles have the right balance of remote and in-office working to enable flexibility for managing your life along with ensuring a real connection with your colleagues and the broader IFS community