IT Support and Systems Engineer at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is a leading scientific and technology research organisation that researches, develops, localises and diffuses technologies to accelerate socio-economic prosperity in South Africa. The organisation’s work contributes to industrial development and supports a capable state.

IT Support and Systems Engineer

About The Job

The CSIR has a vacancy for an IT Support and Systems Engineers in the Technology for Special Operations (TSO) impact area, within the Defence and Security cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for installing, configuring, and maintaining computer and Data Centre infrastructures, software, systems, networks, servers, firewalls, printers and peripherals. This position is based in Stellenbosch.

For more info about the impact area or cluster, please visit https://www.csir.co.za/technology-for –special-operations and https://www.csir.co.za/defence-and-security respectively.

Key Responsibilities

• Research and implement solutions to software and hardware issues spanning Endpoints, peripherals, networks, Data Centre, and Servers;

• Manage (direct involvement) requests, incidents, events, and changes cradle to grave;

• Research, diagnose, troubleshoot and identify solutions to resolve system issues;

• Coordinate the implementation of support and maintenance projects and Service Level Agreement’s (SLA) for the different systems in accordance with governance practices, across different support teams;

• Monitor services to determine the possible need for intervention to inform the end-user training focus;

• Communicate closely with all support teams and portfolios to ensure resolution of referred incidents within SLA;

• Monitor and administer capacity demand of ICT infrastructure services to ensure adequate real-time performance in accordance with expected business outcomes, articulated in SLAs;

• Adhere to policies, procedures, standards, and practices to ensure compliance to regulatory and Governance requirements, through the provision of services;

• Monitor and administer information security of ICT Infrastructure services, following service management, security best practices and standards, to ensure CSIR required ICT services are available when required and information is protected against any potential cyber-attack from both internal and external systems;

• Maintain proper configuration management practices across the ICT Infrastructure systems, to ensure speedy resolution of incidents, risk mitigation, and minimum disruption of services;

• Maintain alignment to quality standards (e.g. Cobit, ISO), best practices (ITIL Service Management), governance and legislative requirements (e.g. Information Security, POPI, ECT Act.) to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction;

• Manage hardware life cycles to ensure hardware remains in warranty with Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM);

• Participate in project delivery and/or run independent operational projects within TSO;

• System and user administration (e.g. License management, Access management, system and user support);

• Respond to data centre service outage and other problems to ensure speedy resolution per SLA;

• Monitor, maintain, support and report on services/systems availability and capacity of ICT infrastructure and endpoints to ensure availability and accessibility of services per SLA;

• Coordinate and ensure that adequate training is provided for users;

• Act as liaison between users and information technology department on problem areas, improvement and propose enhancements;

• Responsible for key service/s or product/s and ensures efficient and sufficient delivery, monitoring and support;

• Provide solutions to problems.

Qualifications, Skills And Experience

• A National diploma in information technology, computer systems engineering or related fields with at least four years’ experience in system administration functions covering inter alia Microsoft Active directory, backups, environments;

• A Bachelor’s degree or an Advanced diploma will be advantageous;

• Experience in working together with multiple teams during the design, engineering, implementation and operations phases;

• Experience with recovering IT Systems during a disaster recovery testing or real scenario;

• Experience with implementing backup policies and schedules to ensure data retention strategies are met;

• Experience in IT Systems audits;

• Working experience in Data Centre Infrastructure e.g. Power Distribution Units (PDU’s), Racks, Cooling, Fire suppression, UPS’s, Generators and Physical security systems;

• Working experience in management information systems (MIS) and reporting;

• Working knowledge and experience with Access control & DVR monitoring and troubleshooting;

• Working experience in design and implementation of processes and procedures;

• Working experience in Service Management processes;

• Working experience in the implementation, support, maintenance, and problem-solving on Virtualization technologies, Active Directory service technologies, Inventory management solutions, Open source and proprietary Operating Systems, WEB technologies, Collaboration, and e-mail technologies;

• Elements of Project management experience, i.e. working within planned time constraints.

• Specialist knowledge and experience of Microsoft Operating Systems;

• Technical knowledge of the latest ICT System Operation disciplines and industry trends;

• Working knowledge of Server Operating systems, Collaboration Systems, Integration of systems, endpoint client and other relevant ICT systems and discipline(s);

• Knowledge and use of customer support management software;

• Knowledge and experience working with Cisco Networking and Fortigate technologies;

• Demonstrated skills in analytical thinking and decision-making, flexibility and adaptability, investigative orientation, planning and organising, problem solving, verbal, written communication and presentation, diverse and dynamic team work, self-management (planning, prioritising and time management – includes the ability to work independently), systems level thinking, collaborating, multi-disciplinary knowledge; configuration management.

SA Citizenship is necessary, as a Security Clearance is required for this position.

Closing date: 31 October 2021

PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES ONLY.

For more info, please email us at [email protected] . Please do-not send your application to this mailbox, it is only for inquiries.

The CSIR is an equal opportunity employer. As such, it is committed to the employment Equity Act and will through the filling of this vacancy, give preference to candidates from designated groups in terms of the Employment Equity Act. By applying for this position at the CSIR, the applicant understands, and agrees that the CSIR may solicit a credit and criminal report from registered credit bureau and/or South African Police Services (in relation to positions that requires trust and honesty and/or entail the handling of cash or finances), and may also verify the applicant’s educational qualification and employment history. The CSIR reserves the right to remove the advertisement at any time before the stated closing date and it further reserves the right not to appoint if a suitable candidate is not identified.