Operations Engineer (contract role)

Company
ShopWell is a venture-backed spin-off of IDEO, the global design consultancy (www.ideo.com). The company is developing a new service around food and nutrition, based in Palo Alto, California, and currently operating in “stealth” mode.

Role
We're building the first version of a new software application and have not yet identified or built the production environment. This is an opportunity for an Operations Engineer to build production in the cloud from scratch, including automated deployment and monitoring capabilities. The initial phase would be to get it up and running, followed by maintenance.

Responsibilities:

• Build and run the highly-scalable and available web application infrastructure
• Implement the infrastructure (networking, storage and servers) to support the production web operations
• Implement the technical solutions to deliver scalability, performance, availability and manageability
• Execute process and tools to monitor the web operations, and quick problem resolution
• Juggle multiple priorities, work well under pressure in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, and possess a high level of flexibility

Requirements:

• Experience with running a production consumer web application using cloud computing technologies like Amazon EC2 and S3.
• 5+ years in web and hosted software operations
• Strong experience with Linux administration and configuration.
• Experience managing a Java-based web app (Grails exp a plus)
• MySQL Database maintenance and administration
• Solid knowledge of network design
• Solid scripting and automation capabilities particularly around software deployment
• Good understanding of security from system to application.
• Good system monitoring and management skills.
• Sense of ownership and ability to take quick action when necessary.
• Creative problem solver with flexibility to work in a start-up environment.
• BS degree in Computer Science or related field.

This contract may be fulltime for the first month, then part time thereafter. Start ASAP.