Data Center Lead

Soft Tech Consulting is seeking a highly motivated, self-directed individual to fill the role of an Data Center Lead. The selected individual will join a collaborative team environment where they will provide expertise and guidance to the project team/management. The Data Center Lead.plays a key role in client relations. Key to the success of this position is the successful delivery of the project and effective communication to all levels of staff for reporting project status.

MUST BE US CITIZEN or PERMANENT RESIDENT/GREEN CARD HOLDER

MUST BE ABLE TO OBTAIN PUBLIC TRUST

• Responsible in directing the planning, coordination, implementation and execution of approved policies, programs and services related to Data Center services.
• Responsible for controlling the day-to-day operational aspects, hardware/systems modernization and lifecycle management of the Data Center.
  
• Responsibility to coordinate with the relevant vendor to determine if the problem is within the NIEHS environment or with the Cloud vendor.
• Expected to be experienced in and manage the virtual machine hosting platform and associated virtual machines, to include containerization system.
  
• Work with the Government to perform periodic reviews, analysis, and updates to the RACI chart.
  
• Ensure the integrity of the Data Center access control process in coordination with OSB and the COR, and in compliance with Standard Operating Procedure (SOP-IDC-050 Data Center Access).
• Work directly with the COR to optimize rack utilization.
• Provide a Rack PDU and PUE Report
• Oversee the running of all networking cables, fiber, and copper in the sub- floor raceways
• Ensure compliance with the client requirements, both current and subsequent versions, for Data Center space and utilization.
• Monitor and notify the COR of changes in temperature, specifically disparities in heating or cooling.
• Notify the client upon discovery of a water leak detection alarm outside the rack.
• Manage the floor space within the Data Center so that it is clean, orderly and obstruction free.
• Responsible for logical access control, to include identification, authentication, and authorization protocols to protect access to the client information systems.
• Provide installation services for racks and cabinets for new hardware.
  
• Verify and update the rack diagrams.
• Collaborate with the client on any upgrades to rack reconfiguration and their components.
  
• Monitor rack utilization including card access to the racks; hardware health; average and peak utilization of all servers and racks; and maintenance tasks performed for the period.
• Provide a Rack Utilization and Hardware Health Report.
• Perform rack and cabinet upgrades outside normal business hours.
  
• Report on the current state of rack utilization, server capacity, and virtualized resources.
• Schedule maintenance windows to apply monthly operating system (OS) and security patches, as needed, and any changes or additions to systems.
  
• Support/oversee the following functions:
  • Unpack, rack, install, and configure all equipment, and provision the equipment.
    
  • Support installation and replacement of equipment to the point of operational stability, including installing approved images and conducting lifecycle assessments of obsolete equipment.
    
  • When directed, sanitize, and dispose of hardware (HW) and software (SW) in accordance with client guidance.
    
  • For hardware decommissioning, wipe the hard disks and remove them from the machine.
    
    • Complete documentation regarding decommissioning activities.
      
    • Update rack diagrams and the CMDB.
      
    • Notify the property custodian of decommissioned equipment.
      
    • Palletize the equipment and prepare for shipment.
      
    • Perform maintenance by conducting system checks, installing data storage drives, and if necessary, replacing failed hardware.
      
• Oversee support the following database functions:
  • Provide a Database Report on unscheduled downtime for production and non- production databases.
  • Maintain catalog of applications currently supported by the Data Center.
    
  • Perform the full suite of database maintenance activities, including evaluating and implementing patches and upgrades, managing table spaces and redo logs, performing data migrations, monitoring performance, and performance tuning.
    
  • Administer user accounts for all client employees, trainees, and authorized contractors.
    
  • Work with data owners and the ISSO to ensure that personally identifiable information (PII)/protected health information (PHI) is stored in an encrypted format in enterprise databases.
    
  • Support data governance policies by ensuring data accuracy, accessibility, consistency, and completeness.
    
  • Implement future database management system (DBMS) requirements including big data strategies, relational databases, dimensional databases, and unstructured databases.
    
  • Support data warehousing and business intelligence initiatives (including data mining and data movement) as implemented by NIH and assigned by the COR
• Oversee/Support the following for storage/backups:
  • Comply with the client SOP for backups.
    
  • Verify and maintain a comprehensive inventory of shared directories within the storage systems, per division and business owner.
    
  • Maintain and improve storage resource efficiency, monitor, and tune storage performance to resolve Input/Output (I/O) bottlenecks and optimize disk utilization.
    
  • Deliver a monthly Storage Performance Report to summarize the business owner’s usage and performance.
    
  • Maintain dataset placement, manage data catalogs, and develop specialized database storage requirements for unstructured datasets and hierarchical databases.
    
  • Administer information systems.
    
  • Perform bare-metal restore tests twice a year at client request for up to two (2) applications per year.
    
  • Remove and replace equipment as needed to comply with requirements and establish new technologies.
    
  • Identify and track the percentage used and available of storage allocated per month per application and server across all data storage services (such as DASD, SAN, NAS, and optical devices) to obtain storage capacity and utilization.
    
  • Provide support for any storage hosting initiatives, such as the encryption of government-compliant storage or the enforcing of any new client mandates.
    
  • Support and maintain standard and recurring storage expansion and lifecycle.
    
  • Ensure that client users have immediate availability of 100 terabytes (TB) of contiguous data center-hosted storage in at least three (3) available storage devices for time- dependent requirements.
    
  •  Adhere to the Federal Regulatory Compliance for data security and archiving.
    
• Data Center manitenance functions:
  • Meet with the client to perform ongoing reviews, analysis, and updates to the Data Center Equipment/Systems list.
    
  • Provision and decommission the system servers and devices, which are hosted in the Data Center.
    
  • Comply with SOP Server Naming Convention for all systems and servers.
    
  •  Install and provision hardware and/or appliances that host applications.
    
  • Provide maintenance to Data Center systems according to SLAs and Appendix F – Systems Thresholds and Appendix G - Critical and Non-Critical Systems and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).
    
  •  Administer the following patching requirements:
    
    • Provide software system updates and patching to client virtual machines within the enterprise virtual machine environment and Microsoft Windows servers.
      
    • Implement all vendor patches in accordance with SLAs.
      
    • Test all patches before implementation.
      
    • Provide firmware upgrades for servers.
      
    • Design future Database Management System (DBMS) requirements, including big data strategies, relational databases, dimensional databases, and unstructured databases.
      
    •  Ensure system availability in accordance with SLAs.
      

• B.S. in Computer Science, Information Technology Management or Engineering or related Or Four years of related experience may be substituted for the education degree requirement.

• Minimum 5 years of experience directing the planning, coordination, implementation and execution of approved policies, programs and services related to Data Center services.

• Deep knowledge of Data Center Management, including design, infrastructure (hardware, software and telecommunications), maintenance and operations.

• Experience with monitoring tools.

• Experience with infrastructure components, including but not limited to: Current versions of servers, especially Microsoft, Linux, and UNIX, network equipment, network storage, especially NETAPP data storage appliances, and Active Directory.

• Excellent verbal and written skills.
• Must be detail oriented.
• Able to work independently.

Soft Tech Consulting, Inc. is a woman and minority-owned business headquartered in Chantilly, VA. With contracts in both the public and private sectors in the DC metro area and across the country, Soft Tech is an organization made up of highly successful and talented Information Technology professionals offering enterprise class solutions for any size organization at great value. Soft Tech’s mission is to help government organizations design, implement, and maintain mission critical Information Technology solutions. By focusing jointly on our employees and our customers, we are able to achieve our mission by providing each and every one of our customers with continuous quality customer support.
 
Soft Tech Consulting, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.