Job Title: Systems Analyst – Production Readiness

Reports To: Production Readiness Team lead

Department: Technology Operations

Location: Dundalk, Co. Louth

Hours of work: 4 days per week – 08:00 – 18:30. The role operates as part of a 7-day rotational support schedule, with a requirement to work approximately one weekend per month

Job Overview:

We are seeking a motivated and technically skilled Systems Analyst to join the Production Readiness team within Technology Operations. The Production Readiness team provides operational and technical support for business-critical production systems supporting global testing operations. The role is responsible for monitoring production environments, investigating and resolving incidents, supporting examination delivery and result processing, and coordinating escalation to specialist technical teams where required.

The successful candidate will investigate issues across applications, Windows servers, databases, system integrations, networks and cloud-based services. Troubleshooting may involve analysing SQL data, application and system logs, monitoring information, configuration data and other diagnostic information to identify the source and impact of production issues.

A key requirement of the role is the ability to assess business impact and prioritise multiple issues appropriately. The analyst should be comfortable taking ownership of an investigation, resolving issues within the team's scope where possible, and recognising when an issue requires rapid escalation to an application, infrastructure, database, network or engineering team.

The role also involves working with production and examination data where accuracy and attention to detail are essential, including investigation and reconciliation of examination result data within agreed service levels.

Strong communication skills are essential. The analyst will be required to communicate technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, particularly during production incidents and service outages, and provide accurate updates, handovers and operational communications.

The analyst will also contribute to continuous improvement by maintaining Knowledge Base content, documenting troubleshooting and operational procedures, identifying recurring problems, and recommending opportunities to improve monitoring, automation and support processes.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Monitor business-critical production systems and services using enterprise monitoring and observability platforms and respond appropriately to alerts.
Assess alerts and incidents based on severity, business impact and urgency, ensuring critical issues are identified and acted upon promptly.
Triage, investigate and troubleshoot production incidents across applications, Windows servers, databases, system integrations, networks and cloud services.
Investigate escalated support cases relating to application issues, examination delivery, candidate sessions, infrastructure and examination result processing.
Use SQL to investigate production data, validate transactions, assist with troubleshooting and support data reconciliation and reporting activities.
Review Windows Event Logs, application logs, system configurations, monitoring information and other diagnostic data to identify potential causes of production issues.
Support and troubleshoot remote Windows and server environments using technologies such as Remote Desktop and VMware/vSphere.
Investigate application and system data flows, including APIs, messaging and queue technologies, ETL processes and application workflows.
Support systems and applications that use cloud technologies, including Microsoft Azure services.
Perform examination result reconciliation and other data-sensitive operational activities, ensuring accuracy and completion within required client and operational SLAs.
Manage multiple concurrent incidents and support requests, prioritising work based on service impact, urgency and business requirements.
Recognise critical production issues and escalate promptly to the appropriate application, infrastructure, database, network, engineering or specialist support teams.
Work collaboratively with technical teams and subject matter experts to investigate production problems and progress incidents through to resolution.
Gather and document appropriate technical evidence when escalating issues to ensure specialist teams have sufficient information to continue the investigation efficiently.
Provide timely, accurate and professional communications during production incidents and outages.
Produce clear operational handovers and status updates to support continuity between regional Production Readiness teams.
Maintain accurate records of incidents, troubleshooting activities, findings, escalations and resolutions within the appropriate case or ticket management system.
Create and maintain Knowledge Base articles, troubleshooting guides, operational procedures and problem-resolution documentation.
Identify recurring incidents or operational issues and work with the appropriate teams to support permanent resolution and preventative improvements.
Identify opportunities for automation, improved monitoring and operational process improvement.
Continuously look for opportunities to improve service quality, operational efficiency and the effectiveness of production support.
Provide a high standard of technical and operational support to the wider organisation.

Essential Criteria:

Strong problem-solving, analytical and technical troubleshooting skills, with the ability to investigate complex production issues.
Relevant technical qualification or equivalent industry experience.
Experience supporting business-critical production applications, systems or infrastructure.
Strong working knowledge of SQL, with the ability to write and use queries to investigate, validate and analyse production data.
Experience supporting and troubleshooting Microsoft Windows Server environments.
Experience using Windows Event Viewer, application logs, configuration information and similar diagnostic sources to investigate technical issues.
Understanding of multi-tier application architecture, including the interaction between web, application and database layers.
Experience working with enterprise monitoring or observability platforms and responding appropriately to production alerts.
Understanding of networking fundamentals and their relationship to application troubleshooting, including TCP/IP, DNS and application connectivity.
Experience using enterprise ticketing, incident or case-management systems such as Salesforce or equivalent.
Ability to work with large or complex datasets where accuracy and attention to detail are critical.
Ability to assess the severity and business impact of production incidents and prioritise accordingly.
Ability to manage and investigate multiple issues simultaneously while maintaining appropriate focus on the highest-impact problems.
Ability to recognise when an issue requires specialist support and escalate promptly to the appropriate technical team.
Ability to work independently, use sound judgement and make appropriate decisions with minimal supervision.
Strong attention to detail, particularly when working with production and examination data.
Experience working within defined incident-management, escalation and SLA requirements.
Ability to clearly document troubleshooting activities, findings, actions and resolutions.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to explain technical issues clearly and concisely to non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to produce clear, professional incident notifications, outage communications, operational updates and handovers.
Ability to collaborate effectively with application, infrastructure, database, network and engineering teams.
Ability to work effectively as part of a global support organisation, including handovers and coordination between regional teams.

Desired Criteria:

Experience supporting Microsoft Azure or other cloud technologies.
Familiarity with Azure services such as Application Insights, Azure Service Bus and Cosmos DB.
Experience with PowerShell or another scripting or automation technology.
Experience using VMware/vSphere or equivalent virtualisation technologies.
Experience supporting Internet Information Services (IIS).
Understanding of REST APIs, JSON and XML.
Familiarity with messaging and system integration technologies such as Microsoft MSMQ, Azure Service Bus, ETL processes and application workflows.
Understanding of network technologies such as routing, switching and load balancing.
Familiarity with firewall, VPN and other network security technologies relevant to application troubleshooting.
Experience supporting high-availability or business-critical production environments.
Experience working within structured incident, problem, change and escalation processes.
Previous experience working in an environment with demanding operational or client SLAs.
Experience identifying opportunities for monitoring, automation or operational process improvements.

Employee Benefits:

Pension Scheme
Healthcare Scheme
Life Assurance
Employee Health and Wellbeing Initiatives
Enhanced Annual Leave
24/7 Employee Assistance Programme
Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
Social Club

Free carparking

Systems Analyst – Production Readiness

Benefits

Job Description