Data Centre Specialist

Sasso Consulting (Pty) Ltd; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 420,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Sasso Consulting (Pty) Ltd is seeking experienced Data Centre Specialists to manage, maintain and support critical data centre infrastructure in Centurion. You will ensure availability, reliability and security of enterprise servers, storage and network environments, working closely with facilities teams and external service providers.

The role emphasizes hands-on data centre operations, physical infrastructure troubleshooting and adherence to operational standards in high‑availability settings.

Qualifications

• Typically 3–5+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise data centre operations or infrastructure support.
• Proven practical experience working with physical data centre infrastructure – essential.
• Experience installing, maintaining and troubleshooting enterprise server hardware.
• Familiarity with SAN/NAS storage, fibre cabling and network equipment.
• Knowledge of UPS/PDUs, redundant power and cooling infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and maintain day‑to‑day data centre operations and infrastructure health.
• Support installation, configuration and maintenance of physical IT equipment.
• Coordinate preventative maintenance and hardware upgrades.
• Manage incidents and coordinate with vendors/service providers as required.
• Maintain accurate asset records, cabling diagrams and documentation.

Skills

Data centre operations

Infrastructure management

Hardware troubleshooting

Preventative maintenance

Incident management

High-availability environments

Vendor coordination

Security and physical access

Education

Relevant IT/Engineering qualification

Tools

Dell PowerEdge

HPE ProLiant

Lenovo ThinkSystem

Cisco UCS

iDRAC / iLO

Job description

Data Centre Specialist

Location: Centurion, Gauteng (provisional – to be confirmed)
Positions Available: 5
Salary: Market-related
Employment Type: To be confirmed

Job Overview

We are seeking experienced and technically proficient Data Centre Specialists to manage, maintain, monitor and support critical data centre infrastructure within complex enterprise IT environments.

The successful candidates will be responsible for ensuring the availability, reliability, security and operational efficiency of physical data centre infrastructure, including enterprise servers, storage systems, networking equipment, structured cabling, power distribution and environmental monitoring systems.

This role requires strong hands‑on experience in data centre operations, infrastructure installations, hardware troubleshooting, preventative maintenance, incident management and high‑availability environments.

The ideal candidates will have proven experience working within enterprise, commercial, colocation or mission‑critical data centre environments, with a solid understanding of operational standards, infrastructure redundancy, physical security and business continuity.

Candidates must be comfortable working alongside infrastructure engineers, network specialists, systems administrators, facilities teams and external service providers.

This is a specialist data centre operations role requiring substantial practical experience with physical data centre infrastructure. General desktop support or helpdesk experience alone will not be sufficient.

Key Responsibilities

Data Centre Operations and Infrastructure Management

• Monitor and maintain day‑to‑day data centre operations.
• Ensure critical infrastructure remains operational, secure and available.
• Conduct routine infrastructure inspections and operational checks.
• Support the installation, configuration and maintenance of physical IT equipment.
• Monitor infrastructure health, performance and operational alerts.
• Identify potential equipment failures and infrastructure risks.
• Coordinate preventative maintenance and infrastructure repairs.
• Support infrastructure upgrades, relocations and expansions.
• Maintain accurate operational records and technical documentation.
• Ensure compliance with approved data centre procedures and standards.

Server Hardware Installation and Maintenance

• Install, rack, stack and maintain enterprise servers and associated equipment.
• Support Dell, HPE, Lenovo, Cisco or equivalent enterprise server technologies.
• Perform hardware diagnostics, fault isolation and troubleshooting.
• Replace failed hardware components and coordinate vendor repairs.
• Support server commissioning, decommissioning and equipment relocation.
• Maintain server asset records and hardware configurations.
• Assist with firmware updates and infrastructure maintenance.
• Support remote server management technologies such as iDRAC and iLO.
• Ensure correct equipment labelling, rack placement and cable management.
• Escalate complex hardware issues to appropriate infrastructure teams.

Storage and Network Infrastructure

• Support physical storage infrastructure, including SAN and NAS equipment.
• Assist with storage hardware installation, connectivity and maintenance.
• Monitor storage hardware health and operational alerts.
• Support installation of switches, routers, firewalls and network appliances.
• Install and maintain copper and fibre‑optic cabling.
• Perform cable tracing, patching, testing and labelling.
• Maintain accurate cabling diagrams and rack layouts.
• Support network connectivity troubleshooting.
• Coordinate hardware replacement and maintenance activities.
• Collaborate with storage and network engineers on infrastructure incidents.

