Junior Application Support & DevOps Engineer

CONTEXT

Imagine a public institution whose mission directly impacts the social insurance and well-being of a nation's self-employed citizens. The efficiency and reliability of its digital applications are not just about business continuity; they are about ensuring vital services are delivered without interruption, supporting livelihoods, and fostering trust in public administration. Our client, a major player in its sector, is seeking a bright and enthusiastic individual to join their agile IT department in Brussels. This isn't just a job; it's an opportunity to be a crucial link in a highly collaborative Scrum team, where your passion for technology will directly translate into tangible public good, maintaining the heartbeat of essential societal functions.

ACTIVITIES

• Act as the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for assigned business applications, providing front-line support and communication for operational issues.
• Proactively monitor the health, performance, and availability of production applications using various monitoring tools, identifying and addressing potential issues before they escalate.
• Investigate, diagnose, and troubleshoot production problems, working closely with development teams to identify root causes and implement timely solutions.
• Design, execute, and automate functional and technical tests for new software features and bug fixes, ensuring quality before deployment.
• Support the entire software release lifecycle, including coordinating deployments, performing post-release validation, and ensuring smooth transitions to production.
• Participate in code development activities, contributing to minor enhancements, bug fixes, and scripting (e.g., SQL queries) to improve application efficiency.
• Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation, including operational procedures, runbooks, and troubleshooting guides.
• Collaborate effectively with internal development teams, infrastructure teams, external vendors, and business stakeholders to ensure cohesive application management.
• Actively participate in Scrum ceremonies (daily stand-ups, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives), contributing to continuous improvement of team processes.

EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENTS

• Ensure the high availability and optimal performance of critical business applications, directly contributing to the uninterrupted delivery of public services.
• Achieve rapid and effective resolution of production incidents, minimizing downtime and mitigating impact on users and operations.
• Contribute to the successful and stable deployment of new software releases, enhancing application functionality and user experience.
• Develop a strong technical understanding of the applications and underlying infrastructure, growing into a key subject matter expert within the team.
• Become an invaluable member of an agile development team, driving efficiency, fostering collaboration, and continuously improving operational workflows.

ENVIRONMENT

• Methodologies: Agile (Scrum), ITIL principles for service management.
• Operating Systems: Windows Server, Linux (potential).
• Databases: SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL (experience with SQL queries essential).
• Monitoring Tools: Dynatrace, Nagios, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack (familiarity with concepts).
• Ticketing & Collaboration: Jira Service Management, Confluence, Microsoft Teams.
• Scripting & Automation: PowerShell, Python, Bash (for operational tasks).
• CI/CD: Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitLab CI (familiarity with concepts).
• Application Stacks: Java, .NET, potentially other enterprise application frameworks.
• Cloud Platforms: Basic understanding of Azure or AWS concepts (e.g., IaaS, PaaS) if applicable to future roadmap.