DevOps Specialist

Description : Project Overview

The Government of Alberta (GoA) has embarked on transforming the work of government to deliver simpler, more efficient, and better services for the citizens of Alberta, thereby ensuring that the needs of Albertans are effectively met in the digital age. The Province has a strategic role within government to drive efficiencies, innovation and modernization. The Digital Design and Delivery Division (DDD) is the Province s new centre for digital delivery. It was established to maximize capability and confidence in modern digital practice by ensuring service quality and value through standards and controls. This includes utilizing human-centred design approaches together with agile methodology and modern data practices.

DDD works in partnership with GoA ministries to deliver programs that better serve Albertans.

DDD requires up to three (3) DevOps Specialist(s) to work with DDD on service innovation, program review, and digital transformation projects across the GoA. DevOps Specialists will work as part of cross-functional program review or product delivery teams. These teams, led by GoA product owners and DDD work collaboratively and collectively participate in a full range of activities including : field research; backlog definition and refinement; and sprint planning and execution. Digital transformation projects review the current state of services, identify future opportunities, and then deliver new services that are efficient, effective and affordable.

The DevOps Specialist(s) will be responsible for the management of the agile sprint process for cross-functional program review or product delivery teams. The DevOps Specialist(s) will provide leadership and mentoring in agile principles, policies, and procedures, to enable the teams to self-organize and deliver consistently on sprint deliverables. The DevOps Specialist(s) will be expected to manage communication, maximize transparency, disseminate information related to service delivery, and resolve any conflict when it arises.

Scope of Services

The DevOps Specialist(s) will be required on a full-time basis, working across two (2) to three (3) projects. Time, location and frequency of work will vary depending on the needs of the particular project. At the end of each term, it is expected that the DevOps Specialist(s) may work a maximum of 1,960 hours, unless otherwise agreed upon with the Province. However, DevOps Specialist(s) may be required to work fewer or more hours depending on the nature and needs of their work, as directed by the Province.

Services and project deliverables should evolve as the work progresses, in response to emerging user and business needs, as well as design and technical opportunities. However, the following must be delivered iteratively over the course of the project :

Create scripts, tools, and procedures for operations by designing and implementing automation for limited downtime deployment and maintenance.

Lead operations of digital services in production by :

• Managing configuration and credentials for the production environment;

Planning and managing maintenance activities; and

Managing database upgrades and migrations, backups, recoveries, etc.

Provide operations support for implementation and enhancement of digital services by :

Creating templates and patterns for application deployments and CI / CD pipelines; and

Creating scripts and tools to automate the establishment of environments for development and testing.

Creating tools, scripts and processes that will enable application teams to have better observability of the application through monitoring and telemetry tools

Support delivery teams in adopting best practices by :

Providing operations support for early and frequent integration testing, security scans, system testing, and performance and load testing; and

Providing operations support for early and frequent delivery to end-users in limited availability launches (Alphas and Betas).

The Province and the Contractor shall determine changes to Services and Materials as required. The Province and the Contractor will determine changes to Services and Materials through the Artifacts.

Location of Work

DevOps Specialist(s) will primarily work remotely; however, may be required to attend meetings or work sessions in Edmonton on reasonable notice from the Province. At the time of providing such notice, the Province will advise of the expected duration of any such meetings or work sessions. However, time to travel and any associated expenses to and from Edmonton will be at no cost to the Province.

The Province reserves the right to alter this work arrangement on reasonable notice to the DevOps Specialist(s). The Supplier and the DevOps Specialist(s) will be consulted about the alteration in work arrangement; however, the Province retains ultimate discretion as to the appropriate work arrangement.

Some travel within Alberta may be required to conduct field research and user interviews. The Province will make arrangements for travel for field research and user interview purposes where possible at no cost to the province.

Facilities

DevOps Specialist(s) shall be responsible for providing all of their equipment, including computers, software, printers, supplies, desks and chairs. However, the Province shall ensure that the DevOps Specialist(s) have the necessary access and credentials to the GoA system.

In the event that the DevOps Specialist(s) are directed to work in-person, the Province shall provide the requisite office space, furniture and office supplies. However, the DevOps Specialist(s) shall continue to be responsible for providing computers and software and the Province shall continue to ensure that the DevOps Specialist(s) have the necessary access and credentials to the GoA system.

The virtual meeting tool for the Province is Microsoft Teams. Zoom may sometimes be used when needed, however, Zoom accounts are not provided by the Province.

Criminal Records Checks

The DevOps Specialist(s) shall, at no cost to the Province, provide a current criminal record check. A DevOps Specialist may be rejected if, in the opinion of the Province, the CRC is unacceptable.

