Automation & Observability Engineer

Role Overview

This position focuses on overseeing disaster recovery and automation efforts specifically for banking applications, leveraging expertise in Ansible Automation Platform and Orchestrator tools. Core responsibilities include crafting automation for consistency checks, designing job templates for testing processes, and validating disaster recovery exercises.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain Ansible Automation Platform resources such as playbooks, roles, and collections targeting Windows, AIX, RHEL systems; also covering databases like MSSQL, Oracle, DB2, Teradata, and middleware technologies including WebSphere Application Server (WAS) and IBM MQ.
• Employ Jinja2 templating and utilize Ansible Vault for secure secrets management; handle integrations with source control and CI/CD systems such as Git and Bitbucket.
• Take charge of orchestration workflows and resolve automation bugs.
• Create intuitive dashboards using ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) and Grafana for observability and monitoring.
• Develop utilities and automation scripts in Python (including CLI tools, API clients, and data parsers), shell scripting (Bash and KornShell), and PowerShell for Windows-related automations.
• Implement rigorous logging, error handling, and unit testing practices for scripts; ensure reuse through appropriate packaging techniques (virtual environments, pip modules).
• Integrate monitoring and automation frameworks with IT Service Management solutions like ServiceNow to support incident, change, and problem management workflows.
• Build REST API integrations and configure webhooks for components such as Ansible Tower callbacks and Kibana alerting; connect with tools including GTM, Infoblox, and F5.
• Collaborate closely with security teams to facilitate SIEM feed setup, audit compliance, and regulatory data retention.

Required Qualifications

• Between 4 and 8+ years experience in infrastructure, platform engineering, SRE, or DevOps roles, or equivalent background.
• Extensive hands-on experience with Ansible, covering playbooks, roles, and collections.
• Strong scripting and programming skills in Python, Bash/KornShell, and PowerShell applied to production environments.
• Systems administration proficiency across Windows Server, AIX, and RHEL platforms.
• Experience working with ELK stack components and Grafana for log ingestion, parsing, and visual dashboard creation.
• Competency in working with APIs and webhooks; fluent in JSON and YAML data formats.
• Familiarity with version control using Git, basic CI/CD concepts, change management procedures, and documentation best practices.
• Robust troubleshooting capabilities spanning networks, operating systems, applications, and log analysis.

Preferred Qualifications and Additional Skills

• Certifications such as RHCSA, RHCE, Red Hat Ansible Automation Certification, or Microsoft certifications related to Windows Server and PowerShell.
• Experience with ServiceNow modules (events, incidents, CMDB), Satellite, BigFix, Tanium, application performance monitoring tools like AppDynamics, Dynatrace, Prometheus, and Grafana.
• Basic knowledge of containerization and cloud technologies, including Docker, Kubernetes, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
• Infrastructure understanding in VMware products such as vRO, vCDA, and vSphere.
• Familiarity with orchestration tools like vRO, Apache Airflow, and Control-M.
• RHEL system administration expertise involving systemd, SELinux, firewalld, networking, storage configuration, user/group management, package management (dnf/yum), kernel tuning, and Satellite/Spacewalk usage.
• AIX fundamentals including logical partitioning (LPAR), smitty interface, NIM installation concepts, filesystem and LVM management, package administration (installp, rpm.rte), and ksh scripting.
• Windows Server knowledge including Active Directory integration, service management, scheduled task setup, PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC), eventing mechanisms, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and IIS log management.