PART 2 Overall Objectives of Job:
The Senior Automation Expert is expected to play a pivotal role in advancing our IT infrastructure through innovative automation solutions and effective virtualization management. This role demands a proactive approach to optimizing system performance and scalability, leveraging both VMware and public cloud technologies. The engineer will be responsible for designing and implementing robust automation that streamline operations, reduce manual intervention, and enhance efficiency across the organization.
Primary Skills
- VMware Expertise: Solid experience in VMware vSphere administration, including configuration, deployment, and management of virtual environments to ensure optimal performance and scalability.
- Automation Tooling and Scripting: Strong proficiency in automation tools and scripting languages, including JavaScript, Go, Python, and PowerShell. These skills are essential for creating and managing automated workflows across various environments. Experience with platforms like vRealize Automation, vRealize Orchestrator, and Ansible is also important.
- Cross-Platform Expertise: Utilize deep knowledge in VMware and public cloud environments to ensure optimal performance and scalability, while maintaining a holistic view of the IT landscape.
- Performance Optimization: Proactively monitor and optimize system performance using advanced tools and techniques to ensure reliability and efficiency.
- Innovative Problem Solving: Apply strong analytical skills to identify system vulnerabilities and develop effective risk mitigation strategies, ensuring the resilience of IT operations.
- Build Activities: Ability to design, implement, and manage build processes for diverse IT environments, ensuring efficient deployment and configuration management. Experience with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to streamline build activities.
- PCI Compliance Support: Knowledge of PCI DSS requirements and experience in implementing and maintaining security controls within IT environments to support compliance efforts. Ability to collaborate with security teams to ensure adherence to regulatory standards.
- Communication and Collaboration: Excellent communication skills to work effectively within a team and collaborate with cross-functional departments. Ability to articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
- Certifications: Relevant certifications such as VMware Certified Professional (VCP), Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), or cloud certifications (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) are highly desirable.
Additional Skills:
- ITIL Framework & Change Management: In-depth knowledge of the ITIL framework, enabling effective management of IT services and processes. Skilled in implementing change management strategies to ensure smooth transitions and minimize disruptions in the IT environment.
- Cloud Computing: Strong understanding of cloud computing concepts, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). Competence in using Terraform for infrastructure as code to automate cloud resource provisioning and management, ensuring efficient and scalable cloud operations.
- Security and Compliance Governance: Expertise in establishing and maintaining security protocols and compliance standards to protect organizational assets and data. Ability to collaborate with security teams to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements and best practices.
- Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity: Experience in developing and implementing disaster recovery plans and business continuity strategies to safeguard operations against unforeseen disruptions. Skilled in assessing risks and designing solutions to ensure operational resilience.
- Networking Fundamentals: Solid understanding of networking principles, including DNS, DHCP, firewalls, and load balancers. Ability to configure and manage network components to ensure reliable connectivity and optimal performance across the IT infrastructure.
- Performance Tuning and Capacity Planning: Proficient in monitoring system performance and conducting capacity planning to anticipate future needs. Skilled in optimizing resources to enhance system efficiency and scalability, ensuring that IT services meet organizational demands.
100%
PART 3
Qualification & Experience
- University Graduate degree (mandatory)
- Knowledge of ITSM tools like Service Now
- Prior experience in managing Incidents and Service Requests in an IT infrastructure environment
- Confident to interact with the IT Managers, Service Desks and Service Providers in the Region
- Excellent command over written and spoken English (mandatory)
- ITIL Foundation certification (preferred)
PART 4
Key Competencies for Role (Level of Expertise)
Skill
User for
Expected Skill Level (0-10)
VMware Aria Orchestrator (vRO)
Developing Day 1 and Day 2 workflows and actions
Investigating and troubleshooting workflow executions
Integrating and orchestrating 3rd-party tools and platforms
8
VMware Aria Automation (vRA)
Designing and managing service catalogs and cloud templates
Orchestrating vRO workflows for provisioning and Day 2 operations
Designing and managing custom resources and Day 2 actions
Inspecting and validating customer deployments
8
ES6 Javascript
Developing custom workflows and actions in vRO for Day 1 and Day 2 operations
Implementing business logic, input validation, and data transformation
6
Automation Mindset
Managing the end-to-end lifecycle of automation workflows
Designing requester inputs and user interaction models
Implementing error handling, logging, and monitoring mechanisms
Designing rollback and recovery strategies
8
Powershell
Executing scripts on Windows virtual machines
Performing Day 2 operations such as disk operations, additional IP, agent install/uninstall
5
Ansible playbook
Executing automation tasks on Linux virtual machines
Performing Day 2 operations such as disk operations, additional IP, agent install/uninstall
5
GIT / GIT REST API
Managing customer artifacts and configuration files in Git repositories
Performing Git operations programmatically for Day 2 automation workflows
6
Azure REST API / CLI
Reading and managing existing Azure resources
Performing operational actions on Azure resources
6
AWS REST API / CLI
Reading and managing existing AWS resources
Performing operational actions on AWS resources
6
Jenkins
Integrating Jenkins pipelines with vRO
Executing Day 1 provisioning operations through CI/CD pipelines
6
Terraform
Managing infrastructure state and resource definitions via Git
Reading and updating Terraform state files as part of automation workflows
5
Allianz Group is one of the most trusted insurance and asset management companies in the world. Caring for our employees, their ambitions, dreams and challenges, is what makes us a unique employer. Together we can build an environment where everyone feels empowered and has the confidence to explore, to grow and to shape a better future for our customers and the world around us.
At Allianz, we stand for unity: we believe that a united world is a more prosperous world, and we are dedicated to consistently advocating for equal opportunities for all. And the foundation for this is our inclusive workplace, where people and performance both matter, and nurtures a culture grounded in integrity, fairness, inclusion and trust.
We therefore welcome applications regardless of ethnicity or cultural background, age, gender, nationality, religion, social class, disability or sexual orientation, or any other characteristics protected under applicable local laws and regulations.
Join us. Let's care for tomorrow.
Note: Having different strengths, experiences, perspectives and approaches is an integral part of Allianz‘ company culture. One means to achieve this is a regular rotation of Allianz Executive employees across functions, Allianz entities and geographies. Therefore, the company expects from its employees a general openness and a high motivation to regularly change positions and collect experiences across Allianz Group.
