Specialist: Application Support

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Role Purpose/Business Unit:

To ensure an effective and efficient application support service is rendered and maintained in the DevOps & Application Operations Practices within the Commercial & Digital Channels Division.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Troubleshoot and resolve application and system issues, develop solutions, document correction process, ensure fixes are implemented and monitored.
• Perform root cause analysis for messaging, streaming and integration incidents, implementing preventative measures to reduce recurrence.
• Maintain Operational Integrity Controls (ICE) and oversee their adoption, ensuring that all relevant processes are implemented, maintained and adhered to, and that all key controls are documented and executed.
• Collaborate with development, DevOps, infrastructure and vendor teams to resolve production issues and optimise application performance.
• Develop and maintain operational runbooks, knowledge articles and support documentation for Kafka and Flink environments.
• Support platform security, access management, certificate management and compliance requirements for streaming applications.
• Provide input into capacity plans (e.g. stability, performance, storage etc) to ensure systems have resources for future growth.
• To maintain good relationships with stakeholders, business partners and suppliers.
• Monitor, troubleshoot and resolve issues relating to Kafka brokers, topics, partitions, consumer groups, connectors, schema registry and stream-processing applications.
• Support event-driven architectures by ensuring the availability, stability, performance and scalability of real-time data streaming platforms.
• Support deployment, configuration and lifecycle management of Kafka and Flink workloads across cloud-native and/or on-premises environments.
• Participate in release management, change implementation, disaster recovery testing and platform capacity planning activities.
• Provide operational support and administration of Confluent Kafka platforms and Apache Flink streaming applications across production and non-production environments.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

Essential

• Matric / Grade 12 essential
• 3-year related degree or diploma in IT, Engineering, Computer Science or other relevant field

Desirable

• AWS certifications (DevOps / SysOps)
• ITIL certifications
• Certification in Confluent Kafka, AWS, Kubernetes or OpenShift technologies.

Essential

• 3-5 years' experience in Application Operations and Production Support environment
• 2-3 years' experience supporting Confluent Kafka, Apache Flink and NIFI platforms in enterprise-scale environments
• Experience managing and troubleshooting Kafka topics, partitions, brokers, consumer groups, producers, Kafka Connect and Schema Registry components.
• Experience managing and troubleshooting Kafka topics, partitions, brokers, consumer groups, producers, Kafka Connect and Schema Registry components.
• Working in a 24/7 Application Support (standby) environment utilising various technologies.
• Exposure to Enterprise platforms (i.e. large scale) with a high availability requirement.
• Linux/Unix experience.

Desirable Experience

• Application of ITIL principles in an operational environment.
• Experience and knowledge (3+ years) of the telecommunications industry
• Experience working in a large agile environment, with multiple teams
• Experience with Confluent Cloud.

Core competencies, knowledge and experience :

• Experience supporting Enterprise IT Systems.
• Familiarity with application performance monitoring and advanced troubleshooting, including expertise in monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, AppDynamics) and performance optimization techniques.
• Strong knowledge of event-driven architecture, real-time data streaming and distributed messaging systems, including Confluent Kafka and Apache Flink.
• Understanding of streaming patterns, event processing, consumer offset management, data replication and high-availability architectures.
• In-depth understanding of application stacks, databases, middleware technologies and distributed streaming platforms, including Confluent Kafka, Kafka Connect, Schema Registry and Apache Flink.

AI and Digital Enablement

• Demonstrates the ability to effectively adopt and utilise AI-enabled tools, digital technologies and automation capabilities to improve personal productivity, quality and service delivery.
• Applies data-driven and technology-enabled approaches to solve business problems and improve operational outcomes.
  aintains awareness of emerging technology and AI trends and contributes ideas that improve processes, customer experience and operational effectiveness.
• Demonstrates AI fluency and literacy through the ability to effectively use, evaluate and govern AI-enabled tools and solutions, applying them responsibly to improve business outcomes, productivity and decision-making.
• Maintains awareness of emerging technology and AI trends and contributes ideas that improve processes, customer experience and operational effectiveness.
• Demonstrates AI fluency and literacy through the ability to effectively use, evaluate and govern AI-enabled tools and solutions, applying them responsibly to improve business outcomes, productivity and decision-making.
• Demonstrates the ability to identify, evaluate and implement technology, automation and AI opportunities that improve team performance, operational efficiency and business outcomes.
• Creates an environment that encourages innovation, experimentation, continuous learning and responsible adoption of emerging technologies.

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies

Closing date for Applications: 14 August 2026

The base location for this role is Vodacom Midrand Campus.

The company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.
Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates, and values diversity & inclusion.