Senior IT Operations Center Engineer

We take great strides to ensure our employees have the resources to live well, be healthy, continue learning, develop skills, grow professionally and serve our local communities. We invite you to apply for a career with us.

Residency in or relocation to Louisiana is preferred for all positions.

POSITION PURPOSE

The Senior IT Operations Center Engineer plans, installs, monitors and maintains the integrity, security, availability, reliability and performance of primary and auxiliary technical architecture for corporate computerized systems as related to infrastructure software/hardware; provides an extended level of technical support and timely assistance to clients of computerized systems; evaluates, tests, and recommends new computerized system products. Responsible for the design, configuration, and operation of the monitoring platforms, batch jobs systems, and file transfer systems. Responsible for ongoing infrastructure and process improvements, including the application of industry best practices monitoring, batch, and file transfers. Accountable for complying with all laws and regulations that are associated with duties and responsibilities Accountable for complying with all laws and regulations associated with duties and responsibilities

NATURE AND SCOPE

• This role does not manage people
• This role reports to this job: MANAGER, IT OPERATIONS CENTER
• Necessary Contacts: INSIDE RELATIONSHIPS: Presents and recommends priorities, hardware, systems, design changes and technical alternatives to users and management. Provides technical advice to management and frequently participates as technical advisor and consultant in management decisions. Recognized as an authority inside own organization. Must be able to understand the requirements of multiple departments, identify and negotiate trade-offs to gain management agreement with proposed recommendations. Must have ability to identify and effectively present the advantages of systems/storage alternatives. Works with counterparts in development areas to recommend and negotiate approaches, problem resolution and/or changes. OUTSIDE RELATIONSHIPS: Occasional attendance at technical conferences. Occasional interaction with product vendors. Participates in vendor negotiations and meetings

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor''s in Computer Science or related field required. Four years related experience in a hosting environment, data center, help desk, NOC or comparable environment to include at least one year experience troubleshooting networks and/or servers can be used In lieu of a degree

Work Experience

• 5 years years of related work experience, with a background in one or more of the following areas of specialty as specified: Linux operating system software (Red Hat Linux preferred) SAN/NAS infrastructure (Pure storage or Isilon preferred) Backup systems (Avamar/Datadomain preferred) Virtual Infrastructure (VMware preferred) Research and development application and system software Network/server/telecommunications systems software Has used current system software management technology and tools. Proven working experience in installing, configuring and troubleshooting UNIX /Linux based environments. Cloud experience, preferably in AWS. Experience with monitoring systems and automation software (e.g., Solarwinds, SCOM, Control-M, Systrack, Puppet, cfengine, Chef).scripting skills (e.g., shell scripts, Perl, Ruby, and Python) Experience with secure file transfer systems (e. g., MessageWay, Connect Direct) Networking knowledge (OSI network layers, TCP/IP). Basic communication skills to coordinate internal education, interaction with internal areas concerning problem status.
• Requires knowledge of computing systems and development process, which includes data processing equipment, programming languages, programming and analysis techniques, operating systems, test and data management. Requires knowledge of storage/backup systems. Must have demonstrated ability to analyze and solve logical problems such as may be found in mathematics, statistics, etc.

Skills and Abilities

• DECISION MAKING: With minimal direction, designs, defines, and installs system components of a major system or subsystem. Develops functional specifications, identifies external program interactions, recommends hardware/software design changes and cost/function trade-offs. Presents status and technical alternatives to management. Decisions influence operations outside department - especially applications areas. Recommends alternatives and priorities. Participates in project planning. Performs with some technical direction. Estimates and plans own work ensuring objectives, schedules and cost of assigned segment of project are met ANALYTICAL & CREATIVE: Analyzes and develops detailed approaches to determine the most efficient systems and programming approach on complex applications and systems that require extensive problem definition. l High degree of analytical ability to analyze project objectives and develop requirements. Keeps current with improvements in programming/analysis techniques and applies as appropriate. Must achieve optimum performance within time and cost objectives. Contributes to the development of new programming/analysis concepts and improvement of existing techniques.

Licenses and Certifications

• None Required

ACCOUNTABILITIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Manage and monitor all installed systems and infrastructure
• Install, configure, test and maintain operating systems, application software and system management tools
• Proactively ensure the highest levels of systems and infrastructure availability
• Monitor and test application performance for potential bottlenecks, identify possible solutions, and work with developers to implement those fixes
• Maintain security, backup, and redundancy strategies
• Provide technical support and troubleshoot problems on local area networks (LAN) and data networks using UNIX and/or Linux operating systems
• Research problems, plans solutions recommends software and systems, coordinates developments in an orderly manner to meet the business requirements
• Write and maintain custom scripts to increase system efficiency and lower the human intervention time on any tasks
• Participate in the design of information and operational support systems
• Provide 2nd and 3rd level support
• Liaise with vendors and other IT personnel for problem resolution
• Interact with the customers and users to develop design requirements for projects
• Provides technical advice for assigned clients to meet client needs and expectations
• Understands IT Departmental Goals and Objectives and delivers work products to contribute to those goals
• Provides input on long term strategies for the NOC

Additional Accountabilities and Essential Functions

The Physical Demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the Accountabilities and Essential Functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable an individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions

• Perform other job-related duties as assigned, within your scope of responsibilities.
• Job duties are performed in a normal and clean office environment with normal noise levels.
• Work is predominately done while standing or sitting.
• The ability to comprehend, document, calculate, visualize, and analyze are required.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

All internal employees please apply through Workday Careers.

PLEASE USE A WEB BROWSER OTHER THAN INTERNET EXPLORER IF YOU ENCOUNTER ISSUES (CHROME, FIREFOX, SAFARI)

Additional Information

Please be sure to monitor your email frequently for communications you may receive during the recruiting process. Due to the high volume of applications we receive, only those most qualified will be contacted. To monitor the status of your application, please visit the "My Applications" section in the Candidate Home section of your Workday account.

If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete an application, please contact recruiting@bcbsla.com for assistance.

In support of our mission to improve the health and lives of Louisianians, we encourage the good health of its employees and visitors. We want to ensure that our employees have a work environment that will optimize personal health and well-being. Due to the acknowledged hazards from exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, and in order to promote good health, our company properties are smoke and tobacco free.

We perform background and pre-employment drug screening after an offer has been extended and prior to hire for all positions. As part of this process records may be verified and information checked with agencies including but not limited to the Social Security Administration, criminal courts, federal, state, and county repositories of criminal records, Department of Motor Vehicles and credit bureaus. Pursuant with sec 1033 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, individuals who have been convicted of a felony crime involving dishonesty or breach of trust are prohibited from working in the insurance industry unless they obtain written consent from their state insurance commissioner.

Additionally, we are a Drug Free Workplace. A pre-employment drug screen will be required and any offer is contingent upon satisfactory drug testing results.