Senior Specialist: Systems Development

Contract23 hours ago
Employment Information
Key Responsibilities:
  • Analyse and understand the functioning of existing production and legacy systems.
  • Conduct research into available tools, technologies and best practices in formulating an approach to system design and development.
  • Create and maintain system design diagrams (UML, ERD, etc) using online diagramming tools.
  • Create and maintain system documentation using GitHub and/or the uLwazi wiki.
  • Develop system features and enhancements.
  • Create unit tests for services and APIs.
  • Fix bugs.
  • Participate in code reviews.
  • Maintain source code using git and GitHub.
  • Work with the systems development lead to establish scope and timelines for deliverables.
  • Keep track of progress and status of tasks using the GitHub project management tool.
  • Provide progress updates during weekly development team meetings.
  • Engage with team mates to discuss and evaluate system designs, technology choices, etc.
  • Give presentations and demonstrations of work, at intervals, for review and feedback by team leads and stakeholders.
  • Liaise with the infrastructure team to coordinate server provisioning and system deployment.
  • Configure runtime environments, databases, web servers and proxy servers, as needed, in respect of system deployments.
  • Apply library updates and security patches to deployed systems.
  • Monitor production systems operations and performance.
  • Coaching and mentoring of junior systems developers.
  • Develop and maintain entity-relational models that support the harvesting,
  • Processing, synchronization and publication of data from a variety of raw data sources.
  • Create a database(s) to implement the E-R model(s), with support for storing multiple levels of data and metadata.
  • Ensure that data produced and/or hosted by SAEON is highly available, consistent, secure and recoverable.
  • Consult with internal and external stakeholders to understand and capture system requirements.
  • Analyse the existing system as applicable, understand and document its functionality, database structure, and the nature of its data holdings.
  • Develop and document an entity-relational model suitable for long-term preservation, management and access to data.
  • Implement or upgrade a database and a secure API supporting both automated and user interaction with the relevant data.
  • Develop a secure web application providing a user-friendly interface to the relevant API.
  • Migrate all existing data into the new database, with verifiable data integrity checks.
  • Coordinate the testing and deployment of new and upgraded systems, and the decommissioning of old systems.
Key Requirements:
Qualification:
  • NQF Level 7 bachelor's degree in computer science, mathematics, engineering or the physical sciences.
Experience:
  • 7+ years of experience in systems development
Knowledge:
  • Python
  • SQL
  • Docker
  • Nginx
  • Linux
  • GitHub
  • Relational database design
  • Object oriented systems design
Job location
Senior Specialist: Systems Development
South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON)
Senior Specialist: Systems Development
1 Vacancy-Contract
56 Florence St, Colbyn, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa