Canadian National Railway Hiring for Expert Solution Architect – Observability Full Time

At CN, we work together to move our company—and North America—forward. Be part of our Information & Technology (I&T) team, a critical piece of the engine that keeps us in motion. From enterprise architecture to operational technology, our teams use the agile methodology to automate and digitize our railroad ensuring our operations run optimally and safely and our employees can focus on value-added tasks. You will be able to develop your skills and career in our close-knit, safety-focused culture working together as ONE TEAM. The careers we offer are meaningful because the work we do matters. Join us!

Job Summary

The arole of Expert Solution Architect Observability is to define and recommend sound IT observability architectures that will support the business needs and align with CN direction and standards. This includes collaborate with enterprise architects and other solution architects, providing direction in the delivery of the solution to designers & integrators. More precisely, the role builds the solution, gets approval from other stakeholders (e.g. security, RAM, Safety, etc.), drives alignment of the proposed solution with the Enterprise & Domain strategies and roadmaps, manages risk mitigation, and as required handles issue escalation & resolution related to the architecture. The Expert signs off on architectures where they have the delegation authority and governs the implementation of the architecture during the design phase.

Main Responsibilities

Review, understand and evaluate business requests to determine feasibility, impacts, risks and recommendations

Drive modern observability platform that covers Cloud-native and hybrid applications, cloud and on-premises infrastructure, network, platforms

Establish unified telemetry and logging capabilities for developers and support teams

Incorporate observability best practices into service management framework

Collaborate with System Architecture in shaping, scoping, defining, planning and reviewing solutions

Provide direction to and align specialized architects in project engagements, ensuring proposed solutions meets business needs and are aligned with (or properly exempted from) corporate standards

Present and drive sign-off on the technology solutions

Manage architectural risk mitigations, issue escalation, and resolution processes

Document the existing technology portfolio and propose recommendations for improvements and / or alternatives

Evaluate current and emerging cloud and infrastructure technologies

Create, support, and influence pragmatic architectural oversight, using principles, policies, and guardrails

Design solutions that are modular and can be replicated and look for replication opportunities for solution being developed.

Support other Solution Architects

REQUIREMENTS

Bachelor degree or more in computer science or related discipline.

10+ years experience in IT

5+ years in similar role

Strong ability to bring complex concepts to actionable architecture deliverables

Strong ability at taking hard decisions by understanding and explaining trade-offs between business enablement and economics impacts

The role requires people skills to influence and orient business and technical audience toward a common goal that is satisfying all stakeholders

Very good ability to build collaborative cross functional relationships, pulling together and maintaining a cohesive and high functioning team

Strong ability to lead team on a mandate and to lead decisions

Ability to balance requirements and concerns from different stakeholders (business, finance, IT, etc.) and make efficient judgement calls, providing clear rationale for decisions

Ability to deliver mandate with great autonomy – self-driven

Ability to influence and orient business and technical audiences toward common goals and approaches

Ability to efficiently communicate with people of varying seniority and backgrounds

Ability to collaborate with and guide external development/configuration partners

Capacity to engage on multiple concurrent initiatives efficiently

Curious and interested in acquiring knowledge over multiple new architecture concepts, business domains and technologies

Capacity to perform with little or no prior knowledge of a project context, domain, or technologies

Experience with numerous architectural fields: application, information, technology, security, etc.

Excellent written and oral communications skills

Experience and ability to coach other solution architects on new technology platforms and approaches.

Knowledge of Service Management tools eco-system (events, alerts, workflow, dashboards, monitoring & observability)

SKILLS & EXPERIENCES

In depth knowledge of cloud-based infrastructure solutions and services

Extensive experience in APM, logging and cache technologies

Knowledge of on-prem infrastructure solutions; data centers, compute, and storage

Preferred with certification(s) on Azure and/or Google Cloud Platform

Experience with platform-based architecture

Experience with IT transformational initiatives

Experience with cloud first paradigm shift

Experience in program & project scoping and planning

Experience with integration between legacy solutions

Familiarity with standard IT security practices such as encryption, certificates, and key management.

Preferred with certification(s) for ITIL concepts as a plus.

Experience with full application lifecycle management

Knowledge of Archimate or UML modeling

Transportation or rail related experience a plus

TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS IN SCOPE

Cloud (Azure, Google Cloud Platform), Azure Data Explorer (ADX), Google Operations Suite, Virtual Servers, Windows Server, Linux Server, Storage, Backup, Netezza, ServiceNow, Kafka, Container Management (Anthos), Kubernetes, API platforms, Data Lake, Mobile Backend as a Service, Notification solutions, Access Management, Dynatrace, Syslog

About CN

CN is a world-class transportation leader and trade-enabler. Essential to the economy, to the customers, and to the communities it serves, CN safely transports more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year. As the only railroad connecting Canada’s Eastern and Western coasts with the Southern tip of the U.S. through a 19,500 mile rail network, CN and its affiliates have been contributing to community prosperity and sustainable trade since 1919. CN is committed to programs supporting social responsibility and environmental stewardship. At CN, we work as ONE TEAM, focused on safety, sustainability and our customers, providing operational and supply chain excellence to deliver results.

CN requires that all employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide proof thereof as a condition of employment. The Company’s vaccination mandate extends to employees of our wholly owned subsidiaries as well as CN’s contractors, consultants, agents and suppliers and anyone who accesses CN properties in Canada.

CN is an employment equity employer and we encourage all qualified candidates to apply. We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates under consideration will be contacted. Please monitor your email on a regular basis, as communication is primarily made through email.