Lead, IT Infrastructure - Server & Storage at Airtel

Level: Mid-Senior

Job Purpose

• The role holder is responsible for maintaining and managing Enterprise Hardware infrastructure which manages in-house developed and applications sourced from various third party vendors including Huawei, IBM, Comviva, Avaya etc.
• Responsible for maintaining uptime, enhancements as per Business requirements, integration & Support of Hardware. Major Hardware include IBM/Huawei Servers, Enterprise Storage Systems, High end Backup and recovery devices, etc. The Hardware Infrastructure houses BSS systems like CRM, Billing, Service Delivery Platform, Business Intelligence, ERP, Sales Systems etc.

Key Accountabilities

• Support the overall IT strategy with solid network infrastructure planning and roadmaps.
• Maintain/update and govern the execution of technology plans that are aligned with the business strategy and vision across the IT stack for Airtel Nigeria with strong visibility on how IT contributes to business success.
• Responsible for the end to end (multi-tier) Enterprise IT and Telco centric infrastructure planning and operations to ensure availability of adequate capacity, system uptime to meet business expectations in a sustainable and optimized manner.
• Ensure uptime of Hardware (Servers, Storage, DC Infra, and Services as per agreed SLAs with the Partners & Vendors)
• Oversee the operations of multivendor and multi-technology Server and storage infra landscape to ensure seamless delivery of infra requirements. Eliminate complexity and potential inhibitors within the landscape.
• Participate in IT normal and business disaster recovery drills for critical and non-critical applications.
• Engage in standard Incident, Problem, Change and Risk Management of the Server and Storage Infrastructure.
• Liaise with partners in the process of delivering required SLAs, KPIs and RCAs.
• Engage partners for adequate capacity management to meet Server and Storage infra needs.
• Act as a single point contact for the customer for all server and storage related issues
• Track and evaluate usage statistics of deployed systems and advise on required capacity provisioning actions.
• Continuously engage with Business & Technology departments to understand the issues, requirements and engage with the Partners for proper resolution and delivery of services as per agreed time and SLAs.
• Ensure Server and Storage infrastructure is provisioned according to designed architecture.
• Contribute to the overall quality of service delivered to internal users.
• Provide technical leadership for the implementation of assigned IT Infrastructure projects.
• Own project technical deliverables and ensure delivery to acceptable standards.
• Engage with the Projects team / delivery team and solution engagement teams for Operationalizing of the Project. Engage in ‘Build-to-Operate’ activities.
• Work in close co-ordination with Applications team for selecting and implementing end to end Solutions and support.
• Implementation of end to end service path and revenue path of the customer

Educational Qualification & Experience

• A First / Second Degree in related discipline from a reputable university.
• 10 to 12 years relevant experience in mid to large size organizations
• Preferable working experience in Telecom environment.
• Experience in multiple, diverse technology environments and domains.
• Practical working knowledge with hands-on exposure in Network infrastructure domain.
• Advanced understanding of Active Directory, Servers, Storage, Windows and Linux operating systems, virtualization (VMware), cloud technologies, Databases, CCT, containers and orchestration platforms.
• Strong understanding of technology architecture.

Skills & Competencies:

• Proven ability to collaboratively pursue issue resolution and push for long term and permanent solutions to on-going problems.
• Proactive engagement with Internal teams & Partners.
• Proven Problem solving capabilities.
• Excellent communication Skill.
• Understand complex relationships and meet timelines.