Principal Build Engineer

OUR COMPANY
We are a leading Tier 1 Integrator providing specialized services across DevOps globally across industry.

OUR TEAM
You will be one of a two man team working in a Tier 1 investment bank to establish a 'Build Farm' and standardize the process to ensure that 1000 or so teams/developers are building systems in a similar, consistent manner. The solution will be fully automated and scalable and cover off SOA components and deploy use cases that are mainly based in JAVA. The solution will require a number of platforms including Windows, Linux and AIX integration environment covering 40 Servers and will leverage innovative technologies to support the Build and Release organization for 10000 users globally. As a key member of a globally dispersed team  this is a unique opportunity to work with a world-class team of engineers to enable rapid continuous builds and high quality deployments of code across the SDLC.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY
You are a bright, organized, and dedicated Principal Build and Release Engineer with particular knowledge in the areas of continuous integration, automation technologies, and virtualization. You must be a true SME in every sense of the word and also have exceptional interpersonal skills so you can engage with technicians and senior stakeholders across the origination.   

The overall mission is broadly (but subject to refinement over the next 15 months): 

1) To provide the client after initial investigation with detailed intelligence on what is needed to create and engineer a centrally managed "build farm". The idea is to use "build agents" to request a uniform set of build services from a central build management team so developers can have their own sand pit. The full service will need to be fully automated and tested to ensure all build components are fit for purpose such that no speciality knowledge is required by the central support team.

2) Help the client to build such an environment through developing a POC from understanding requirements from a subset of the 1000 teams and then scaling accordingly.

OUR IDEAL CANDIDATE

You will be a serious technically minded person, who is expert in "build Management" practises, a proven track record of build delivery with a strong developer/Architecture background. Additionally you must be a strong communicator as you will have to engage with all different job types across the global organisation. 

You are ideally suited to manage and participate in build and release activities and contributing to development operations for enterprise software. You will build and release software components and interfaces in great technical depth, write build script programs to assure high build quality, and develop advanced build and release tools to increase productivity and efficiency.

Only real experts with proven experience need apply.  

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

Assess, analyse (you will need to interview teams) the current landscape and propose development of the Farm (first 3 to 6 months) 

If successful with the above, you will require the following skills to build out the farm:

-Install and configureRational RTC and Jazz build Infrastructure together
-Set up the build engine and build definitions for developers to use
-Work with technology teams to build, automate and release software for multiple projects on Rational RTC and Jazz Build Engine
-Oversee build plans, build scripts and automate for multiple releases
-Oversee the maintenance of RTC and other tools using Java to build, deploy, automate and streamline code management and product delivery process.
-Provide support to the centralised Build Team for any required changes to build/release/version control processes
-Consult with development teams to analyse, debug and resolve any build issues
-Collaborate effectively with peers, managers and architects to solve complex problems spanning their respective areas to deliver end-to-end quality in our technology and customer experience
-Consult with development managers to insure appropriate levels of build quality
-Influence and communicate effectively with non-technical audiences including senior product and business management

YOUR QUALIFICATIONS
-BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline; advanced degree a plus
-10 or more years of professional experience in Build and Release engineering, Java development, product development or testing with a willingness to learn/excel in build and release
-Solid experience in build and release activities using Maven and Ant scripts and automation of such activities
-Experience in programming skills in Java based development are essential
-Knowledge of RCM concepts (code lines, branching, merging, integration, versioning, etc.)
-Experience in configuration management related activities (Clearcase, Perforce)
-Experience in integration/automated tools (Cruise Control, Jenkins, BuildForge, Maven, etc.)
-Experience with structured build files/tools (Ant, Maven, POM, Jazz Build)
-Strong knowledge of RDBMS and experience writing SQL scripts
-Hands-on experience with various build scripts development and deployment
-Strong working knowledge of Unix/Windows Operating systems
-Excellent problem solving, analytical skills and technical troubleshooting skills
-Clarity and precision in verbal and written communications
-Ability to work with customers, developers, documentation, product management, support staff
-Familiarity with software development life cycles and agile programming methodologies
-In-depth understanding of large complex software systems to isolate defects, reproduce defects, assess risk and understand varied customer deployments
-Ability to learn new skills quickly as needed.