Specialist: Solutions Support Engineer needed at The South African Revenue Service

Job Purpose

• To manage and improve a significant portion of the existing integrated SARS applications throughout their life cycle by performing complex integrated support, helps in testing, operating and improving IT services within IT User Support.

Education and Experience

Minimum Qualification & Experience Required

• Relevant Bachelor’s Degree / Advanced Diploma (NQF 7) Information Technology AND 5-7 years’ experience in IT environment, of which 2-3 years ideally at functional specialist level 

OR

• Senior Certificate (NQF 4) AND Relevant IT Qualification(s) /Certification(s) AND 5-7 years’ experience in a similar environment.

ALTERNATIVE 

• Senior IT related Certificate (NQF 4) AND 10 years IT related experience

Minimum Functional Requirements

• ITIL Certification
• Project Management certification will be an added advantage
• Togaf Certification will be an added advantage
• Cobit Certification will be an added advantage
• Demonstrate Systems Development and Support experience in a corporate environment
• Demonstrate Business/Systems analysis experience in a corporate environment
• Broad understanding of all facets of Information Technology including SDLC.
• Understanding of diverse set of technologies (including SQL Server, DB2, C#, Java, Connect Direct, Microsoft OS, Linux, ESB)
• Understanding of MQ integration

Job Outputs:

Process

• To provide expert-level support for IBM WebSphere MQ integration across SARS’s bespoke core systems, ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability of services.
• The role involves 24/7 standby responsibilities, troubleshooting complex integration issues, and participating in technical system changes during non-business hours and weekends.
• Essential skills include a strong understanding of MQ integration and support, and familiarity with technologies such as SQL Server, DB2, Java, and Linux. ITIL certification, Project Management, TOGAF, and COBIT certifications are advantageous.
• Accumulate information to review work progress that provides input to reporting, decision-making and the identification of improvement opportunities.
• Apply practical and applied knowledge and act authoritatively on methods, systems and procedures to identify trends and potential risks.
• Communication of situational interpretation and judgement of work outputs and queries in area of specialisation.
• Correctly apply policies, practices, standards, procedures and legislation in the delivery of work outputs.
• Draw on own knowledge and experience to diagnose symptoms, causes and possible effects in order to solve emerging problems.
• Initiate process and procedural change, implement the change and provide guidelines and support related to new requirements because of the change.
• Plan for value-added process improvements, initiatives and services to deliver on operational strategy and objectives.
• Execute specialist input through investigation &opportunities within the product process including risk concern.
• Provide specialist input through the investigation of opportunities for operational and process product and risk optimisation.
• To manage and improve a significant portion of the bespoke existing integrated SARS applications throughout their life cycle by performing complex integration support, helps in testing, operating and improving IT services.
• To design and monitor services, capacity & throughput for deviations from acceptable service levels or unplanned interruptions for a significant portion of existing SARS bespoke integrated applications
• To identify, track and resolve recurring incidents permanently to prevent incidents from re- occurring and ultimately aims for no incidents for a significant portion of existing SARS Integrated solutions.
• To maintain information about software & hardware configuration items required to deliver the bespoke solutions services, including their relationships with other Configuration Items to track individual configuration items and the internal configuration of bespoke applications, for a significant portion of the SARS bespoke integrated applications.
• To regularly test, the organisation’s capability to provide the necessary level of service following an interruption of service for a significant portion of SARS integrated applications in line with organisational strategy.
• To gather, analyse, store and share knowledge and information to improve efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge for a significant portion of the integrated SARS bespoke integrated applications.
• To maintain and improve the quality of service provided to the organization in line with agreed upon processes, operational level agreements and service level targets for a significant portion of the SARS integrated applications.
• To define, analyse, plan, measure and improve all aspects of the availability of IT services for a significant portion of bespoke integrated SARS applications, which is responsible for ensuring that all IT infrastructure, processes, tools, roles are appropriate for the agreed availability targets.
• To control, predict and report on the performance and capacity of operational services for a significant portion of bespoke integrated SARS applications.
• To control, predict the performance, utilization and capacity and report on capacity of individual IT components for a significant portion of bespoke integrated SARS applications.
• Ensuring that all contracts with suppliers support the needs of the business, making sure that all suppliers meet their contractual commitments for a significant portion of integrated SARS applications.
• Decide on the tactics to serve solution customers for a significant portion of the bespoke Integrated SARS applications, starting from an assessment of customer needs, determines which services to offer and what capabilities need to be developed. Its ultimate goal is to make the Technical Support think and act in a strategic manner in line with the SARS APP.

Governance

• Implement and provide input into the development of governance, compliance, integrity and ethics processes within area of specialisation.

People

• Develop and maintain productive working relationships with peers and team members to achieve predefined objectives.
• Search for, integrate and share new knowledge attained through formal and informal learning opportunities in the execution of your job.

Finance

• Adhere to organisational policies and procedures to ensure cost effectiveness and reduction of financial costs.

Client

• Contribute to a culture of service excellence, which builds positive relationships and provides opportunity for feedback and exceptional service.
• Provide authoritative, specialist services, expertise and advice to internal and external stakeholders.
• Build and maintain relationships with clients and internal and external stakeholders that promote cross-functional process delivery solutions

Behavioural competencies

• Accountability
• Attention to detail
• Building sustainability
• Commitment to continuous learning
• Conceptual Ability 
• Fairness and Transparency
• Honesty and Integrity
• Problem Solving and Analysis 
• Respect
• Trust

Technical competencies

• Business IT Systems  Reporting
• Computer Literacy  and Procedures
• Customer Relationship Management  
• Efficiency improvement  
• Functional Policies and Procedures 
• Planning and Organising  
• Problem Analysis and Judgement  
• Reporting 
• IT Knowledge 
• IT Systems 
• IT Applications 
• Reporting

Deadline:16th July,2025