Role:

As a member of the Dissemination Services Team within the Maintenance and Engineering Division, the Consultant shall provide support to the operational maintenance of the dissemination systems with a particular focus on the architectural evolution of those dissemination software applications and systems. The duties range from the support to the operation of the various dissemination components, to the analysis, design, implementation and maintenance of their software and system functions. It also includes the co-ordination with external providers of support and solution services.

In particular the tasks will include:

• Analysis of software and facility architectures with respect to their migration to new technologies and architectures, and to modern solutions;

• Analysis of the operational requirements and identification or implementation of the tools to fulfil them;

• Preparation, validation, and maintenance of ground segment maintenance and operational procedures and technical documentation;

• Support to the operation of the systems, by monitoring the performance and, in case of anomalies, identifying and applying appropriate first-line corrective actions. This task requires the provision of stand-by and call-out support out of normal working hours ;

• Investigations into system anomalies that impact the data dissemination services and the provision of corrective solutions;

• Design, implementation and testing of corrections and improvements. This may require the analysis of user requirements, the specification, the implementation, and the generation and maintenance of technical documentation;

• Ensuring that adequate Monitoring and Control is provided with appropriate end-to-end monitoring of all dissemination services. This includes the development, implementation and maintenance of application and process level scheduling, monitoring and control functions;

• Design, implementation and support of the dissemination related software applications;

• Support the delivery of software externally developed, its installation, configuration, and testing;

• Preparation and production of routine reports as necessary;

Profile:

In addition to having a University degree (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline, the Consultant shall have experience of software development, operation or maintenance in realtime systems and be familiar with data transfer technologies.

The Consultant shall have a significant work experience in the UNIX SVR4 (Linux , SUN Solaris, IBM AIX) Operating System environments, and should be familiar, to the extent required by the performance of the above tasks, with networking, distributed applications, TCP/IP services and Web services.

Knowledge and experience of the following applied in a 24/7 environment is mandatory:

• Expert knowledge in development and maintenance of medium to large size applications;

• Expert knowledge and proven application of development using Java, Perl, operating system scripting languages, and XML technologies;

• Expert knowledge of modern system architectures in the area of real-time data services, data delivery, and web services;

• Hands-on experience in a number of large scale software and facility migrations;

• Source code version control, preferably using Subversion or ClearCase;

• Configuration Management processes (anomaly tracking, change control, patching, releasing);

• Formalised Software Testing;

• Very good communication, presentation and team working skills combined with the ability to perform under high workloads;

• The ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and the proven ability to obtain a system overview;

Practical knowledge of as many as possible of the following will be an advantage:

• Project planning;

• Quality assurance;

• Writing of formal technical documentation.

•high degree of autonomy and good analytical skills,

•good communication skills,

•conduct all activities in an orderly and disciplined manner,

•work calmly and correctly under stress,

•minimum of supervision.

•English and French. (The working language for the position is English)