Snr Specialist: Big Data & Analytics Jobs

Position Purpose

• The Senior Specialist in Big Data Science provides guidance and support in the design, development, release, and maintenance of Data Warehouse and Data Mart systems, and related applications or services (e.g., reporting) for Transnet Freight Rail (TFR).
• The role involves working closely with customers, vendors/service providers, colleagues, and other stakeholders to identify and maximize opportunities for using Data Warehouse systems to improve business processes, promote strategic use of Information Technology across TFR, and enable the workforce to use these technologies.
• The incumbent provides leadership, vision, and direction for Data Warehousing/Data Mart systems and Big Data and Analytics, ensuring support of TFR’s business objectives and requirements.
• A key responsibility is ensuring organizational balance and system coherency between desktop/client and Data Warehouse back-end processing activities.

Position Outputs

• Strategy & Planning: Assess and cultivate long-term strategic goals for BI development in conjunction with end users, managers, clients, and other stakeholders. Conduct research on emerging technologies, best practices, languages, and standards, and make recommendations on Big Data & Analytics products, services, and standards in support of procurement and development efforts.
• Acquisition & Deployment: Evaluate and select database/data warehouse components, including hardware, relational database management systems, ETL software, metadata management tools, and database design solutions. Set business requirements for BI tools, translate them into technical ones, and participate in data warehouse design. Lead BI software development, deployment, and maintenance.
• Operational Management: Direct, organize, and lead projects in the implementation and use of new Big Data & Analytics software tools, systems, and solutions. Lead the integration efforts for merging Big Data & Analytics platforms with enterprise systems and applications. Analyze user requirements, design, code, and test according to Agile and DevOps methodologies. Produce ETL design guidelines to ensure a manageable ETL infrastructure for the BI system. Ensure optimal end-user performance by establishing and consistently executing overall system performance assessment processes and associated action plans. Provide technical support and ensure optimal end-user performance by executing overall system performance assessment processes and associated action plans, troubleshooting BI tools, systems, and software, and performance-tuning these applications as necessary.
• Collaborate Across Departments: Collaborate across both business and IT and act as an evangelist for Big Data Science & Analytics benefits across the organization; promote Big Data Science & Analytics usage to relevant departments. Follow and enhance Big Data Science & Analytics standards and best practices across the team. Collaborate and mentor team members on methodology, design, and architecture. Provide consultation on complex projects and act as a top-level contributor.
• Educate and Train: Continuously educate business/IT stakeholders on basic BI principles and techniques. Train peers/staff on BI specialist topics. Network with internal and external partners. Upskill self and collaborate with other BI Specialist teams. Participate in the design and delivery of end-user training and training materials.
• Management: Play a managerial role overseeing the activities of junior Specialists in Big Data Science & Analytics, ensuring proper execution of their duties and alignment of activities with the business’s overall vision and objectives. Constantly build effective working relationships and develop data-fueled solutions that drive the business closer to its overall goals and objectives. Provide mentorship, leadership, and guidance to Specialists in Big Data Science & Analytics.
• DevOps Culture: Facilitate the principle of Flow: make work visible, limit work in progress, reduce batch (deployment) sizes, reduce the number of handoffs, identify and elevate constraints, and eliminate hardships and waste in the value stream. Principle of Feedback: work safely within complex systems, see problems as they occur, swarm and resolve problems to build new knowledge, push quality closer to the source, and enable optimizing for downstream work centers. Principle of continual learning and experimentation: enable organizational learning and safety culture, institutionalize the improvement of daily work, transform local discoveries into global improvements, inject resilience patterns into daily work, and reinforce a learning culture.

Qualifications and Experience

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree or Diploma in IT or Computer Science.
• Certifications (advantageous if the incumbent has at least one of the following certifications): Business Intelligence/Analytics certification, Big Data/Big Data Analytics certification, DMBoK, ITIL foundation or ITIL Service Management.
• Experience: 8+ years’ working experience in at least one IT discipline (such as Data Warehouse development/Business Intelligence development/Business or Information Analytics/Application Development or Big Data Analytics) with at least 4 years’ experience at Management level.