Manager, Systems Engineering

Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES

DreamWorks Animation SKG is seeking a high-energy, motivated individual who combines solid leadership and technical credentials with a results-driven management style for the position of Systems Engineering Manager.

In this role, you manage and lead teams comprising of Systems Administration/Engineering, Network/Storage Operations, Database Administration and Datacenter Engineering. You will be responsible for designing, implementing and maintaining the Linux and Windows Production environments for DreamWorks Animation. You will ensure that the technology infrastructure effectively and efficiently supports DreamWorks Animation ongoing Creative/Production business operations and strategic direction.

MAJOR AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Infrastructure Management (25%)

• Act as the escalation point of interaction for hardware/software infrastructure needs between DreamWorks Animation Production, R&D, IT and Digital Operations department. Provide oversight, tactical execution and strategic direction for the studios infrastructure needs. Follow through to ensure that all infrastructure services are meeting or exceeding business requirements.
• Matrix across the studio, working with other departments to define hardware/software needs with consideration to issues like budget, deployment schedules and resource availability.

Infrastructure Operations (30%)

• Establish and maintain relationships with vendors, making sourcing decisions, and executehardware installation, configuration, and testing.

Customer Relationship Management (30%)

• Establish and maintain relationships with supported business units and their Development or Production teams.
• Oversee regular needs assessment of the Digital Operations infrastructure to ensure support, services, and solutions are effectively meeting the needs of R&D and Production.
• Work with the R&D and Production business units to develop Service Level Objectives and operational procedures that meet the business unit's goals & objectives. Follow-up on operational issues that arise and fine-tune the expectations to address gaps or make changes as appropriate.

Business Strategy and Management (15%)

• Participates in Digital Operations strategic planning process. Collaborate in defining team level goals based on client requirements.
• Stay abreast of new technologies, including open source, to understand possible implementations in the data center. Provide cost effective solutions with well-articulated risks to allow for the best understanding of how to meet business needs.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Deploy and manage mission critical systems.
• Planning scalability/capacity architecture to support business growth every year.
• Make design recommendations to software and hardware projects and participate in technical reviews.
• Direct experience with managing multi site data center production environments.
• Provide 24/7 on-call operational support for Production on a rotation basis.

• Minimum 10-years progressive technology experience including at least 5 years experience leading teams in a 24x7x365 operations environment
• 10+ years of hands-on Linux support
• 5+ years of hands-on Microsoft Windows server (W2K, W2003) support
• 5+ years of systems design/architecture experience.
• Hands-on experience in implementing and supporting RHEL 4 & 5.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills including both oral and written proficiency. Must be able to present effectively to and facilitate meetings with a wide variety of audiences including senior management, business units, development teams and technology partners.
• Strong technical aptitude - operating systems, databases, network, etc. including vendor hardware
• Experienced with HP enterprise-class servers, including blade systems
• Strong experience implementing and supporting SAN and NAS technologies. NetApp and HP experience a plus.
• Expertise in administration of server services - Authentication (AD, LDAP, SSO), RHN Satellite & Proxy Servers, DNS, etc.
• Experience in large server environments (1000+)
• Ability to document and manage large infrastructure projects. A history of progressively complex project management experience is a plus.