1. Background

WACREN is the West and Central African Research and Education Network which supports interconnections and fosters collaboration between R&E institutions in the region and international peers by building and operating a world class network infrastructure, developing state of the art services, promoting collaboration among national, regional, and international R&E communities, and building the human capacity of the REN community. 

WACREN was constituted in 2010 with its headquarters in Accra, Ghana. Membership to the organization is open to national research and education networks (NRENs) from all 22 countries of the region and to other organizations sharing the WACREN vision. WACREN currently has 16 members, including NRENs from 13 countries in West and Central Africa.

Taking advantage of the European Union funded AfricaConnect2 and AfricaConnect3 projects, WACREN has started the process of rolling out its network, and thus needs more highly skilled, enthusiastic and motivated human resources to implement this process and put WACREN on a steady and sustainable growth path. 

The following Terms of Reference are for the position of Network Operations Engineer.

2. Scope of Work

The general responsibilities of Network Operations Center (NOC) Engineer are:

  • To ensure maximum possible service availability and performance;
  • To provide customer network services on core equipment;
  • To provide support services for Engineering and other technical teams. 

The specific responsibilities of Network Operations Center (NOC) Engineer are:

  • Assist the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in the deployment, operations, monitoring and maintenance of the WACREN network;
  • Configure and install various network devices and services (e.g. routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, VPN, OOB, Network management, Flow Collectors and Security management);
  • Perform network maintenance and system upgrades including service packs, patches, hot fixes and security configurations;
  • Monitor system resources utilization, trending, and capacity planning;
  • Proactively monitor performance and ensure highest levels of infrastructure and systems availability and reliability;
  • Provide Level-2/3 support and troubleshooting to resolve issues
  • Implement and maintain security, backup and redundancy strategies;
  • Perform disaster recovery operations when required;
  • Produce documentation for installation, network topology and troubleshooting of systems and infrastructure;
  • Develop a system of processes and procedures with connected NRENs to operate and monitor the WACREN network;
  • Liaise with vendors, datacenters, peers, partners and other IT personnel for problems resolution
  • Provide technical training when and where required;
  • Actively participate in public forums for standards-setting bodies, Network Operators Groups (NOGs), etc. where matters discussed have the potential of impacting the mission and performance of WACREN;
  • Carry out any other tasks as and when assigned by the CTO or the CEO.

3. Key Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Essential:

  • A Master’s degree or Bachelor’s degree in IT/Computer Science with a network engineering focus;
  • At least 3 years relevant continuous work experience in a network operations center engineer function;
  • Good hands-on experience in routing and switching;
  • Good hands-on experience with IS-IS and BGP;
  • Experience in installing, configuring and managing Juniper and/or Cisco routing and switching equipment;
  • Experience managing high performance distributed Network;
  • Good understanding of network and systems security;
  • Good understanding of Routing Security: MANRS, RPKI, BGPSEC;
  • Good hands-on experience in IPv6;
  • High integrity, drive for excellence and good interpersonal skills;
  • Result orientation and ability to work autonomously;
  • Ability to work in a team;
  • Availability and ability to travel within and outside the WACREN region;
  • Fluency in English or French with good working knowledge in the other language.

Desirable:

  • Juniper certifications;
  • Cisco certifications

4. Type of Contract, Reporting, Assumption and Place of Duty

If successful, the selected applicant, who reports to the CTO, will be proposed a 3-year contract, with aprobationary period of one (1) year. The contract is renewable, subject to available resources and mutual agreement between WACREN and the position holder.

It is expected that the successful applicant assumes duty on 1 November 2020. 

Place of duty is Accra, Ghana, but Staff is expected to move to another location (any country in West and Central Africa), should the Secretariat moves from Ghana and/or opens other offices in the region. 

There might be an interim period during which the successful applicant will work from home.

5. Submission of Applications and Timeline

Applications should be submitted online to ceo@wacren.net with the following documents:

  1. Detailed CV
  2. Motivation letter (not more than 400 words)
  3. At least two (2) signed recommendation letters (provide full names, email addresses and contact numbers of your references).

Subject of the mail should be: WACREN NOC Engineer Application 

  • Deadline for Submission of Applications: 3 August 2020 at 23:59 UTC
  • Notification to Short-listed Applicants: 17 August 2020
  • Interviews of Short-listed Applicants:  24 – 25 August 2020
  • Notification to Selected Applicant: 27 August 2020
  • Deadline for Acceptance of the Position by Selected Applicant: 04 September 2020

WACREN is an equal opportunities organization and female applications are highly encouraged.

Please note: only online submitted applications will be considered (see above) and only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

Should you have any question, please contact WACREN Secretariat: secretariat@wacren.net

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