Power, Cooling and Environmental Monitoring

• Monitor UPS systems, PDUs and critical power infrastructure.
• Understand redundant power configurations and power distribution principles.
• Identify abnormal power conditions and elevate appropriately.
• Monitor temperature, humidity and environmental conditions.
• Support monitoring of CRAC/CRAH cooling systems.
• Identify cooling failures, environmental alarms and operational risks.
• Apply hot aisle and cold aisle management principles.
• Support power, cooling and rack capacity planning.
• Coordinate maintenance with authorised electrical and facilities specialists.
• Follow electrical safety and critical infrastructure procedures.

Infrastructure Monitoring and Incident Management

• Monitor infrastructure management systems and operational dashboards.
• Respond promptly to hardware failures and infrastructure alerts.
• Investigate equipment faults, connectivity issues and environmental incidents.
• Perform initial diagnostics and technical troubleshooting.
• Escalate incidents according to severity and operational impact.
• Support incident resolution and service restoration.
• Maintain accurate incident records and technical findings.
• Participate in root cause analysis and problem management.
• Follow agreed service levels and escalation procedures.
• Recommend preventative actions to reduce recurring incidents.

Data Centre Physical Security

• Support physical access control and restricted‑area security procedures.
• Ensure visitors, contractors and vendors follow security requirements.
• Maintain equipment movement and access records.
• Identify and report physical security risks.
• Support security audits and infrastructure inspections.
• Ensure equipment is handled, stored and disposed of securely.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity and facilities teams.
• Maintain compliance with approved security policies.

Asset Management and Documentation

• Maintain accurate data centre asset inventories.
• Record hardware installations, relocations and decommissioning.
• Develop and update rack elevation diagrams.
• Maintain equipment serial numbers, asset tags and configuration records.
• Update CMDB and infrastructure management systems.
• Document cabling, connectivity and equipment relationships.
• Maintain hardware warranty and maintenance information.
• Support infrastructure audits and asset reconciliation.

Capacity Planning and Infrastructure Optimisation

• Monitor rack space, power consumption and cooling capacity.
• Identify infrastructure capacity constraints and expansion requirements.
• Support data centre capacity planning and equipment placement.
• Assist with infrastructure refresh and technology upgrade initiatives.
• Recommend improvements to infrastructure efficiency and resilience.
• Support equipment lifecycle management.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational performance and reliability.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

• Support disaster recovery and business continuity procedures.
• Maintain operational readiness of redundant infrastructure.
• Assist with disaster recovery testing and infrastructure exercises.
• Identify potential single points of failure.
• Support recovery activities during infrastructure outages.
• Maintain recovery documentation and operational procedures.
• Collaborate with infrastructure and business continuity teams.
• Recommend improvements to data centre resilience.

Change Management and Vendor Coordination

• Perform infrastructure changes through approved change management processes.
• Support planned maintenance and hardware installations.
• Conduct pre‑change checks and post‑change validation.
• Coordinate infrastructure work with vendors and service providers.
• Manage hardware support incidents and equipment replacements.
• Maintain accurate change and maintenance records.
• Ensure vendor activities comply with operational and security requirements.
• Escalate unresolved technical issues.
• Support infrastructure procurement and equipment delivery coordination.

Operational Governance and Compliance

• Follow established data centre operational standards.
• Support infrastructure audits and compliance assessments.
• Maintain accurate operational and maintenance records.
• Apply health, safety and security procedures.
• Support ITIL incident, problem and change management practices.
• Identify operational risks and recommend improvements.
• Promote preventative maintenance and operational excellence.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of data centre procedures.

Minimum Requirements

• Relevant diploma, degree or technical qualification in Information Technology, Computer Science, Network Engineering, Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics or a related discipline.
• Typically 3–5+ years of hands‑on experience in enterprise data centre operations or infrastructure support.
• Proven practical experience working with physical data centre infrastructure – essential.
• Experience installing, maintaining and troubleshooting enterprise server hardware.
• Practical knowledge of rack‑mounted servers, storage systems and network equipment.
• Experience with rack‑and‑stack installations, structured cabling and hardware management.
• Understanding of SAN and NAS storage infrastructure.
• Knowledge of UPS systems, PDUs, redundant power and cooling infrastructure.
• Experience monitoring infrastructure health and responding to technical incidents.
• Familiarity with enterprise infrastructure monitoring or DCIM platforms.
• Understanding of high availability, disaster recovery and business continuity.
• Experience maintaining asset inventories, rack diagrams and infrastructure documentation.
• Familiarity with ITIL incident, problem and change management principles.
• Understanding of physical security and data centre operational controls.
• Strong technical troubleshooting and fault isolation abilities.
• Experience working with infrastructure teams and external service providers.
• Previous experience within enterprise, colocation, hosting or mission‑critical data centre environments.
• Willingness to participate in shift work, standby or after‑hours maintenance if required and confirmed.

