IT Operations Analyst - Cloud

Position Summary 

IT Ops Analysts are responsible for defining technology needs, prioritizing them in the global planning process, analyzing, submitting, and approving new initiatives.  IT Ops Analysts lead efforts to define and manage technology solutions, project initiatives, business architectures, technology objectives and strategies, and represent these to business areas and IS leadership as needed.

As a Cloud IT Operations Analyst, you will be responsible for tracking and assessing potential issues relating to applications, systems, and devices. A Cloud IT Operations Analyst will track all incoming incidents using various tools and perform trend analysis to identify key gaps in process, technology and services. The role encompasses full ITSM operational duties within cloud landscapes, featuring 1st and 2nd level troubleshooting, manual alert correlation, and swift resolution. Additionally, the analyst will perform problem analysis, uphold change governance, and adhere to established team processes. Cloud IT Operations Analysts work with other teams including vendors to create and/or improve triage steps and processes and are well versed in how Costco Cloud systems are integrated and/or aligned.

*Pay based on experience

Job Duties/Essential Functions

• Contributes effectively in business transformation, change management, and overall governance of solution implementation. 

• Consults on industry technology, trends, and capabilities; researching industry standards, best practices, and new innovations in technology and service delivery.

• Develops frameworks to govern global change and directs and supports global delivery teams to balance project priorities and trade-off decisions.

• Oversees, coordinates, and assists in the management of all facets of delivery efforts to ensure milestones and deliverables are met.

• Monitors all incoming incidents using various tools and quickly performs actions based on documentation and established processes.

• Analyzes and determines operational process gaps while using correlation to understand how different types of systems integrate together.

• Researches, troubleshoots, documents, escalates, or resolves 1st and 2nd level issues. 

• Adheres to team Service Level Agreements (SLAs) by creating, triaging, escalating, and closing incidents in a timely manner. 

• Creates and edits Knowledge Base articles, team runbooks, the team websites, and other technical documentation. 

• Provides subject matter expertise (SME) input on cloud processes and/or triage tools used by the team. 

• Evaluates the impact of services or other production changes, project tasks, and downtime notifications to validate alerts. 

• Participates in critical incident bridge calls during major incidents. 

• Proficient and up to date on all procedures performed on day and night shifts

• Creates training material and trains new and existing team members and provides mentorship and support to peers.

• Creates and maintains team processes and automation scripts. 

• Identifies and resolves problems, often anticipating issues before they occur or before they grow; develops and evaluates options and implements solutions to reduce the escalation of issues. 

• Identifies monitoring opportunities or correlation rules based on monitoring, application, or incident observations. 

• Adheres to incident, problem, knowledge, and event management procedures. 

• Leads projects using Agile frameworks and is responsible for ensuring deadlines are met and roadblocks are eliminated. 

• Identifies and tracks project tasks, issues and dependencies, ensures follow-through, communication and appropriate actions are taken by the due date. 

• Describes tasks, procedural steps, organizations/people involved, required input/output information, processes, and tools needed for each step in a process.

• Supports and maintains effective relationships across teams, working closely with peers to ensure the appropriate focus and sense of urgency is applied to all issues.  

• Articulates technical issues or instructions to those that are not technical. 

• Communicates effectively with peers and stakeholders while making critical judgments in support of the business. 

• Develops a comprehensive understanding of the applications and infrastructure within the cloud environment and how they impact employees or members. 

• Stays informed of production changes to determine the impact of alerts, applications or device functionality.

• Coordinates across teams, collaborating closely with peers to ensure the appropriate focus and sense of urgency is applied to all issues. 

• Troubleshoots, reproduces, and documents issues and other pertinent information in Incidents. 

• Uses technical writing skills to create and maintain Knowledge Base articles, runbooks and SOPs. 

• Handles incident queues and performs various tasks, and determines business impact according to ITIL Incident Management guidelines. 

• Handles ad hoc requests and completes frequent required training and adapts to changing procedures as required to support the business. 

• Participates in the ongoing process of investigating, troubleshooting, and providing resolution to technical issues during extended shift hours in a 24x7x365 environment.

