DevOps Architect

The DEV Operations Architect is responsible for defining the standards, protocols, procedures, tools, and resources required to manage the on-going operations and support of the new Financials solution. This role involves collaboration with a diverse team, including the System Integrator (SI) and product vendor, Technical Lead, Compliance Lead, and Operations Lead, EOTSS Operations, and agency staff experienced in operating cloud solutions. The focus will be particularly on the SaaS software procured for this engagement. The Dev Operations Architect will make recommendations based on the SI and product vendor’s maintenance and support standards and procedures, best practices and Commonwealth business needs to formulate an organizational structure as well as standards that the Commonwealth will implement post go live to maintain the new solution.

The roles and responsibilities of the SI and product vendor and Commonwealth staff regarding systems operation will be clearly identified by the Dev Operations Architect, including such task areas as:

• Defining Job cycles supporting nightly, daily, weekend, quarterly, and annual requirements.
• Assisting in management of end user security.
• Monitoring SI and product vendor data security protocols, audits, and mitigation of identified issues.
• Determining the timing and procedures for adopting a software upgrade.
• Monitoring Service Level Agreement (SLA) metrics for software and support/maintenance services.
• Designing and implementing a cross-system monitoring solution, including Cloud SaaS vendor, legacy on-premises vendor solutions, EOTSS responsible services, and other tasks that support the management of the end state business solution.
• Managing on-going and new configuration tasks.
• Monitoring the performance of the infrastructure hosting the software.
• Overseeing typical operational support tasks such as data backups, application and network performance monitoring and tuning, and load balancing, etc.

The Dev Operations Architect will also make recommendations regarding:

• LAN/WAN hardware, software and Internet/intranet/Extranet integration and linkage.
• Other products that may be needed to enhance or improve network hardware, software, and telecommunications in support of implementation and on-going support.
• Software performance standards, policies, and procedures.
• On-going systems training for system administrators and operational support staff.
• Protocols and tools to troubleshoot the system to maintain operational integrity and security.
• Coordination of efforts with the SI and product vendor for upgrades and routine maintenance.
• Establishment of an ERP Center of Excellence with recommended staffing levels for on-going training of support and user staff, implementation and maintenance of automated testing tools and protocols, promulgation of standards and procedures for future ERP module implementations, procedures for working with agencies that are interested in rolling out new ERP modules, etc.

The Dev Operations Architect will collaborate with the SI product vendor, Technical Implementation Lead and Data and Information Lead to identify procedures for managing data base growth, back up and refresh schedules, upgrade protocols, and how data integrity and SLA performance metrics will be monitored and assured.

The DevOps Architect is responsible for the continuous deployment strategy, both hands-on and strategic vision, working closely with key stakeholders across the Program. This role involves leveraging cloud and on-premises solutions to collect technical requirements from stakeholders and plan, build and run a complete CI/CD pipeline and strategy. The DevOps Architect leads technical and design discussions to help speed the adoption of new technologies and practices and serves as a thought leader and SME on DevOps industry trends, new and existing technology offerings, and architectural concepts.

Specific Duties:

• Identify best practices and recommend procedures and organizational structures for overseeing the day-to-day running of the new Financials solution, including how to develop and enforce policies, maintain systems, and respond to new user requests for system enhancements or fixes.
• Clearly lay out SI and product vendor and Commonwealth roles and responsibilities for on-going systems maintenance tasks such as upgrades and defect fixes by the product vendor, implementation of penalties for SLA failures or breaches, etc.
• Recommend procedures and tools for ensuring that the system delivers consistently on the Service Level Agreement (SLA).
• Recommend Service Level Agreement (SLA) levels and metrics.
• Recommend procedures and tools for troubleshooting software issues, applying patches, dealing with exceptions, and escalating problems in meeting SLAs.
• Recommend procedures for implementing upgrades or migrations.
• Recommend procedures for certifying integrations or interfaces between the new solutions and other applications.
• Work with the BEST Compliance Lead to recommend procedures for monitoring vendor data security protocols and annual audits including delineation of Commonwealth participation in bi-annual disaster recovery tests by the product vendor and risk mitigation steps that the Commonwealth and the SI and product vendor could undertake to ensure data security.
• Work with the BEST Security Lead to recommend procedures for provisioning end user security.
• Work with the BEST Compliance Lead to ensure that compliance requirements are implemented as necessary.
• Work with business owners and agencies to understand the changing business needs served by the new system and the change management needed to arrive at the future state for operating the new solution.
• Recommend software support needs that could be met by a third-party vendor or by the SI or product vendor if such tasks cannot be supported by Commonwealth in-house staff.
• Recommend the structure and content of an ERP Center of Excellence that houses system documentation, procedures and protocols that will be of use to system administrators maintaining the new solution as well as other agency business or IT staff that are interested in building integrations to the new solution, implementing new ERP modules and participating in upgrade testing.
• Lead generation of detailed operational procedures and processes that will operate across multiple delivery partner environments and teams.
• Ensure quality and effectiveness of operations documentation.
• Define an overall holistic operational solution that supports delivery / development teams and vendors leveraging different delivery methodologies, including Agile, Waterfall, and “Agile fall.”
• Assist/support BEST Technical Lead on Authority to Operate (ATO) requirements.
• Assist end-to-end testing of go live operational solution.
• Assist execution of “tabletop” operational reviews of end-to-end go live operational processes.

Required Skills:

• Exposure to technical configurations, technologies, and processing environments in one or more projects of similar size and complexity to BEST.
• Experience with system administration and monitoring for various application platforms particularly SaaS delivery models.
• Ability to perform root-cause analysis and work with other administrators or integration developers to drive resolution.
• Knowledge of JavaScript, CORBA, PPTP, and groupware products.
• Experience with all phases of testing including unit, system, integration, parallel and user acceptance.
• Experienced with LAN/WAN/VPN and remote network technologies and protocols (such as, but not limited to, TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, Ethernet, token ring, ARCNET, HTML CGI, ATM, CDPD) routers, hubs, and servers.
• Demonstrated ability to learn about technologies quickly.
• Excellent customer service attitude.
• Demonstrated written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.
• Experience in DevOps within an Agile environment.
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple operational delivery partners and ensure quality and compliance to enable a business solution.
• Demonstrated experience in working in a 24 X 7 operational environment and business solution.
• Experience in designing and implementing financial based applications.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Software as a Service cloud implementations particularly those in which legacy on premise applications have been migrated to cloud delivery options.
• Experience in generation of operational materials, including but not limited to operational procedures, operational processes, third party operational oversight, support ticket / ticketing processes, data flow diagrams, sequence diagrams, and network and security diagrams.
• Experience in transforming operational team from traditional / legacy environment to agile DevOps approach.

Minimum Entrance Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, system analysis or a related study, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of three years of implementation experience in one or more of the following disciplines: data integration across platforms, application development, application programming interfaces (APIs), database management and administration, systems administration, and operations.
• Minimum of three years of experience in an operations leadership or architecture role.