• Function title: Platform Expert
• Reference: MA-2023-AD/703
• Location: Maastricht
• The selected candidate must reside either at this location or within a reasonable proximity that allows for the satisfactory execution of their duties – Information about living in Maastricht
• Nature of competition: Internal and external competition
• Applicable regulations: General conditions of employment governing servants at the EUROCONTROL Maastricht Centre
• Type of post: Administrator
• Job level: AD6-AD9 – Check salary simulations for the basic grade
• Generic job title: Expert
• Number of posts: 1
• Duration of appointment: 5 Year(s) – extension or conversion of the contract is possible – see “Useful information” section
• Security clearance: Security vetting may be required in accordance with the relevant EUROCONTROL security provisions
• Directorate/Service: MAAS – Maastricht Upper Area Control Center
• Working arrangement: Hybrid work (remote and onsite)
• Competition publication date: 02/11/2023
• Competition closing date: 30/11/2023 (23:59 Brussels time)
• Reserve list: Applicable – See details in the “Useful information” section

Your team

Within the Directorate Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre, the “Technical Systems” service is responsible for the maintenance, development and improvement of software products which support MUAC in achieving its safety and capacity targets and sustain the growing air traffic demand. It provides also resources to various projects in its area of expertise and maintains technical hardware.

Your role

Your role will be to:

• Implement (on-premise and cloud-based) hosting solutions for services in collaboration with internal and external IT support teams, cloud computing engineers, architects, cyber experts and developers.
• Act as service delivery manager for contracts with external service providers (coordinate time and task-based contracts by creating and following up on workload and tasks).
• Operate and continuously improve hosting services based on cloud and on-premise systems.
• Monitor the hosting services, make recommendations to ensure optimised cloud consumption/spending, optimise capacity, usage, lifecycle management and performance, and interface with customers to achieve excellence in service delivery.
• Coordinate maintenance activities and updates of the platform infrastructure and hosted services.
• Coordinate and participate in resolving major issues/outages and problem investigations and root cause analysis.
• Collaborate effectively with IT Security Officers (SOC team) and the Architecture team, and make sure that security operations processes are followed by all internal and external service providers.
• Gather customer (i.e., operational staff, development teams, office users, external customers) requirements, transform them into technical specifications and service solutions, monitor service delivery, interface with customers, and ensure that objectives agreed upon are met.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation (operational procedures, reports, lifecycle documents, safety assessments, etc.).
• Participate in Call for Tender processes by writing technical specifications and requirements.
• Provide technical expertise in the activities of the MUAC platform modernisation.
• Participate in projects, work packages, and studies when needed.
• Carry out any other task in line with the main purpose of the job.

Required qualifications, experience & competencies

• Completed university studies of 4 years in Computer Science, Engineering or in another related technical field, or of 3 years plus 1-year relevant professional experience.
• Internal candidates can check on the intranet to see what level of in-house experience is considered equivalent to educational qualifications where appropriate.
• A minimum of 3 years’ relevant working experience.
• Experience in supporting large infrastructures (platform storage network) including cloud solution design and management with a focus on IaaS and PaaS.
• Project management skills.
• Experience in:
• IT Service
• Designing, setting up, and maintaining Virtualisation Stacks: VMware and/or AHV and/or KVM.
• Python or Perl scripting or other Linux scripting languages.
• Enterprise Linux and infrastructure automation tooling like Ansible.
• Experience with KANBAN methodology.
• Understanding of application and platform security.
• The following would be considered an advantage:
  • Experience with Jira and Git/Bitbucket.
  • Experience with Platform Services (designing, providing and maintaining).
  • Experience with technical troubleshooting, where possible in coordination with (product) support company.
  • Knowledge of Modern Software Design.
  • Knowledge of Nutanix/PRISM.
  • Knowledge of network protocols.
  • Knowledge of DevSecOps pipelines.
  • Knowledge about Kubernetes or Red Hat Openshift.
  • Knowledge about Cloud technology.
  • Understanding of Air Traffic Control Systems.
• Technical writing skills (English).
• Strong interest in keeping abreast of relevant trends in technology.
• Communication: You are able to foster two-way communication.
• Analytical Thinking: You analyse information and are able to identify relationships.
• Problem Solving: You anticipate and solve business problems.
• Customer focus: You adapt services to respond to customer needs.
• Quality focus: You set and foster high-quality standards.
• Ability to work in a multinational and multicultural environment.
• Professional conduct in line with the corporate behaviours of the Agency, i.e. result-driven, readiness to change, customer focus, integrity and team-player approach.
• The working languages of the Agency are English and French. For this particular job, candidates must be proficient users of English at level C1/2.
  The levels relate to the Common European Framework of References for languages (CEFR).

Useful information

• Applications will be accepted from nationals of EUROCONTROL Member States only.
• The selected candidate will be offered a contract of 5 Year (s) pursuant to the provisions of the Staff Regulations governing officials at EUROCONTROL. The contract may be renewed up to a maximum of 9 years or converted into an undetermined contract. Before being established in the post, the selected candidate will be requested to provide certified copies of their degrees and successfully serve a probationary period of 9 months.
• Internal candidates
  If selected, the person will keep their current type of appointment duration (undetermined or determined).
  The internal staff member with a determined contract will be offered, in principle, an appointment for 5 Year(s) with a maximum total duration of 9 years.
• The successful candidate shall be appointed at the grade set out in this vacancy notice, or if a group of grades has been published for a job level, in principle at the basic grade of the published job level.
• Candidates declared suitable who are not selected for the post will be placed on a reserve list for similar roles. The reserve list will be valid for one year from the closing date of applications.
• Information on salary and benefits can be found on our Careers site
• EUROCONTROL is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to equality and diversity. In the event of equal merit, preference may be given to the applicant from the under-represented diversity characteristics in order to complement diversity of teams and rebalance the workforce.
• Candidates should go to our Careers site and read the tips on how to apply.