Should a DevOps Specialist be assigned to a team working for Justice, prior to performing services, the DevOps Specialist must provide the Province with an Enhanced Security Clearance. A DevOps Specialist may be rejected if, in the opinion of the Province, the ESC or equivalent is unacceptable. The Province does not receive any information specific to the reason an ESC may be rejected. Participating law enforcement agencies only identify if an applicant s clearance is not accepted.

DevOps Specialist(s) should be aware that over the course of the WO, DevOps Specialist(s) may be required to complete higher-level security clearances, such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Top Secret Clearance. Please ensure applicants are eligible to apply if required by the ministry.

Acceptance by the Province of all DevOps Specialist(s) requires written approval from the Province following acceptable security clearances.

Other Mandatory Requirements

The Supplier must provide a minimum of two (2) project examples for each candidate, showcasing their expertise in DevOps. These examples should be added to the bottom of the resume and reference the qualification by project name or section number. For each project example, the following questions must be answered. The Evaluation Team must be able to determine which project any given answer relates to. If the answer to a question is the same for both projects, this must be clearly stated.

1. Provide an overview of the project / assignment the proposed resource or their team was engaged in that demonstrates expertise in DevOps.

2. Describe the sector(s) (i.e. public, private, or other) the project / assignment served, including rough user count and team size.

3. Provide a list of specific skills, tools, and / or technologies used within the project / assignment.

4. Experience as a DevOps Specialist supporting the continuous delivery of custom-built solutions.

5. The following should be addressed to determine the resource's skillset :

a. Provide the years of experience for the following technologies :

b. Projects involving deploying apps in Hybrid cloud or Red Hat OpenShift.

c. GitHub actions and their role in the project.

d. Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools (e.g., Terraform) and their application in the project.

e. Direct involvement in building and maintaining CI / CD pipelines.

Evaluation

The evaluation criteria will be distributed within the following categories. Subject to the requirements of the Protection of Privacy Act (POPA), the evaluation of Responses shall be confidential, and not released to any party.

1. Requirements 10%

2. Other Mandatory Requirements 30%

3. Interview 50%

4. Pricing 10%

There are incumbents for 1 out of 3 positions requested. However, for this and all other opportunities, the Province seeks the best person to fill the role.

Anticipated Interview Dates : Interviews are estimated to be held between December 15 December 19.

Mandatory Training Courses :

Once hired the resource will be required to complete all mandatory training which includes but is not limited to POPA, Security / Cybersecurity, Information Management, and Respect in the Workplace. There may also be other mandatory and / or optional training.

SUBMISSION MUST INCLUDE :

ALL REQUIRED EXPERIENCE MUST BE DESCRIBED IN THE RESUME UNDER THE JOB / PROJECT WHERE EXPERIENCE WAS ATTAINED.

EACH JOB / PROJECT MUST CONTAIN THE TERM OF THE JOB / PROJECT IN THE FORMAT MMM / YYYY to MMM / YYYY.

THREE REFERENCES, FOR WHOM SIMILAR WORK HAS BEEN PERFORMED, MUST BE PROVIDED. THE MOST RECENT REFERENCE SHOULD BE LISTED FIRST. REFERENCE CHECKS MAY OR MAY NOT BE COMPLETED TO ASSIST WITH SCORING THE PROPOSED RESOURCE.

Enable Skills-Based Hiring

No

Qualification

Additional Details

Qualification

Assessment

Must Have

Soft Skills

Duration - Experience with research, analysis and problem solving

3 years

Work Experience

Duration - Experience documenting issues, solutions, and procedures

3 years

Duration - Experience with access tools like SSH Clients and Remote Desktop

3 years

Duration - Experience with basic security awareness such as secrets management...

3 years

Duration - Experience with cloud platforms, including AWS (EC2, S3, RDS), GCP (BigQuery, Cloud)...

3 years

Duration - Experience with command line interfaces for command execution and file system traversal

4 years

Duration - Experience with networking tools like DNS lookups, Trace Routes and load balancing

1 years

Duration - Experience with scripting tools, such as Powershell.

4 years

Nice to Have

Work Experience

Duration - experience as a DevOps Specialist supporting the continuous delivery of...

2 years

Duration - Experience in designing and deploying Hybrid cloud applications using Red Hat Openshift

2 years

Duration - Experience with disaster recovery testing

2 years

Duration - Experience with IaC tools (ex. Terraform)

2 years

Duration - Experience with Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 or higher.

3 years

Duration - Experience working with CI / CD pipelines in a large-scale enterprise environment.

3 years