Job Description

Competition # : 39908

Department: Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services

Location: HALIFAX

Type of Employment: Permanent

Union Status: NSGEU - NSPG

Closing Date: \xe2\x80\x8b27-Jul-23 \xe2\x80\x8b (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

About Us

Department of Cyber Security and Digital Solutions* (CSDS), as part of the Government of Nova Scotia, puts people first. CSDS is large, diverse, and passionate about making a difference in peoples\xe2\x80\x99 lives. We believe in user-centered iterative digital service design, and practice . Working at CSDS means you will be a part of a team of caring, compassionate, and highly skilled people whose work makes a difference through designing, continuously improving and delivering the programs and services that people need.

At CSDS, we don\'t just accept difference - we celebrate a supportive culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging!

The people who use government programs and services come from all walks of life. It is important that CSDS reflects the people that we serve \xe2\x80\x93 so we can deliver better, and more accessible, and inclusive public services. We work hard to create an environment where different perspectives and experiences are valued. We are committed to helping diverse talent thrive.

*Formerly known as the Nova Scotia Digital Service (NSDS) group, a part of the previously named Department of Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services.

Who You Are

You are passionate about people\xe2\x80\x99s service experience and want to help build solutions as well as resolve technical problems and requests over the phone, in person, and through our ticketing system. You enjoy supporting a 24/7 environment for critical services, working as part of a team, and going the extra mile to provide an amazing user experience. You thrive on supporting a diverse client base. You are flexible and available to work night shifts and on-call rotations.

You share our values of respect, integrity, diversity, accountability and the public good, have a passion for service excellence and actively promote and encourage the importance of people, teams, diversity, and culture.

What We Offer

• Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.
• Engaging workplace. Our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in. We have forward-thinking policies and strategies.
• Countless Career Paths.
• Flexible working schedules.

About Our Opportunity

As a Microsoft 365 Architect with CSDS, you will design, implement, and deliver secure services; you will provide support in a 24/7 operational environment for critical digital services supporting government and health care. You will support government departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and offices, as well as Nova Scotia Health and IWK Health. You will be a member of the Email Operations team. You will be required to work with clients with varying levels of digital literacy in determining the root cause of their problems and initiating a resolution plan. You must have the ability to use common, non-technical, business language to explain technical solutions. Other key characteristics required for this role include:

• Supporting end users in a prompt, polite and friendly manner.
• A strong initiative-taking collaborator with the ability to work independently.
• Flexibility to work after hours when required.
• Analytical thinking with strong troubleshooting skills.
• Practice good judgement and make decisions under pressure.
• Ability to remain positive and maintain confidence in own abilities.

Primary Accountabilities

CSDS is looking for a Microsoft 365 Architect, who wants to deliver on a digital technology strategy for the Province, to join the Email Operations team. We are interested in candidates who have a proven track record of using due diligence and data-driven approaches to solve problems, demonstrate objectivity and professionalism, bring a positive and can-do attitude, take ownership of activities, and communicate progress and outcomes proactively and effectively.

You will be responsible for providing subject matter expertise in email service and infrastructure. You will design, operationalize, deliver and continuously improve email service elements built around user needs with embedded protections. You will advise the organization on the gaps in the current state, solutions that fit business requirements, key architectural decisions, trade-offs and risks, and best practices for secure and sustainable service delivery. You will collaborate with clients, vendors, management and leadership to deliver on your security, technical and non-technical accountabilities.

Your responsibilities will also include the following.

• Ensure availability, security and performance of the enterprise email service.
• Capture and understand client requirements and develop solutions to meet those requirements.
• Develop design specifications for email integration with other enterprise systems.
• Represent CSDS in cross functional projects, providing analysis and recommendations on system requirements, technical architectures, resourcing, project risks, risk mitigations and timelines.
• Successfully drive projects through the various stages of the project lifecycle.
• Work on tickets (service requests, change requests, problems, incidents, etc.), consistently deliver on key performance indicators, and support clients, peers, management and leadership.
• Take ownership of operational aspects, including but not limited to investigating issues, analyzing evidence, documenting recommendations with rationale, mapping processes, creating procedures and standards, coordinating efforts, and communicating thoroughly and efficiently.
• Show initiative, provide thought leadership and work with multi-disciplinary teams to optimize, deliver and enhance a robust email service.
• Coaching and mentoring teammates and peers on new technologies and processes.
• Help create a culture of humility, learning, collaboration, ownership and results.
• Show continuous learning and knowledge update by completing or renewing agreed technical certification(s) every year as part of your performance metrics.

