Network Analyst - ECMWF

Job Description

The success of its activities relies primarily on the talent of its scientists, strong partnerships with its Member and Co-operating States and the international community, some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, and the use of innovativetechnologies such as machine learning across its operations. Over the years, ECMWF has also developed a strong partnership with the European Union, and for the past seven years has been an entrusted entity for the implementation and operation of the Climateand the Atmosphere Monitoring Services of the EU Copernicus Programme, as well as a contributor to the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. The collaboration does not stop there and includes other areas of work, including High Performance Computing andthe development of digital tools. It is enabling ECMWF to now provide data and products covering weather, climate, air quality, fire and flood prediction and monitoring. ECMWF has recently become a multi-site organisation, with its headquarters based sinceits creation in Reading, UK, its new data centre opening in 2021 in Bologna, Italy, and new offices, also opening in 2021 in Bonn, Germany. The Platforms and Services Section forms part of ECMWFs Computing Department and is responsible for delivering a widerange of services including mission-critical virtual and bare-metal server infrastructure, data centre and wide area networks, security, monitoring and analytics, and enterprise ICT. Within the Platforms and Services Section, the Networks and Security Teamis responsible for designing, procuring and deploying the Networks and Security infrastructures and their associated Operational Security services, and their day-to-day operational running. ECMWFs network environment includes Juniper, Arista, Fortinet, Infoblox,F5, Brocade and Cisco platforms, with data centre networks based on the latest 100 Gbps technology. The LAN and WAN systems use OSPF, MP-BGP, VXLAN/EVPN, Multicast and IPv6 in production. Summary of the role The Network Analyst will be responsible for theprovision of data centre and office networks, auxiliary network services, and network security appliances and services. They will also take part in evaluating and implementing new networking and network security technologies, standards and techniques in orderto enhance the computing infrastructure, as well as participating in a variety of other networkingrelated projects. The duties will change and evolve over time in response to the needs of the computing environment at ECMWF, in particular with regard to thehigh-performance computing facility and the dissemination of weather products to ECMWFs partners around the world. The ideal candidate will have the expertise and in-depth knowledge to plan, design, deploy, operate, optimise and support the network and securityinfrastructure as well as adopt and develop standards and new techniques for computer networks such as automation and virtualisation. The role will involve working with both internal and external stakeholders to introduce these into operations.Main dutiesand key responsibilitiesConfiguring and operating the network infrastructure used to support ECMWFs High-Performance Computing FacilityConfiguring and operating network equipment: switches, routers, firewalls, ADC, wirelessWorking towards the simplificationand automation of networks to achieve quicker and safer deployments, changes and upgrades through the use of APIs and templatesConfiguring and operating network services: DNS, DHCP, RADIUS, SIP, VoIP, NTP, Web Proxy running on a variety of platforms (proprietary,Linux, Windows)Isolating and repairing network faults in a timely and efficient manner in coordination with internal stakeholders and 3rd parties (providers, suppliers and support companies)Recommending and implementing changes and improvements to allservicesEvaluating and installing new network hardware and softwareCreating and maintaining up-to-date low and high-level documentation and diagramsMonitoring of the availability, performance and reliability of the network infrastructure and services Providing day-to-day support for the services provided by the team, including, on a rota basis, 24- hour on-call support Personal attributesExcellent interpersonal and communication skillsStrong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a proactiveapproachSelf-motivated, and able to work with minimal supervisionAbility to maintain effective communication and documentation with the rest of the team and a distributed user communityDedication and enthusiasm to work in a teamAbility to workefficiently and complete diverse tasks in a timely manner Education A university degree (EQF Level 6) or equivalent industry experience. Experience Experience of configuring network hardware including switches, routers and firewalls. Experience of workingwith infrastructure automation and virtualisation technologies. Experience of network monitoring tools and techniques. Experience of troubleshooting a network environment. Experience of configuring and operating services such as DNS, DHCP, NTP, and RADIUS.Experience of working with Juniper, Arista, Fortinet, Infoblox, F5 or Cisco platforms. Experience in developing code for network system management and monitoring solutions using REST APIs, Python, Ansible and similar tools, in a structured CI/CD Pipeline environment.Experience of implementing the networking stack of cloud-native technologies. (desirable) Experience of working in an international environment. (desirable) Knowledge and skills (including language) Knowledge of network technologies including several of thefollowing in practice: DNS, DHCP, L2VPN & L3VPN, VXLAN, EVPN, BGP, OSPF, Unified Communications. Good working knowledge of a modern scripting language such as Python. Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and interviews will be conducted inEnglish. A good knowledge of one of the Centres other working languages (French or German) is not required but would be welcome. Other information Grade remuneration The successful candidate will be recruited at the A2 grade, according to the scales of theCoordinated Organisations and the annual basic salary will be £62,166.00 net of tax. This position is assigned to the employment category STF-C as defined in the Staff Regulations. Full details of salary scales and allowances are available on the ECMWF websiteat en/about/jobs, including the Centres Staff Regulations regarding the terms and conditions of employment. Starting date: 1 December 2021, or as soon as possible thereafter. Length of contract: Four years with the possibility of further extension. Location:The position will be based in the Reading area, in Berkshire, United Kingdom. Successful applicants and members of their family forming part of their households will be exempt from immigration restrictions. At ECMWF, we consider an inclusive en