RQ11176 - Middleware Specialist - Senior

Description:

The Client’s Operations Maintenance and Support Branch (OMSB) is responsible for hosting, maintaining and supporting systems on behalf of its ministry clients, Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD).  These hosted systems vary in terms of criticality (mission critical, business critical and business support applications) and the intended audience – systems may be accessed internally by ministry staff, externally by broader public-sector users, or directly by the public.

The Operations team provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) hosting to clients leveraging Microsoft Azure.  In addition to this, the Operations team provides hosting support services for clients leveraging a variety of Microsoft 365 technologies such as SharePoint Online, Dynamics Online, PowerApps and similar technologies.  Support is also provided to clients leveraging enterprise SaaS platforms such as Salesforce.  The team also provides support within the cluster for teams to leverage Azure DevOps to maintain code and develop automated build and deployment pipelines.

In order to meet the demands of its clients, the OMSB Operations team through the Labour and Transportation I&IT Cluster is looking to hire consultants with expertise in delivering, monitoring and supporting systems on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365 and enterprise SaaS platforms.  The intended consultant will have expertise applying stringent government security standards and performance targets to hosted systems to ensure government data is protected and operates reliably.

Deliverables:

The Middleware Specialists will complete the following activities:

Contribute to ongoing project activities:

• Contribute to the technical design of the hosting environment
  
• Define migration strategies
  
• Build and deploy systems to Azure new environment
  
• Execute the migration of individual application solutions and re-platform as needed
  

Application publishing to the Internet and Intranet via web proxies:

• Using Azure native publication tools such as Azure Application Gateway in multiple environments.
  
• Defining requirements, designing and deploying solutions when requirements from clients may not be straightforward or complete
  
• Use different network proxies to public applications (i.e. F5, Azure Application Gateway)
  
• Solutions integration and deployment
  
• Utilizing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS)
  
• Configure Azure networking via Azure VNets, Networks Security Groups (NSGs) and other Azure-native networking constructs to ensure systems are built to specifications.  Applying knowledge of how physical networking infrastructure interacts with Azure and solutions hosted on it will also be performed
  
• Design, build, deploy and manage security access controls and policies using Entra Id and Azure Policy and
  
• Define and review the deployment requirements for .NET hosted applications.
  

Experience in providing operational support to existing and new Ministry-supported systems including::

• Participation in deployment and release (CRQs) related to the .NET platform
  
• Creation and configuration of Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines to support delivery teams
  
• Troubleshooting and resolution of Tier 2 and 3 support incidents and problems including complex integration across the various technologies supported including but not limited to:
  

• Microsoft Azure IaaS services (Virtual Machines)
  
• Microsoft Azure PaaS services (App Service Plans, Azure Kubernetes Services, Storage Accounts, Key Vaults, App Gateways, Azure SQL, and similar)
  
• Azure DevOPS pipelines
  
• Microsoft Defender for Azure
  
• Azure Monitor and Application Insights
  
• Windows Server and hosting services such as Internet Information Services (IIS)
  
• Linux Server and hosting services
  
• MS SQL Server (DB Engine, Analysis Services, Reporting Server)
  
• Microsoft 365 Services such as SharePoint Online, Dynamics Online and PowerApps
  

• Backing up the operational staff in the proactive monitoring and operations of the environment
  

Defining and developing  support guidance for internal staff member cross training:

• Define and create documentation to train internal staff in the support and troubleshooting of supported technologies and evolving processes
  
• Contribution of knowledge including but not limited to Service Desk data and Wiki’s
  
• Training of current technical staff in monitoring, troubleshooting, support, etc. of the environments
  

Skill Set Requirements:

• Experience in the design, build, and deployment of Microsoft Azure (IaaS, PaaS) services
  
• Experience migrating and deploying .NET applications into a cloud-based hosting service:
  

• Experience with publishing applications to the Internet and Intranet
  
• Proven track record of end to end integration of complex solutions that cross multiple platforms
  

• Experience with web and application servers
  
• Experience working with application solutions that require cross-platform integration
  
• Extensive experience working with network proxies to publish applications and endpoints to the Internet and Intranet (such as F5 and Azure Application Gateway)
  
• Experience/expert level with deployment of .NET applications on Azure
  
• DNS, split DNS, and local hosts resolution
  
• Firewall/ Azure NSG concepts design and implementation
  
• Internet Information Services (IIS) 10.0 or newer advanced publishing
  
• SSL/TLS Certificates, Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI), device certificates
  
• Scripting (PowerShell, shell scripting)
  
• MS Defender for Azure
  
• Auditing and reporting of system level security events per GO ITS standards
  
• Automation of migration and operational tasks with scripting tools such as PowerShell
  
• Experience with development framework and technologies such as Agile, DevOPS, etc
  
• Expert in troubleshooting (Internet Information Services (IIS) logs, SQL query, SQL trace route, Application Insights)
  
• Microsoft Windows Server 2019+
  
• RedHat Linux 8+
  
• Strong problem solving, reasoning, and trouble-shooting experience in a multi-platform environment
  
• Experience in restoring availability of infrastructure services
  
• Experience conducting system monitoring and performance and data integrity in accordance with ITIL standards
  
• Monitoring Azure resources for right sizing to provide financial recommendation for cloud services
  
• OS and middleware patching
  

Experience and Skill Set Requirements:

Must Haves:

• Monitoring Azure resources for right sizing to provide financial recommendation for cloud services
  
• Experience with development framework and technologies such as Agile and DevOps
  
• Linux Server and hosting services
  
• Supporting Microsoft Windows Server 2019+
  
• creating and using CI/CD Pipelines
  
• experience in Scripting (PowerShell and VBS)
  

Skill Set Requirements:

Operational Support:

Demonstrated experience

• with Application Insights
  
• handling the ITIL the incident process
  
• handing of ITIL change process
  
• Strong problem solving/ trouble-shooting experience in a multi-platform environment
  
• In restoring availability of infrastructure services
  
• Supporting IIS (version 10+) hosted webservices
  
• In supporting SQL server databases
  
• Supporting Azure PaaS websites and applications
  
• Supporting Azure IaaS virtual machines
  
• Creating and maintain documentation for operational procedures
  
• experience in Scripting (PowerShell and VBS)
  
• Experience with development framework and technologies such as Agile and DevOps,
  
• Supporting Microsoft Windows Server 2019+
  
• Monitoring Azure resources for right sizing to provide financial recommendation for cloud services
  
• working with application solutions that require cross-platform integration
  

Cloud based services:

Demonstrated experience in

• the design of Microsoft Azure (IaaS and PaaS) services
  
• the build of Microsoft Azure (IaaS and PaaS) services
  
• the deployment of Microsoft Azure (IaaS and PaaS) services
  
• the operations of Microsoft Azure (IaaS and PaaS) services
  
• the design and operations of network level azure features (NSG’s and firewalls).
  

Migration and deployment of .NET applications: 

Demonstrated experience in

• creating and using CI/CD Pipelines
  
• application migration to the cloud
  
• application publishing using Azure native publication tools
  
• deployment of .NET applications
  
• using scripting tools such as PowerShell to automate migration tasks
  

Infrastructure security:

Demonstrated experience

• managing infrastructure security policies with Azure Defender
  
• OS and middleware patching
  
• reviewing and actioning security alerts
  
• working with SSL/TLS certificates, working with Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI)
  
• Auditing and reporting of system level security events and logs
  

Public Sector Experience:

• Experience in performing infrastructure support in the OPS