Data Center Operations, Backup and Disaster Recovery Officer at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Data Center Operations, Backup and Disaster Recovery Officer

Job Code: 20000171
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Institution: ECOWAS Commission
Grade: P3/P4
Department: Internal Services
Directorate: Directorate of Information, Technology Service
Division: Operation, Infrastructure and Maintenance
Status: Permanent
Line Supervisor: PO Operation, Infrastructure and Maintenance
Supervising: IT Assistant

Role Overview

• Under the direct supervision of the Principal Officer Operation, Infrastructure and Maintenance, the incumbent is responsible for planning and implementation of the ECOWAS contingency plans that are responsible for providing manual / off-line procedures development to mitigate any risk associated with complete or partial failure of facilities, technology systems, or applications related to an unforeseen disruption. 
• He/She designs, installs, configures, tests, manages, monitors, supports, and troubleshoots all server, storage & backup components of the Data Center, disaster recovery site and other remote locations.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Overall responsibility for planning, directing/maintaining, troubleshooting, and coordinating activities pertaining to the day-to-day support of the data centers.
• Maintain data centers and environmental facilities including but not limited to UPS, backup generator power, fire prevention systems, and HVAC.
• Helps with infrastructure project management.
• Oversee the monitoring of servers and applications and other peripheral systems for alarms and alerts.
• Responsible for ensuring maintenance/ repairs of site-critical facility infrastructure of a Data Center are planned and executed to the best interest of the business.
• Manage and Coordinate activities related to hardware decommissioning, rack moves and services migration within various Data Centers.
• Develop a complete, deep knowledge of the design intent, operational alternatives and contingency plans related to all ECOWAS Center systems to provide day to day global operational activities for Storage and Backup/Recovery teams including administering storage array architecture, SAN infrastructure, Network Attached Storage (NAS), Enterprise Backup/Restore, Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) and Archival and Retrieval.
• Responsible for advanced troubleshooting of Storage and Backup/Recovery related issues, backups and recovering failed backups.
• Design and implement an organizational framework to support DR/BC/IR programs.
• Effectively drive change initiatives targeted at decreasing operating expense and increasing operational efficiencies.
• Manage the engineering aspects of the Data Centers related to financial and cost control, code and regulatory compliance, personnel management, staff training and development, Health & Safety, local statutory requirements, environmental and energy management.
• Manage changes to the project scope, project schedule and ensure proper communication to all stakeholders.
• Responsible for capacity planning and performance analysis of backup and recovery infrastructure.
• Assist in maintaining a program to introduce key concepts, such as program management, risk awareness, identification of critical functions/processes, recovery strategies, and exercising/testing.
• Conduct Business Impact Analyses (BIA) and risk assessments to prioritize business functions and processes and to identify risks that can adversely impact the Credit Union’s resources or reputation.
• Provide executive leadership team quarterly business updates.
• Develop and maintain method statements, standard operating procedures, emergency response procedures, preventive maintenance programs, and all technical documentation.
• Develop and deliver the regular engineering reports and ensure adherence to contracted deliverables including SLA’s and KPI’s.
• Assist in developing procedures and maintain the ECOWAS incident response plan.
• Manage and support change and release processes for physical environments.
• Provide cost and design proposals and liaise with vendors.
• Create metrics and monitoring to aid in SLA reporting.
• Drive and maintain Data Center Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and recommend/implement solutions that will ensure company meets/maintains SLAs.
• Analyze Problems & escalate to appropriate Levels. Hardware /software fault detection and vendor liaison
• Serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) providing technical guidance around disaster recovery/business continuity and incident response best practice.
• Responsible for training all team members.
• Lead a team who perform all related data center support activities and services, including identifying, preserving/storing, and protecting equipment and assets.
• Interface with a diverse team of partners, leaders, and contributors with a focus on continual process improvement and capability growth using industry process frameworks.

• Provide occasional out-of-hours support.
• Perform any other duties as may be required from time to time.

Academic Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Business Systems Analysis & Design, Information Systems Management, or any related ICT field from a recognized University.
• At least five (5) years of network, system engineering experience in a large scale 24/7 data center environment
• Experience working with systems and/or IT integration executions.
• Experience with Mainframe, Unix, Windows Server, enterprise storage, networking equipment.
• Strong understanding of design software tools (CAD, ANSYS, etc)
• Knowledge of all aspects of the design, development, management, implementation, and maintenance of complex IT projects using management systems and technologies.

Age Limit:

• Be below 50 years old.
• This provision does not apply to internal candidates.

