Specialist Systems Engineer (zOS Systems Programmer Mainframe) at The South African Revenue Service (SARS)

About the Position

• SARS is looking for an experienced z/OS System Programmer to maintain and support the Mainframe Environment. The candidate must have a passion for service delivery and client satisfaction and always aim to over-deliver on business requirements. They must have the ability to self-manage and engage with business on a tactical and operational level.  Ensure alignment between business requirements for services and the T&SD capability to provide the ICT services.

Job Purpose

• To be responsible for the co-ordination, configuration programming, installation, and management of z-Systems hardware and software architectures, and related client services within the organisation.  Implementing system architectures and for the identification and resolution of hardware and z/OS software technical problems and malfunctions related to the network and other related servers with the potential to affect the successful execution of business transactions and ensuring a stable performance environment for the business processing system.  Work in both Production and non-Production environments.

Education and Experience

Minimum Qualification & Experience Required

• Bachelor's Degree / Advanced Diploma (NQF 7) BSC – Information Technology Systems or Computer Science and 5 - 7 years’ experience in a z-Systems and z/OS Environments, of which 2 - 3 years ideally at functional specialist level.

OR

Senior Certificate (NQF 4) AND IT Qualification (s) / Certification (s) IBM Certified Specialist in z-Systems, and 5 - 7 years’ experience in a z-Systems and z/OS Environments, AND additional requirements specified in Min Functional requirements, where applicable.

ALTERNATIVE #
 

• Senior Certificate (NQF 4) AND 10 years' experience in z-Systems and z/OS Environments.

Minimum Functional Requirements

Need to be familiar with:

• Microsoft Windows Server OR
• Windows IIS knowledge OR
• SuSE Linux OR
• IBM AIX OR
• Mainframe OR
• Storage Knowledge OR
• IT Hardware knowledge OR
• SCCM knowledge OR
• SCOM knowledge OR
• SharePoint knowledge OR
• Exchange knowledge OR
• VMWare knowledge, OR
• Active Directory knowledge OR

 WAS: IBM WebSphere Application Server (WAS), or IBM HTTP Server (IHS) or IBM Business Process Management (BPM) or IBM WebSphere Process Server or IBM Operational Decision Manager (ODM) or IBM WebSphere Edge Components."

Job Outputs:

Process

• Accumulate information to review work progress that provides input to reporting, decision making and the identification of improvement opportunities.
• Apply practical and applied knowledge and act authoritatively on methods, systems and procedures to identify trends and potential risks.
• Communication of situational interpretation and judgement of work outputs and queries in area of specialisation.
• Correctly apply policies, practices, standards, procedures and legislation in the delivery of work outputs.
• Draw on own knowledge and experience to diagnose symptoms, causes and possible effects in order to solve emerging problems.
• Initiate process and procedural change, implement the change and provide guidelines and support related to new requirements as a result of the change.
• Plan for value-added process improvements, initiatives and services to deliver on operational strategy and objectives.
• Execute specialist input through investigation &opportunities within the product process including risk concern.
• Provide specialist input through the investigation of opportunities for operational and process product and risk optimisation.
• Accumulate information to review work progress that provides input to reporting, decision making and the identification of improvement opportunities.
• Apply practical and applied knowledge and act authoritatively on methods, systems and procedures to identify trends and potential risks.
• To be responsible for the communication of situational interpretation and judgement of work outputs and queries in area of specialisation.
• To be responsible for the configuring, debugging and supporting multiple infrastructure platforms and software stacks.
• Coordinate and perform in-depth tests, including end-user reviews, for modified and new systems.
• Correctly apply policies, practices, standards, procedures and legislation in the delivery of work outputs.
• Create and maintain documentation as it relates to system configuration, mapping, processes, and service records.
• Design and deploy new applications and enhancements to existing applications, software, and operating systems and participate in the design of information and operational support systems;    
• Design and perform server and security audits, system backup procedures, and other recovery processes in accordance with the company’s disaster recovery and business continuity strategies.
• Developing, maintaining and supporting technical infrastructure, hardware and system software components and document it accordingly.
• Draw on own knowledge and experience to diagnose symptoms, causes and possible effects in order to solve emerging problems. Initiate process and procedural change, implement the change and provide guidelines and support related to new requirements as a result of the change.
• Plan for value-added process improvements initiatives for current systems to be more effective and efficient and services to deliver on operational strategy and objectives
• Liaise with stakeholders for problem resolution.
• Maintenance, support and upgrades of in-house developed applications and 3rd Party Applications, including issues like security, backup, and redundancy strategies.
• Participate in the administration and maintenance of the remote monitoring and management system: update agent scripts, respond to alerts, monitor dashboard, and periodic system review. 
• Participates in various IT projects intended to continually improve/upgrade the system infrastructure, ensuring change management procedures and methodologies are implemented and followed.
• Perform hardware and software assessments; assist in security audits and new business investigations.
• Performing high-level root-cause analysis for service interruption recovery and creating preventive measures
• Performing installation, maintenance and support of system software/hardware and user support
• Proactively ensure the highest levels of systems and infrastructure availability whilst monitoring and perform test application performance for potential bottlenecks identify possible solutions.
• Manage the Regional Data Centres.
• Write and maintain custom scripts to increase system efficiency and lower the human intervention time on any tasks to ensure compatibility and interoperability of in-house computing systems.
• Ensure system connectivity of all servers, shared software, groupware, and other applications.
• Integrate servers and their associated software into enterprise systems/solutions.
• Analyse, prepare and deliver system performance statistics and reports.
• Propose and create system design models, specifications, diagrams, and charts to provide direction to system programmer and development teams.
• Provide orientation and training to end users for all modified and new systems and mentoring of peers and staff

Governance

• Implement and provide input into the development of governance, compliance, integrity and ethics processes within area of specialisation.

People

• Develop and maintain productive working relationships with peers and team members to achieve predefined objectives.
• Search for, integrate and share new knowledge attained through formal and informal learning opportunities in the execution of your job

Finance

• Adhere to organisational policies and procedures to ensure cost effectiveness and reduction of financial costs.

Client

• Contribute to a culture of service excellence, which builds positive relationships and provides opportunity for feedback and exceptional service.
• Provide authoritative, specialist services, expertise and advice to internal and external stakeholders.

Behavioural competencies

• Accountability
• Analytical Thinking
•  Attention to Detail 
• Building Sustainability 
•  Commitment to Continuous Learning 
• Conceptual Ability 
• Customer Service  
• Developing Others 
• Fairness and Transparency
• Honesty and Integrity
• Problem Solving and Analysis 
• Trust
• Respect