Job Description – AIX L3 Support Engineer (KSA-Based)
Role: AIX L3 Support Engineer (with Linux L2 Skills)
Location: Riyadh KSA
Experience: 7–12 Years
Shift: 24/7 Support
Environment: Highly Critical Enterprise Banking Infrastructure
Job Summary
We are seeking an experienced AIX L3 Support Engineer to support and manage a large-scale IBM Power/AIX environment. The role requires deep expertise in AIX, VIOS, HMC, Power Systems, SAN storage, and high-availability clustering, along with the ability to handle Linux L2-level tasks.
This position supports mission-critical systems with strict uptime, security, audit, and compliance requirements. The engineer must be capable of independently executing complex upgrades, migrations, DR exercises, and infrastructure transformation initiatives.
Responsibilities
AIX & Power Systems Administration
- Provide full L3 support for AIX systems including installation, patching, OS upgrades, tuning, and troubleshooting.
- Administer logical partitions (LPARs), DLPAR operations, system performance tuning, filesystem/LVM management, and capacity optimization.
- Manage and maintain high-availability environments including PowerHA clusters and replication setups.
VIOS, Virtualization & HMC Management
- Handle VIOS patching, upgrades, and virtual I/O (SEA, NPIV, vSCSI, vFC) management.
- Perform HMC software updates, release upgrades, service pack installations, and configuration standardization.
- Support virtualization activities for cross-platform teams.
Firmware & Hardware Lifecycle
- Plan and execute firmware upgrades on IBM Power Systems (Power9/Power10 or equivalent).
- Coordinate hardware activities with data center and vendor teams.
Storage & SAN Integration
- Lead SAN storage migrations across multi-vendor platforms (3PAR/Unity/IBM or equivalent).
- Perform LUN provisioning/decommissioning, zoning coordination, multipath validation, and host mappings.
- Troubleshoot storage connectivity and performance issues.
Disaster Recovery & High Availability
- Lead yearly DR exercises, performing end-to-end failover testing, environment validation, and recovery procedures.
- Support DR planning activities including system replications, fallback procedures, and post-DR readiness.
Security, Audits & Compliance
- Address OS-level vulnerabilities (CVEs), apply hardening, and maintain compliance posture.
- Support internal and external audits by preparing documentation, system evidence, and remediation activities.
Project Execution
- Participate in and lead infrastructure initiatives including:
- OS upgrades (e.g., AIX 7.2)
- Data center migrations and platform consolidation
- Storage and virtualization modernization
- Infrastructure automation or standardization
- Prepare change plans, impact assessments, test plans, rollback strategies, and execute changes with zero-defect methodology.
Linux Administration (L2 Level)
- Perform Linux L2 tasks including user management, patching, service monitoring, log analysis, cron, and basic network troubleshooting.
- Support integrated environments involving both AIX and Linux platforms.
Operational Excellence
- Conduct proactive monitoring, system health checks, and risk identification.
- Maintain accurate documentation including SOPs, build documents, DR runbooks, and configuration records.
- Coordinate with cross-functional teams and vendors to resolve incidents and deliver planned activities.
- Ensure all changes are executed with minimal downtime and high precision.
Requirements
Technical Skills
- 7–12+ years of hands-on AIX administration in an L3 role.
- Strong expertise in IBM Power Systems (Power9/Power10), VIOS, HMC, NIM, AIX 6.1/7.1/7.2.
- Proven experience with firmware upgrades, SAN migrations, DR exercises, and enterprise-scale system upgrades.
- Solid understanding of PowerHA clustering, virtualization technologies, and multipath/storage concepts.
- Linux administration capability at L2 level (RHEL/SUSE/Oracle Linux).
Process Skills
- Strong understanding of ITIL processes: Incident, Problem, and Change Management.
- Experience working in regulated environments with audit and compliance requirements.
Soft Skills
- Excellent communication and stakeholder coordination abilities.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to troubleshoot complex technical issues.
- High ownership, independence, and ability to run critical activities end-to-end.
- Willingness to support after-hours change windows and on-call rotations.
Why This Role Is Important
- Supports highly critical production environments requiring stringent uptime, performance, and compliance.
- Involves enterprise-level modernization projects such as OS upgrades, storage transitions, and data center migrations.
- Ensures resilience, security, and stability of core business systems running on IBM Power/AIX platforms.