Ecowas Key Competencies:

• Ability to persuade/influence others to consider a certain point of view, adopt a new idea or implement new methods and practices.
• Ability to lead a team of trainees/junior staff and instill a spirit of teamwork to engage employees and achieve a well-defined set of activities.
• Ability to respect chain of command in an appropriate manner.
• Ability to resolve challenges that occur with minimal direction and/or to recommend and explain solutions or alternatives for approval.
• Ability to utilize the Code of Ethics to manage self, others, information, and resources.
• Ability to mentor others and create feedback loops with supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates to build strong working relationships and improve performance.
• Contribute to maintaining organizational unit’s performance goals and standards.
• Interpersonal skills with ability to keep a client informed of progress or setbacks in projects of relevance to timeline, quality, and quantity.
• Ability to proactively interact with clients and build strong trusting relationships based on mutual respect and regular discussions.
• Ability to establish and sustain professional credibility with clients/stakeholders in a manner that anticipates their need, mitigates issues and that carefully balances professional obligations with the need to be sensitive and responsive to their needs.
• Ability to counsel, advise, consult, and guide others on matters pertaining to assigned client service responsibilities and established client service standards.
• Demonstrate respect for cultural differences, fairness, and ability to relate well with people from varied backgrounds, nationality, gender, ethnicity, race and religion.
• Understanding of diverse cultural views especially within West Africa, with sensitivity to group differences; ability to challenge bias and to practice tolerance and empathy.
• Ability to listen actively, consider people’s concerns and apply judgement, tact, and diplomacy.
• Ability to work in a diverse and inclusive interactive environment that benefits from diverse strengths.
• Ability and responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
• Ability to encourage, empower, and advocate for people in an unbiased and transparent manner.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS institutions, sectors, programmes and policies.
• Knowledge of ECOWAS internal operational requirements of programs, projects, services, and systems required to achieve work assignments and meet performance goals.
• Knowledge of rules and procedures of ECOWAS associated assigned responsibilities and ability to explain these clearly to others.
• Knowledge of the ECOWAS culture, structures and performance issues and priorities impacting assigned responsibilities.
• Knowledge of member states development trends, indicators, challenges, and opportunities as it relates to project/program assigned to own position.
• Ability to study data/information from a variety of sources, identify anomalies, trends and issues, present findings, and make recommendations.
• Ability to break down problems or processes into key parts to identify and solve gaps in service, quality assurance, compliance, and performance targets.
• Knowledge of and ability to apply techniques to generate creative ideas and new approaches to meeting goals.
• Ability to use evidence and research to inform policies and programs and identify relevant and appropriate sources of information, including stakeholders, regional institutions and/or internal committees.
• Demonstrate operational computer proficiency using appropriate tools.
• Ability to make sound use of graphics and tables to effectively present numerical data to write semi-complex technical reports/proposals and edit/check templates, letters, etc.
• Ability to convey information clearly and concisely in a succinct and organized manner through both writing and verbal means.
• Exhibit interpersonal skills, make presentations, express opinions, and debate ideas with others in a constructive manner.
• Proficiency in information communication technologies (ICT).
• Fluency in oral and written expressions in one of the ECOWAS official languages of the Community (English, French & Portuguese). Knowledge of an additional one will be an added advantage.
• Ability to develop, implement an individual action plan for achieving specific work goals.
• Identify, organize, and monitor tasks throughout to facilitate execution.
• Ability to contribute and/or lead on projects as per accepted project management standards and techniques, to co-ordinate contributions by others to set and meet deadlines.
• Ability to organize work, set priorities, and work within timelines, giving attention to details, stakeholders, indicators, and risks.
• Ability to identify, collect and assess indicators to monitor performance and to take proactive remedial action as required.
• Assessment method: Assessment of qualified candidates may include a written exercise and a competency-based interview.

ECOWAS Work Environment:

• ECOWAS provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and a healthy work-life balance. 
• We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore, we encourage women to apply for positions that suit their competencies. Individuals from minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are also highly encouraged to apply. 
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of ECOWAS’s workforce.

Salary
UA 49,106.81 / USD 77,480.72 annually.

Application Closing Date
21st April, 2025.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Applications to: b52datacentoperatbackanddisasrecov@ecowas.int using the Job Title as the subject of the mail.

Click here to download the application form (Docx.)

Note
Disclaimer:

• Selection and appointment will be subject to background and reference checks and other administrative requirements.
• ECOWAS does not charge for any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing in connection with application or recruitment processes and does not concern itself with information on applicants’ bank accounts.
• To view the complete job description and apply to this position, follow the link below.