Technical Support Engineer- HPC

(Job Ref: 12-113, 12-115)

Summary:

The Level 3 Tech Support Engineer - HPC is responsible for defining, troubleshooting, and resolving specific issues and problems with Xyratex HPC customers and solutions. This position will be focused on post sales issues but will assist pre sales engineers as needed/requested.

Essential Job Functions & Responsibilities:
- Manage HPC customer post sales support issues from start to finish.
- Triage customer issues, determine hardware versus software, initiate proper corrective actions, and escalate when necessary.
- Focus on HPC customers and solutions using Xyratex hardware and other vendors hardware.
- Implement Xyratex Level 1 through 3 tech support processes, escalation standards, and technical troubleshooting to successfully resolve customer issues.
- Effectively combine technical expertise with customer service in the process of working toward a resolution to the customer issue.
- Ensure proper collection of data from customers to ensure proper problem diagnosis.
- Coordinate and mediate all customer support interaction for assigned accounts
- Build and sustain relationships with customers and vendors
- Manage escalations to Level 4/5 customer product engineering (CPD), ensuring issues are documented completely and are technically sound. This includes managing the communication to/from the customer from Xyratex.
- Develop, maintain, and execute test suites for HPC solutions.
- Provide feedback and input to regional and corporate management as well as a variety of cross-functional teams
- Interface with Xyratex Sales teams by assisting with various pre and post sales issues as necessary and appropriate

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
- Comprehensive understanding of storage hardware concepts (e.g. SAN, RAID, SCSI, DiskDrive, etc.)
- Comprehensive understanding of storage software concepts (e.g. Backup, File Systems, Volume Mgrs, Replication, Virtualization etc.)
- Comprehensive development server hardware knowledge (e.g. x86 architecture, CPU models, HA architectures etc)
- Comprehensive development server software/firmware knowledge (e.g. BMC, BIOS, SDR, rKVM, boot devices/options, device driver development/design)
- Comprehensive Operating System knowledge (e.g. MS, Linux, MAC etc.)
- Comprehensive knowledge of filesystems including clustered filesystems such as LUSTRE (highly desirable), GPFS (desirable), Hadoop (desirable) etc.
- Solid understanding of HPC solutions and architectures within hardware and software.
- Analytical - Synthesizes complex or diverse information; Collects and researches data; Uses intuition and experience to complement data.
- Technical Skills - Strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; Shares expertise with others.
- Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; Listens and gets clarification; Responds well to questions; Demonstrates group presentation skills.
- Team Work - Balances team and individual responsibilities; Puts success of team above own interests; Supports everyone’s efforts to succeed.
- Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; Edits work for spelling and grammar; Presents numerical data effectively.
- Business Acumen - Understands business implications of decisions; Displays orientation to profitability; Demonstrates knowledge of market and competition.
- Ethics - Treats people with respect; Inspires the trust of others; Works with integrity and ethically.
- Strategic Thinking – Develops strategies to achieve organizational goals; Understands organization's strengths & weaknesses; Analyzes market and competition.
- Innovation - Displays original thinking and creativity; Develops innovative approaches and ideas; Presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention.
- Professionalism - Approaches others in a tactful manner; Reacts well under pressure.
- Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; Applies feedback to improve performance.

Education & Experience:
- Bachelor's Computer Science or related degree
- Eight years related experience; or equivalent combination of technical education and experience
- Eight years of technical support experience, preferably in the Storage/Server and/or HPC Industry.
Environmental Conditions:
- This is a customer facing technical role, so applicant must have experience working with customers in both office and data center environments
- Ability to perform job duties from both a corporate office and remote home office, where required, be a self-starter, possess a solid work ethic and possess the ability to complete tasks in supervised and unsupervised conditions
Schedule requirements:
- Must appreciate the requirements of working in a global organization, field telephone calls from customers and Xyratex employees during and after business hours and, at a minimum, this will include wearing a company smart phone

Physical requirements:
- Able to lift and carry 40-50 pounds as necessary, travel with laptop, etc.

Travel requirements:
- Occasional domestic and international travel, at times on short notice.
- Current passport and no history of declined visas, or entry refusal to any country.