Technical Skills and Competencies

Data Centre Infrastructure

• Enterprise data centre operations
• Physical infrastructure management
• High‑availability environments
• Infrastructure monitoring
• Preventative maintenance
• Equipment commissioning and decommissioning
• Data centre capacity management
• Infrastructure troubleshooting
• Operational resilience
• Critical infrastructure support

Enterprise Server Technologies

Experience with relevant technologies such as:

• Dell PowerEdge
• HPE ProLiant
• HPE Synergy
• Lenovo ThinkSystem
• Cisco UCS
• Rack‑mounted servers
• Blade servers
• Hardware diagnostics
• RAID fundamentals
• iDRAC and iLO
• Server firmware management
• Hardware lifecycle management

Storage and Networking

• Storage Area Networks (SAN)
• Network Attached Storage (NAS)
• Enterprise storage arrays
• Fibre Channel fundamentals
• Network switches and routers
• Firewalls and network appliances
• Structured copper cabling
• Fibre‑optic cabling
• Patch panels
• Cable testing and tracing
• Physical network redundancy
• Network connectivity troubleshooting

Power and Cooling Infrastructure

• Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
• Power Distribution Units (PDUs)
• Rack power distribution
• Redundant power supplies
• Critical power monitoring
• Generator infrastructure awareness
• CRAC/CRAH systems
• Temperature and humidity monitoring
• Hot aisle and cold aisle management
• Environmental monitoring
• Cooling redundancy
• Power and cooling capacity planning

Infrastructure Monitoring and Management Tools

Experience with relevant platforms such as:

• Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) systems
• Schneider Electric EcoStruxure IT
• Sunbird DCIM
• Nlyte
• Device42
• PRTG Network Monitor
• SolarWinds
• Zabbix
• Nagios
• ServiceNow
• BMC Helix
• Other enterprise infrastructure monitoring platforms

Virtualisation and Operating Systems

Working knowledge of the following would be advantageous:

• VMware vSphere
• VMware ESXi
• Microsoft Hyper‑V
• Windows Server
• Linux server environments
• Virtualisation host infrastructure
• Server operating system fundamentals
• Virtual infrastructure monitoring

Data Centre Standards and Frameworks

• Uptime Institute Tier concepts
• TIA-942 awareness
• ISO/IEC 27001 awareness
• ISO/IEC 20000 awareness
• ITIL principles
• Physical infrastructure security
• Disaster recovery
• Business continuity
• Health and safety procedures
• Infrastructure change management
• Operational risk management

Asset Management and Operational Documentation

• IT asset management
• CMDB maintenance
• Rack elevation diagrams
• Infrastructure inventories
• Equipment labelling
• Cabling documentation
• Hardware lifecycle management
• Maintenance records
• Configuration documentation
• Incident and change records

Relevant Certifications (Advantageous)

One or more of the following certifications would be beneficial:

• Certified Data Centre Professional (CDCP)
• Certified Data Centre Specialist (CDCS)
• Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE)
• Certified Data Centre Facilities Operations Manager (CDFOM)
• Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Specialist (ATS)
• CompTIA Server+
• CompTIA Network+
• CompTIA A+
• Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
• ITIL 4 Foundation
• VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
• Microsoft infrastructure certifications
• Dell, HPE, Lenovo or Cisco infrastructure certifications
• Other recognised data centre operations or infrastructure qualifications

Key Personal Attributes

• Strong technical troubleshooting and analytical abilities.
• Excellent attention to detail and operational accuracy.
• Ability to work effectively in mission‑critical environments.
• Calm and methodical approach to infrastructure incidents.
• Strong organisational and documentation skills.
• Excellent communication and teamwork abilities.
• Proactive approach to monitoring and preventative maintenance.
• Ability to follow operational procedures and safety standards.
• Strong understanding of infrastructure reliability and risk.
• Ability to work independently and manage competing priorities.
• High levels of professionalism, accountability and integrity.

Important: This is a specialist Data Centre Specialist role requiring demonstrable hands‑on experience supporting physical enterprise data centre infrastructure. General desktop support, helpdesk administration or office IT support without substantial data centre operational experience will not meet the intended specialist profile.

Please note: This is a provisional recruitment specification prepared pending confirmation of the client's detailed requirements. The preferred infrastructure technologies, minimum experience, qualifications, certifications, remuneration, employment arrangements, shift requirements and working conditions will be confirmed during the recruitment process.