Network Architect at The South African Reserve Bank

Job description

Organisation name: Solutions Delivery: Infrastructure

Department description: Business Systems and Technology Department

Brief description

The main purpose of this position is to research, plan, design and deploy high-availability information and communications technology (ICT) network infrastructure solutions across the network spectrum within the South African Reserve Bank Group (SARB Group).

Detailed description

The successful candidate will be responsible for the following key performance areas:

• Define own work plan and deliverables with guidance from the Team Leader: Networks and Collaboration, and prioritise delivery of own outputs against the agreed work plan.
• Design, test and implement scalable, redundant and secure network infrastructure solutions and related technologies according to business requirements in alignment with industry best practises and standards, with a high level of focus on F5 BIG-IP infrastructure.
• Provide escalation support on the deployed network infrastructure.
• Provide technical network expertise as part of ICT infrastructure projects and participate in other departmental/divisional projects in order to contribute towards business objectives.
• Identify and implement opportunities for integration, consolidation and enhancements to ensure cost-effective and optimal use of network resources and technology.
• Research, design and evaluate alternative network architectures and related technologies in relation to the SARB’s business needs (proof of concept and technical assessments) and aligned with the Business Systems and Technology Department’s (BSTD) strategy, vision and roadmap.
• Create and maintain technical network topology diagrams and provide structured documentation and procedures to the Production Support Section on solution handover, where relevant.
• Keep abreast of new and changing network architectures and technologies, and liaise with vendors for purposes of product and technology review, coordinating vendor presentations where relevant.
• Provide input into the development of network-related policies and standards in accordance with corporate governance standards, including the SARB’s policies, procedures and other legislative requirements.
• Act on management requests to address or mitigate risks in the network environment as identified by the internal or external auditors and other governance-related assessments.
• Develop and enhance disaster/business continuity procedures on deployed network infrastructure solutions and assist in exercising those procedures.

Job requirements

• To be considered for this position, candidates must have:
• a Bachelor’s degree in ICT or an equivalent combination of education (including an Applicable Industry Certification) and job-related experience;
• Applicable Industry Certification – Professional (expert-level will be an added advantage): F5 Certified Technology Specialist.

Certifications that will be an added advantage include:

• Cisco CCNA or CCNP (Routing and Switching/Security/Voice or Collaboration/Wireless networking);
• Checkpoint (Firewall) Administrator; and
• BlueCoat (Proxy) Administrator.

Job-related knowledge should include:

• expert knowledge on the design, deployment and maintenance of F5 BIG-IP technologies and the related application, security and network integration;
• expert knowledge on network and security technologies, such as Cisco, Checkpoint, BlueCoat and RSA.
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL);
• Control Objectives for IT (COBIT); and
• The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF).

Job-related work experience should include:

• a minimum of three years’ experience in the following:
• F5 Technology Specialist; and

Experience in the following:

• Network design and support (Cisco);
• Checkpoint Firewall Administrator; and
• BlueCoat (Proxy) Administrator.