Job Description
As the leading provider of multicloud solutions, Rackspace is seeking a Technical Design Authority to play an integral part in the development of a new UK Sovereign focused business unit. Rackspace hosts large scale, mission critical environments and you will be expected to demonstrate a high degree of technical leadership in order to deliver world class technical service for a wide variety of technologies and applications.
In this pivotal, autonomous and varied role, you will have the opportunity to utilise cutting edge technologies and techniques across a broad range of multi cloud platforms however with a key focus on Dell Powerflex, VMware and Microsoft Azure as part of the Rackspace UK Sovereign product portfolio. You will manage complex problems as well as be a proactive and consultative resource to help customers plan for their future growth and the continual adoption of emerging technologies and best practices.
With a strong background in Enterprise grade customer environments, you will help customers manage change, minimise risk, optimise operations and support business growth through pro-active and personable interactions. You will build long-term customer relations, understanding their business goals and operational capability in order to best align and manage Rackspace resources and services, to drive outstanding customer outcomes.
You will act as a senior escalation point, orchestrating technical teams and resources to provide seamless support for your customer’s strategy.
The right candidate for the role will be adept at managing senior stakeholders, complex service delivery systems, co-ordinating Rackspace and customer teams around complex business and technical situations, always delivering within established timescales and exceeding customer’s expectations. To facilitate strong, personable customer relationships, ad hoc travel will be required to customer sites, with occasional international travel.
Key Accountabilities
Provide a Fanatical Experience™ to Rackspace employees and customersAct as a consultative resource for customers to assist them in achieving their business objectivesPro-actively seek opportunities to improve customer’s solution architecture and operationsPro-actively seek opportunities to solve customer business objectives with the wide and diverse Rackspace product portfolioSupport Customers and Rackspace Programme and Project Managers in delivering strategic programmes such as Transformation/ModernisationEnsure appropriate technical documentation is in place for customer solutionsProvide strategic and operational guidance that will allow customers to continually optimise their environments to achieve their business goalsDrive strong customer satisfaction (NPS) through opinionated advice and guidanceOwn issues, and escalations and drive collaboration with other teams to find speedy resolutionsPerson Attributes
Customer obsessed – works vigorously to earn and keep customers trust, and an ability to continually anticipate and meet their needsA blend of commercial and operational acumenExperience in owning of account planning activities, service improvement or business development activityVersatile and able to thrive in a frequently changing customer service environmentOperates well working with technical and non-technical employees and very comfortable with autonomyExperience of influencing and presenting to external customersAbility to meet challenging targets within tight deadlinesUnderstanding of Service Management best practices frameworks such as ITILExposure to operational management within a critical environmentEffective troubleshooting and analytical skills and ability to manage complex and technical projectsAbility to collaborate with and manage diverse cross functional teams for successful customer outcomes borne out of a “can do” attitude and proactive outlookExcellent written and verbal communication skills coupled with the ability to develop rapport and relationships at a variety of (external and internal) customer stakeholder levelsStrong customer focus, with an ability to continually anticipate and meet their needsTechnical Capabilities (Required)
Experience in architecting and managing production environments across Physical, Virtualised and Cloud technologies with a focus on Microsoft AzureExperience delivering outcomes for UK Sovereign or UK Government customersExperience of hosting web applications across a variety of Microsoft productsExperience of transformation and migrations from traditional VMware Virtualisation to Microsoft AzureA good understanding of Microsoft technologies. Windows Server, Active Directory, IIS, SQLExperience configuring and troubleshooting high availability solutions, Microsoft Windows and SQL Clustering and load-balanced Web FarmsA good understanding of Enterprise class Networking, Virtualisation and Storage technologiesA good understanding of security practices and toolingDesirable skills
Industry qualifications from Microsoft, VMware, Cisco highly desirableExperience of Windows and SQL ClusteringUnderstanding of Linux Kernel or related operating systems highly beneficialDevOps methodologies understandingScripting skills in Python, PowerShell or other versatile scripting language is desirableWorking knowledge of common hosted web and database technologiesUnderstanding for agile software development methodologies and languagesExperience in planning and delivering End of Life upgrade programmesHorizontal and vertical scaling knowledge within Private and or Public cloudsBasic knowledge in monitoring (Graphite, Logstash, Zabbix, Nagios, SCCM, SolarWinds etc.)Public Cloud certifications in relevant fields
