IT Operation Support Engineer

Job Purpose
The Operation Support Engineer is responsible for day-to-day support related to IT systems for Assurant Japan. As such the candidate plans, organizes, and coordinates production support related projects and activities with the local business and the global IT team.

The position is also in charge of the sanity testing and/or Automation tasks/jobs for the local operations.

Primary Responsibilities

Provides general customer and IT support for assigned business applications and infrastructure deals with the most complex system problem logs; works with business and technical teams to perform effective root-cause analysis, resolution, and preventive actions; leads implementation support activities; directs and participates in training support activities such as documentation authoring and preparation, training preparation and delivery or follow-up.
Accountable for successful project delivery related to continuous system enhancement for operational improvement.
Maintains system support manual, create and maintain reports, assist with troubleshooting, interprets errors, automate and monitors operational processes.
Monitors infrastructure health, escalate to the Global IT team for outages, follow up on root cause analysis, problems and major incidents.
Participates in testing activities for maintenance; provides guidance for testing strategies, scope and scenarios; reviews and provides advice for testing-related estimates of effort, duration and resource utilization; reviews test plans; identifies testing risks and contributes to the overall management of project and risk plans; coordinates, manages and participates in complex testing efforts.

Basic Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree
Minimum of 3 years of experience in a software development or Engineering organization
Minimum 5 years’ experience in different IT areas, working through the business analysis, design, development, production support and infrastructure.
Minimum 5 years leading implementations of mission critical applications supporting diverse technologies.
Highly proficient in English, Business proficient in Japanese

Preferred Experience, Skills, and Knowledge

Knowledge and experience in the use of distributed technologies including but not limited to python, Visual Studio .NET, Visual Basic .NET, C#.NET .NET Framework 3.5 & higher, AJAX and Extensible Markup Language (XML & XMLT); IIS 7.0 and higher
Others including Web Services, Web API, WSS 3.0, WSE, & WCF, CSS, HTML, Javascript
Source control tool – TFS
Reporting tool – SSRS and SharePoint
Database technology including Oracle 12c and SQL server 2014 and PL/SQL and Stored procedures
Experience with Windows operating systems and shell scripting.
Understanding of cloud hosting and server availability behind a load balancer and firewall. (Azure, AWS)
Having basic understanding of network security. Protocol, authentication, etc.
Travel: Domestically within Japan to client offices or vendors and operation sites; Internationally for training and workshops needs.
Position requires the ability to work outside normal office hours for coordination and reporting with the global IT organization, and to provide support and problem escalation as required.
Having hands-on experiences with Microsoft Power Auto, Forms, and SharePoint.
A mindset to go beyond job title to get things done
Willingness to dive into software environments and technical issues
High command of verbal and written English. Other languages is a plus.
Ability to successfully work under tight project deadlines
Well organized, good communication and reporting skills
Self-motivated, team player, action and results oriented
Ability to effectively manage multiple assignments and priorities.
Ability to analyze complex business and system problems, propose effective solutions and understand and apply business vision and direction.
Willing to work outside normal hours and wear multiple hats.