The key person shall perform the following tasks:

• installation and configuration of operating system and other software, tuning of operating systems parameters to optimize performance; 

• analysis, planning and performance of H/W and S/W upgrades or reconfigurations, taking care of compatibility issues between subsystems;
• monitoring of the system performance, investigation into H/W and system S/W problems and performance of the relevant corrective actions;
• ensuring that in case of H/W or system S/W failures the operational configuration can be restored, including the definition, maintenance, performance of backup procedures;
• liaison with the external providers of H/W and system S/W maintenance for the request and follow up of maintenance interventions;
• administration of user accounts; 

• support to S/W development and maintenance in relation to the utilization of system resources;
• implementation and maintenance of scripts and/or procedures where applicable for the automated and/or controlled execution of the above activities, generation or update of technical documentation in relation to system upgrades;
• provision of stand-by/on-call support;
• provision of support, as required, to critical operations.

As an essential part of the tasks above, the key person is expected to generate and maintain documentation. This may comprise writing and reviewing requirement and design specifications, change proposals, preparing documents supporting procurements, reviewing data packages belonging to technical inspections and reviews, writing and reviewing IT architecture and design, writing design evaluation reports, writing/reviewing reports, test reports and overall status reports.

In the performance of the activities, the key person shall apply besides the relevant configuration and change control procedures, the relevant system engineering standards as well as quality and maintenance procedures.

In addition to having a university degree (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline, the key person shall have at least 5 years’ experience of assessing and administrating computer systems and a very extensive experience in IT system design. The experience shall have been acquired in an operational or production environment, driven by high availability requirements.

The key-person shall have the following experience and background:

• at least 5 years’ experience in the administration and troubleshooting of distributed systems;
• expert knowledge and a significant work experience of Linux operating systems (Redhat and SLES);
• very good IT system design skills;
• good experience in VMware virtualization;
• technical documentation skills;
• experience in an operational or production environment, characterized by custom applications in addition to standard software, running both on the client and server side, and by high availability requirements.

Experience in the installation, administration and troubleshooting on some of the following shall be considered as an advantage:

• Dell / HP computers running Linux;
• UNIX (Solaris, AIX) and MS Windows System Administration;
• RAID arrays (EMC);

• SAN Fabrics (Brocade);

• Backup and recovery systems;

In addition, the key-person will be involved in some more general tasks


• Participation in relevant internal and external meetings.
• Regular review of System level documentation dealing with requirements, system concepts, architecture and design, technical analyses, to identify information of importance for test tools / test data.

The key-person shall be able to fulfill the assigned tasks with a minimum of supervision, have a systematic approach to work, be able to plan his/her work and to cope with tight schedules and multiple tasks. He/she shall have the capability to write accurate and consistent technical documentation. Good communication skills (verbal and written) are important. He/she shall be willing to work in a team of engineers and in cooperation with industry and partner agencies.

The working language for the position is English and therefore the person must be able to work effectively in this language.

This position may be filled on the basis that the Key Person is allowed to work in EUROPE. An individual who is not an EU citizen may be eligible to receive an EU Blue Card work permit if graduated in a University recognised by German authorities.

working location: Darmstadt Germany
Reference ES-80.19
expires on: 29.05.2020