Integration Architect - Remote Job

The Integration Architect will report to the Director, Enterprise Architecture and will be involved in operating and evolving the Enterprise Integration Platform (EIP), helping migrate system interfaces and working with IT operations and development teams to build, operate, maintain and monitor new and existing system integration environments. They will understand the intricacies of the Enterprise Integration Platform and work with the platform vendor(s) to ensure highly effective corporate integration capabilities. They will also provide skilled platform deployment, performance monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities, while also ensuring adherence to standards and governance best practices to optimise IT operations.

Core Accountabilities:

Systems Operation

• Apply effective and efficient systems operations practices to the Enterprise Integration Platform and associated integration components such as gateways and transformation and business rules engines.
• Ensure corporate ITSM best practices are incorporated into the platform operation and leverage established alerting and monitoring systems.
• Have effective processes in place to manage platform resources to ensure efficient and cost effective operations.
• Work with the EIP vendor through appropriate escalation and periodic review of their Cloud environment to alleviate any performance or reliability issues.
• Establish metrics and KPIs that allow visibility of platform performance and reliability, together with the ability to continuously improve the EIP publish-and-subscribe Cloud orientated model. 

Collaboration

• Collaborate with a high performance team of IT operations specialists.
• Collaborate with units within IT and operate an enterprise solution that is scalable, adaptable and synchronized with IT and business needs.
• Work with various business and IT stakeholders to demonstrate and show business value of enterprise-wide integration applications and associated services.

Interface Development and Maintenance

• Ensure the completeness (fitness for purpose) of the integration platform(s) configurations.
• Implement, operate and maintain integration elements such as APIs, streams, queues, etc. 
• Work with the LifeLabs Development Teams to ensure deployment, maintenance, operation and monitoring of APIs and interfaces in internal and Cloud environments.
• Concentrate on the elements that can add significant value to the organization without being too detail orientated in areas that add little value. 

Policies and Standards

• Help develop and maintain policies, standards and guidelines that facilitate the operation, maintenance, implementation and use of the Enterprise Integration Platform within the enterprise.
• Ensure new and existing API/interface usage and monitoring is compliant with IT standards and policies.

Documentation

• Document the platform operating processes and procedures and relate to vendor product best practices and LifeLabs ITSM ecosystem, while keeping up-to-date as part of the platform lifecycle.

Required experience:

• University degree relevant to Information Technology, or equivalent experience
• 5 years of general Information Technology experience
• 3 years IT integration platform operations experience
• Strong knowledge of complex IT systems operation in both on-premise and Cloud environments
• Strong knowledge of middleware / SOA and SaaS/Paas/IaaS solutions and the operation of web services and APIs in those environments
• Some experience of software development methodologies and structured approaches to system integration deployment
• Varied knowledge of COTS integration products
• Good verbal and written skills
• Strong analytical skills
• Ability to influence decision makers, peers and technical resources in field of practice
• Knowledge and/or training in IBM Cloud Pak for Integration and associated technologies is desirable