Support Engineer

Role

The Support Engineer will report to the Senior Technical Officer and assist in various tasks of the in-house technical department.  Broadly, the primary responsibilities of the role include:

• Production - assembly and final testing of some products – RESPONSIBLE
• Repairs – Diagnosis and repair of returned faulty products - RESPONSIBLE
• Routine post-sales technical support – RESPONSIBLE
  • Resolving customer issues (either product failures or assistance with implementation).  The initial scope of responsibility – in terms of products covered and level of responsibility - will depend on the workload and the engineer’s skills and experience.  In principle, it includes 1st and 2nd levels of support.
  •  “2nd-line” support – resolving most customer problems, calling on 3rd-line support (expert Senior Support Engineers) for resolution of the most difficult problems, for specific product families.  By becoming expert on some products and competent to 2nd line level on others, the support engineers are available to back each other up.
  • “1st-line” support – answering support calls on the phone or via the ticketing system; ensuring the customer enjoys a high quality support experience, that the support request is handled rapidly and to a high standard through to a conclusion.  ApplianSys differentiates itself by giving customers rapid or even direct access to expert support, reducing the need for the customer to be passed through endless service “agents”.  However, for efficiency there is some filtering of support enquiries and the simpler ones will typically be routed to less experienced engineers. 
• Testing of development products – CONTRIBUTION

  Testing of products requires testing by someone other than a developer, someone who is technically competent to test the product.  In ApplianSys, this will often be carried out by a senior support engineer, but sometimes the role-holder may also carry this out, depending on their expertise and for particular products.

In addition, the role-holder can expect to carry out some pre-sales support tasks from time to time, depending on their level of fluency and the workload facing the support team.  In time, he/she may develop further in this direction, with pre-sales support becoming one of their primary responsibilities.  This would be part of their development towards a more advanced Senior Support Engineer role.

Key Tasks

• Providing first-line responses (taking phone calls, responding to online tickets), gathering relevant information and deciding on appropriate action.
• Second-line (giving technical answers) post-sales support by email, by phone.  Diagnosing faulty products, incorrect product configurations and incorrect network configurations.  Explaining how to configure and deploy the product.
• Supporting applications including DNS/DHCP/IPAM, Web Cache/Filtering, Security Vulnerability Assessment and VOIP acceleration, and new products as they are released.
• Working from our Coventry office during office hours, and potentially providing limited ‘on-call’ support at other times to key customers
• Carrying out remedial work on faulty products
• Assembly and final testing of some products
• Managing demonstration equipment and running benchmarks. 
• Testing products pre-launch
• Assist with administration of stock and logistics

Expected Profile

• Training and experience in computer science or similar, including specific study of network and internet technologies and evidence of competence in these
• Familiarity with Linux (preferred) or other Unix.  Ideally, ability to use command-line tools for day-to-day tasks, managing files and machines, carrying out diagnostic work, etc.
• Hardware – experienced in working with x86 architecture hardware.  Familiar with usual range of components, assembling, disassembling and diagnostic work.  Some understanding of what constitutes a “neat and tidy” assembly (wiring, layout, etc)
• Familiar and comfortable with networking and ideally with specific internet infrastructure technologies (eg open source applications - Apache, DNS, DHCP, Squid etc)
• Keen interest in IT, evidenced by experience beyond simply study.  Considerable practical experience working with PC hardware and operating systems, programming experience in internet technologies.  Used to learning new technologies rapidly under own guidance.
• Thorough, organised, comfortable in a multi-tasking environment.  Cope under stress and work to tight deadlines. Must have good customer focus or have the appropriate personality to develop it rapidly with suitable guidance.
• Self-starter: able to interpret outlined tasks and develop detailed approach to implementation on own initiative.  With good judgement to seek advice or approval at the appropriate times prior to implementation.
• Good communicator, with demonstrable ability to work in a customer-facing environment.

Useful

• Test suite management experience.
• Experience with rack mount servers and especially server appliances
• Languages and international experience an advantage
• Programming experience – Python, Perl, Javascript, PHP all useful

Salary

Competitive salary, performance culture - regular salary review and bonuses

Location

Coventry

Start

ASAP

How to Apply

If you believe that you have got what it takes, then contact us on +44 (0) 8454 50 51 52 or email recruitment@appliansys.com.

Background

ApplianSys is a UK-based venture capital-backed company which designs and markets server appliances – servers featuring a tailored combination of hardware and network application software to carry out one specific task in a network. 

ApplianSys is a fast-growing company. Sales of over £3m have already been achieved in 30 countries, with many sales in Europe, USA, Middle East and Africa.  It has an impressive list of blue-chip customers – eg NASA, IBM, Siemens, Warner Bros, BT, Australian Government, EDS – and thousands of devices installed in UK schools.  With international sales expanding rapidly, revenues in 2008 will be 3 times higher than in 2007.  The plan is to grow even faster in 2009.

High quality post-sales technical support is vital to maintaining customer satisfaction.  More support engineers are now needed because with rapid growth the workload is increasing and existing support engineers are moving to other roles.

ApplianSys takes existing application software – either open source or from commercial partners – and embeds it in its linux-based appliance “platform”.  Hence support engineering involves issues and requires expertise in hardware, the operating system, the core network applications on-box and the networks in which the appliances are deployed.

ApplianSys continually adds new products to its portfolio.  The aim is to offer a wide range of network solutions in appliance form.  The range currently includes DNS/DHCP, web cache, security vulnerability assessment and VOIP acceleration, with further products in the general field of WAN acceleration likely to be near the top of the list of new candidates.  So support engineers with knowledge relating to any of these applications will have a head-start.

Until recently, each support engineer has had responsibilities for all categories of support task: pre- and post-sales, simple/complex as well as in software testing and product assembly.  As the business scales and the number of engineers grows, ApplianSys is now offering opportunities to less experienced staff to being with the simpler tasks, with the scope for career progression into more advanced roles and to suit individual aptitudes and interests.

ApplianSys has its headquarters in London, with its main technical facility at the University of Warwick Science Park’s Business Innovation Centre in Coventry.  These recruits will be based there.

ApplianSys is Investors In People accredited and aims to be a best practice company.