IT System and database administrator-IFES Retour vers les opportunités

IT System and database administrator

IFES Tunisia

IFES has been working in Tunisia since February 2011, assisting the Tunisian authorities in the organization of free, democratic, and transparent elections through electoral assistance programs. The overall goal of IFES Tunisia programs is to provide electoral technical assistance to electoral stakeholders to support the holding of democratic elections in Tunisia. IFES works with the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education on civic education, the Court of Accounts (CoA) on the transparency of campaign financing, and other institutional and non-institutional organizations, such as civil society.

Job Description

The short-term contract is a consultancy. Under the direction of the country director, the IT System and database administrator will handle the following responsibilities:

1. Ensure availability and optimize server performance of IFES’ partner

• Measure and optimize system performance.
• Installation of Linux servers according to a well-defined configuration.
• Prevent, diagnose and correct system errors
• Transmit and report various information and problems encountered (obsolescence, security risks, etc.).
• Take charge of the technical aspects of new system projects.
• Participate in the parameterization work on new projects.

1. Participate in the administration and evolution of the IT infrastructure (security, backup, network, …).

• Participate in the definition of standards and procedures.
• Identify the needs for changes and the components involved: hardware, software, processes, platform.

1. Define data security rules (physical and logical) as well as standards for the use of databases.
2. Administration and maintenance of databases 

• Create the databases and implement the data on the physical supports, 
• Dimension the server, Guarantee the availability and quality of the data by maintaining and improving performance (“tuning”) and functionality (by improving their automation, optimizing processing and queries, parameterization, etc.), 
• Follow the statistics of the performances of access to the objects of the base so as to ensure the tuning. 
• Management of the load increases (follow-up of the volumetric…) on the aspect access to the data, 
• Administer access authorizations for users and data security issues with the security engineer.
• Manage version migrations.
• Update programs and correct any bugs (patching) and give approval before production releases.
• Recommend backup systems (back up) to be carried out by the operating services to ensure the integrity of all the data in the database, in particular, the archiving and purging of data.
• Define quality standards and develop dashboards and ensure their follow-up.
• Ensure the follow-up of the supervision tools and study all the incidents that have occurred in order to understand their severity and their origins.
• Develop and execute test procedures and programs, during migrations or following an incident.
• Ensure that backups are done properly (by going to a back-up center for testing) and monitor data movements.
• Ensure the recovery of data and the return to operational condition of databases (disaster recovery) following a serious incident.

1. Technical support and user assistance

• Provide support to developers and operations technicians.
• Intervene immediately in case of incidents limiting database performance or access to information.
• Define the norms and standards for the use and operation of database management systems
• Ensure the updating of the documentation on the structure of the database, and the operating and production procedures.

Technical Skills: 

The IT System and database administrator should have a strong control/knowledge of:

• The administration of a LINUX operating system, including: installation, setting up, maintenance, update, back-up, bug resolution and security;
• The administration of a Windows Server operating system; and 
• Storage solutions (NAS/SAN/DAS)

Position Requirements

• Advanced university degree in information systems security, cryptology and computer security or other relevant fields.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in IT development including at least 3 years of professional experience in network administration (Cisco, BGP, OSPF…) and database management (proven usage of Postgres, Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server… and specialized tools for the administration of these databases)
• Knowledge of installation, configuration, troubleshooting of a computer park
• In-depth knowledge of networks (communication, cabling, routers…)
• Mastery of the SQL query language
• Mastery of programming languages (JAVA, C/C++, Python, Shell scripts, etc.)
• Knowledge of techniques for writing technical notes and system architecture files
• Experience in multi-stakeholder projects is an asset.
• Being autonomous, nimble, dynamic, rigorous but also tactful, patient and flexible.  
• Excellent command of Arabic and French. English is an asset.