ENVIRONMENT:

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international organisation supported by 31 States*. Its prime objectives are the operational production of analyses, medium-range forecasts of weather and ocean waves and seasonal forecasts as well as scientific and technical research directed to the improvement of these forecasts. ECMWF operates a large computing facility including supercomputers, data archiving systems and networks. For details see:

www.ecmwf.int/services/computing/overview

ECMWF manages a private MPLS network, referred to as the Regional Meteorological Data Communication Network (RMDCN), connecting the meteorological organisations of its Member States, Co-operating States and other countries. This private network currently encompasses 46 countries worldwide. ECMWF’s networking infrastructure also includes a 600 Mbps Internet connection and 10GE local area networks and is currently based on the following equipment: Brocade switches, Checkpoint and Fortinet firewalls, Cisco ASA and routers, Vyatta routers; and various open source management software.

The selected candidate will be assigned to the Networking and Computer Security Section of the Computer Division and will take part in the provision of the services for the wide area network (WAN) and ECMWF’s local area network (LAN). The main duties will include:

Operational network management:

• Configuring and monitoring ECMWF’s LAN and WAN services (DNS, DHCP, SMTP, etc.) and equipment (switches, routers, firewalls, wireless access points, PBX, etc.)
• Maintaining ECMWF’s network monitoring solutions (SNMP based solutions) and monitoring the availability, performance and reliability of the network

Operational management of the MPLS network:

• Monitoring the availability, performance and reliability of the RMDCN
• Monitoring the Service Level Agreement with the network provider
• Maintaining the RMDCN website

Support and documentation:

• Providing general day-to-day support for the Networking and Security environment, including, on a regular basis, 24-hour on-call support
• Writing and maintaining up-to-date documentation in the areas of responsibility

The selected candidate will also take part in evaluating and implementing networking and security technologies in order to enhance the LAN and WAN infrastructure, and will participate in networking-related projects.

A university education to degree standard or equivalent is required, coupled with at least three years of relevant professional experience. The successful candidate should have experience in TCP/IP network and security administration. In addition, experience in or knowledge of some of the equipment and solutions used at ECMWF is a distinct advantage.

The successful candidate should be highly professional, proactive and have excellent analytical skills; good inter-personal skills are essential for this position, which involves direct interaction with internal users as well as external network administrators.

Staff are normally recruited from among the nationals of the following Member and Co‑operating States: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom.

The working languages of ECMWF are English, French and German; fluency in English is essential.

REMUNERATION:

Within the range of £3,795.24 to £5,069.79 basic salary per month net of tax.

In principle, a staff member will be engaged at the lowest step of the grade of the post for which he or she is selected.

A deduction is made from the basic salary for the Pension Scheme and for Partial Invalidity (currently 8.8% for the Pension Scheme and 0.2% for Partial Invalidity). A further 1.46% of basic salary and related allowances is currently deducted for the ECMWF Supplementary Health Insurance Scheme.

Where applicable: household allowance of 6% of basic salary; children’s allowance of £214.41 per child per month; expatriation allowance of 14% or 18% of basic salary for expatriates; education allowance for children of expatriates is added.

STARTING DATE:

As soon as possible.

LENGTH OF CONTRACT:

Maximum of four years for initial contract, with the possibility of renewal.

APPLICATIONS:

Application forms can be downloaded from ECMWF’s website:

www.ecmwf.int/newsevents/employment/en/

CLOSING DATE:

Completed applications for this post must reach the Personnel Section of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts at the above address not later than 22 April 2010.