Qualifications and Experience

To be successful in this role, you will have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science plus a minimum of 5 years of experience, or graduation from a recognized Information Technology program, plus 5 years and 6 months experience or an acceptable equivalent combination of training and experience. You will have a minimum of 3 years of experience in architecting, planning, migrating, and maintaining Exchange on-premises, Exchange Online, and hybrid Enterprise environments.

You have completed and earned one or more of the following credentials. Evidence of completion, by way of a Microsoft transcript shared link that shows your legal name, MCID, contact email address and active certifications, is required.

• Microsoft 365 Certified: Exchange Online Support Engineer Specialty
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate
• Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert
• Microsoft Certified: Information Protection Administrator Associate

You have a demonstrable depth of experience in the following areas:

• Implementing protections against threats using security policies through Exchange Online Protection and Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
• Setting up, using, and investigating SPF, DKIM and DMARC for email authentication.
• Leveraging Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft 365 workloads, and Azure Active Directory.
• Planning, deploying, configuring, troubleshooting, and securing the email messaging infrastructure in hybrid and cloud enterprise environments.
• Managing recipients, mailboxes, transport, mail flow, auditing, administrative roles, message hygiene, threat protection, security, compliance, migrations, and client connectivity.
• Scripting with Microsoft Graph API, Exchange PowerShell, and Azure Active Directory PowerShell.
• Implementing client access servers and edge proxy servers.
• Sizing Exchange environments, capacity planning and building resilience.
• Performing disaster recovery, PST migrations, performance testing and tuning.
• Supporting e-discovery requests, troubleshooting issues related to configuration, mail flow, security, compliance, and migration, and leading incident and performance reporting.
• Advising on well-architected solutions, best practices, and email governance.
• Articulating decision-making criteria, approaches, impacts, risks and risk mitigation.
• Creating and updating architectural documents, standard operating procedures and processes.

Assets

• Experience with anti-spam appliances, mobile device management solutions, and third-party archiving solutions.
• Solid understanding of Microsoft 365 ecosystem and enterprise licensing.
• Practical understanding of authentication standards and protocols.
• Practical understanding of Windows Server operations, including installation, configuration, basic system administration and scripting.
• Experience working in a health care or public sector environment.
• Experience supporting mission critical, enterprise environments, 24 x 7 x 365.

Working Conditions

You will be required to work outside normal business hours (08:00-16:30) to provide service and be on-call to work non-traditional shifts, including weekends, to support a 24/7 critical service and environment.

Selection Process

One or more methods that include a technical assessment, oral presentation, interview(s), references, background checks, and more, can be used to assess your candidacy.

Other Considerations

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer or will result in the termination of your employment.

The Province of Nova Scotia offers a comprehensive benefits plan and pension plan as well as a positive workplace culture with work-life balance.

Pay Grade: PR 17

Salary Range: $3,091.70 - $3,631.17 Bi-Weekly

Employment Equity Statement:

Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians and Other Racially Visible Persons, Persons with Disabilities and Women in occupations or positions where they are under-represented. If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self-identify on your electronic application.

This is a bargaining unit position initially restricted to current civil service employees represented by the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU). If applying from outside a government office, employees must apply correctly via this link:

Failure to apply correctly means that your application will not be given first consideration as a bargaining unit applicant, and will only be included if external applications are pursued.

External applicants and current casual employees will only be considered if there are no qualified civil service bargaining unit candidates. PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information.

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concerns may be directed to Competitions@novascotia.ca.

Government of Nova Scotia