• Regular and reliable workplace attendance at your assigned location.

Ability to operate vehicles, equipment or machinery.

• Computer, phone, printer, copier, fax

Non-Essential Functions

• Assists in other areas of the department as necessary.

• Assists in other areas of the company as necessary.

Ability to operate vehicles, equipment or machinery.

• Same as Essential Functions

Experience, Skills, Education & Licenses/Certifications

Required:

• Experience in technology solutions and/or Costco business experience.

• Develops and presents a business case document and/or presentation to management. Must be familiar with a broad set of technologies and solutions currently in use at Costco.  

• Demonstrates ability to work independently and with limited supervision.

• Strong abstraction skills - ability to derive general rules and concepts from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal signifiers, and first principles.

• Good understanding of Corporate IT policies, procedures and standards.

• Strong communication skills – able to speak to large audiences and to leaders at all levels of the organization. Able to adapt vocabulary and style for each situation; able to represent complex ideas with effective documents and visuals and to adapt presentations to the expectations and background of the audience

• Extremely responsive, with a strong sense of urgency.

• Minimum 5+ years’ experience in a 24x7x365 Operations-Style environment, responsible for troubleshooting networking devices, server issues, and large-scale business critical applications .

• Minimum 3+ years’ experience with ITIL processes including: Incident, Problem, Change, and Knowledge Management; must have experience creating and handling critical incidents. 

• Proficient in troubleshooting and analysis of network, applications, systems, and device issues.

• Ability to work independently or collaborate with others in an intense and dynamic work environment. 

• Attention to detail, maintains high quality work while handling a large volume of alerts; is able to multitask in a fast-paced 

• environment. 

• Experienced in professional written and oral communications, including technical writing, phone etiquette, and customer service skills. 

• Process-oriented; understands the organizational benefits of processes and the need for compliance. 

• Suggests or implements improvements to team processes and procedures. 

• Shows initiative and has a strong desire to share knowledge with others. 

• Experience mentoring and training coworkers on new or changed procedures. 

• Identifies and tracks project issues and dependencies, ensures follow-through and appropriate actions are taken to complete the project on time. 

• *Scheduling flexibility to meet the needs of the business (rotating schedule 4-10-hour shifts) including days, evenings, weekends, and holidays.

• ITIL Foundations Certification.

Recommended: 

• Degree in Computer Science (or a related technical field) or equivalent relevant work experience.

• Experience triaging issues with servers, web services, networking devices

• Network+ and Security+ certifications or currently working towards certification. 

• Remains calm in high stress situations such as handling alert storms and business critical issues. 

• Basic understanding of cloud monitoring and alerting of: Application health, system availability, latency, performance, and end-to-end monitoring. 

• Working knowledge of various applications, network monitoring, and alerting software. 

• Basic knowledge of scripting languages, including Javascript, Google Apps Scripting, HTML, and Splunk Search Processing Language (SPL).

• 2+ years’ experience with the following:

  • CARTs+ (ServiceNow) 

  • BI Technologies - PowerBI, Cognos, Tableau, Alteryx and Web Intelligence 

  • ETL Processes including Informatica ETL and IICS 

  • Database management systems such as Azure Synapse, Oracle and MS SQL 

  • Scripting experience (PowerShell, Bash, Google Apps, Javascript, HTML, Python, etc.) 

  • Costco’s core business environment related to Merchandising, Warehouse Operations, and company philosophies. 

• Google Certification (ACE, Google Cloud Professional Cloud Network Engineer) and/or Azure Certification (AZ900/104) or working towards certification

• Experience with negotiating and managing supplier contracts. 

• Able to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate information with attention to detail and accuracy.

• Proficient in Google Workspace applications, including Sheets, Docs, Slides, and Gmail.
   

Other Conditions

• Management will review the Job Analysis for this position prior to a job offer.

Required Documents

●      Cover Letter

●      Resume

●      Last two performance reviews

●      Attendance records for current year (Do not include absences covered by paid sick/personal time,

        FMLA or other protected absences.)

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