DevOps Engineer for e-governance applications

GRNET – National Infrastructures for Research and Technology, provides networking and cloud computing services to academic and research institutions, to educational bodies at all levels, and to agencies of the public, broader public and private sector. It is responsible for promoting and disseminating network and computing technologies and applications, as well as for promoting and implementing Greece’s Digital Transformation goals. Thus, GRNET leverages the educational and research activity in the country, towards the development of applied and technological research in the fields of telecommunication networks and computing services.

GRNET holds a key role as the coordinator of all e-infrastructures in Education and Research. With twenty-plus years’ experience in the fields of advanced network, cloud computing and IT infrastructures and services, and significant international presence, GRNET shall advise the Ministry of Digital Governance on issues relating to the design of advanced information systems and infrastructures.

GRNET develops synergies with other agencies which provide digital services in the Greek public sector, by sharing best practices and know-how on advanced information systems and it represents the national research and technological community within the European Union’s Research Infrastructures. GRNET contributes to the country’s Digital Transformation via in-depth analysis, technological studies, standard solutions and specialized know-how, serving at the same time hundreds of thousands of users on a daily basis in the strategic fields of Public Administration, Education, Research, Health and Culture. GRNET is also the National Research and Education Network (NREN).

In order to reach its goals, GRNET undertakes projects, initiatives and other activities related to information technology, digital technology, communication, e-governance, new and open technologies, including new big data technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and in general, to the promotion, dissemination and transfer of know-how regarding network and computing technologies and their applications, to research and development, education and to the promotion of Digital Transformation.

We are currently looking for passionate System Administrators/DevOps Engineers to help us push the Digital Transformation of the Public Sector into the future and support the Ministries and Public Bodies with advanced technological solutions. Our first and immediate step in our short-term plans (next 3 years) is to develop and deploy a modular infrastructure that connects existing Information Systems owned by Public Administration Bodies and allows the operation and monitoring of public services. Long-term plans (5-7 years) involve the expansion of this infrastructure to cover more needs of the Public Administration Bodies, high-level executive, managerial, and technical staff of the public sector and the citizens.

As a SystemAdministrator/DevOps Engineer, you’ll design, implement, maintain and monitor a number of distributed services. You will be part of a talented team of software engineers that demonstrate superb technical competency, delivering mission critical services and applications. The team members are professionals, with a mindset to innovate, automate, streamline, and provide value to GRNET and to the users of the offered services.

Requirements:
• First of all you must be able to collaborate with multiple people and teams based on a policy of openness. There are no heroes in our teams and we try to spread and gather knowledge as much as we can. Everybody respects everybody.
• As a member of a bigger team, you will be responsible for designing and/or dimensioning, and/or setting up scalable cloud infrastructure components, either on premises or in public clouds.
• You will be responsible for choosing, adapting, and using the necessary tools and processes to enable effective DevOps bridging the gap between the development realm and the the operational realm, therefore you must adequately understand the development, deployment and operations cycle and be able to facilitate smooth transitions as well as secure roll-backs between them.
• In the production face, you must be able to maintain and operate distributed, fault-tolerant and scalable applications and services. Bad things always happen. You must stay calm and cooperate with your colleges in order to handle any technical problem.
• You must not be afraid to bring your technical opinion to the table and to support it with arguments: It matters.

Your Profile

• Terminal/keyboard lover.
• Not necessarily an expert.
• Eager to become a knowledgeable implementor of architecture patterns and to maintain continuous delivery (CD) and DevOps solutions.
• Trustable Linux system administration and shell-script-er.
• Feeling comfortable with proper setup of networking, load balancing, etc to support high-throughput applications.
• Very familiar with code repository management and code merging.
• Familiar with code quality checks.
• Familiar with continuous integration, as well as automated deployment and management.
• Familiar with approaches and tooling for automated build, delivery, and release of software.
• Automation tools and techniques (Ansible, Terraform …).
• Container Orchestration using Kubernetes and associated tools like Helm, Kompose, etc.
• Experience with GitOps.
• Knowledge of Load balancers (nginx, HAProxy, Envoy, Traefik) and service meshes (linkerd, istio etc.)
• Experience working in teams (preferably in an Agile delivery environment).

Knowledge or Experience or Willingness to learn on the following fields will be considered a plus:

• Automation tools and techniques (Ansible, Terraform …).
• Container Orchestration using Kubernetes and associated tools like Helm, Kompose, etc.
• Experience with GitOps.
• Knowledge of Load balancers (nginx, HAProxy, Envoy, Traefik) and service meshes (linkerd, istio etc.)
• Experience working in teams (preferably in an Agile delivery environment).
• Please add anything you might consider worth mentioning.

Personal Characteristics:

• Creativity, innovation spirit and team player.
• Dynamic personality, ability to accept challenges and to undertake responsibilities.
• Enthusiasm, persistence and willingness to deliver results on time.
• Ability to work under pressure (when bad things happen).
• GRNET prides itself on its technical prowess; we expect a focus on quality and excellence.

Benefits:
GRNET provides a creative, dynamic and challenging working environment that encourages team spirit, cooperation and continuous learning of state-of-the-art technology.

• Ability to transform the Public Sector
• Opportunities for international collaborations.
• Competitive remuneration package
• Opportunities for professional development
• Modern, friendly, and innovative working environment

GRNET is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. People with a diverse range of backgrounds are encouraged to apply. We do not discriminate against any person based upon their race, age, color, gender identity and expression, disability, national origin, medical conditions, religion, parental status, or any other characteristics protected by law.

All applications will be treated with strict confidentiality.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of GRNET employees work remotely. This is subject to change as things go better, but remote working will remain as an option, especially for GRNET employees living outside Athens.