Lead/Principal DevOps Support Engineer (m/f/d)

ZONTAL offers the leading data platform for the life science industry. We make digital transformation a reality as we deliver game changing solutions to some of the most complex enterprises. We reduce IT overhead, enable AI/ML applications, optimize time-to-market, and increase compliance.

ZONTAL has offices in the US, Europe and Asia. Together with our integration and service partners, ZONTAL supports our customers globally, in any country and any time zone.

This position is based in Aachen (Germany) and can also be fulfilled in a remote/hybrid model.

YOUR TASKS:

ZONTAL is seeking an experienced Lead/Principal DevOps Support Engineer to lead the cloud operations team and manage related activities. You are a player/coach who thrives in a start-up environment, leading and growing a small team. You have hands-on experience in the AWS service stack. You have experience proactively building robust cloud management processes, while also continuously seeking and integrating customer input for improved outcomes.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Cloud Operations & Platform Reliability

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives in cloud operations (automation, monitoring, reporting)
• Support the health, stability, and performance of AWS-based production environments
• Monitor and meet/exceed customer SLAs using data and KPIs
• Manage escalations, incident response, and root cause analysis (RCA/CAPA)
• Work with R+D team on disaster recovery and business continuity planning/testing

Change, Release, and Incident Management

• Serve as gatekeeper for change management, ensuring quality and readiness of all deployments.
• Manage high-impact incidents and coordinate cross-functional resolution bridges.
• Track and report on SLA adherence, system performance, and operational risks.

IT Service Management & ITIL Practices

• Oversee service desk operations and support workflows (Levels 2 & 3)
• Drive adoption of ITIL best practices across the organization
• Improve response/resolution times and enhance service visibility/manageability

Customer Advocacy & Cross-Functional Alignment

• Act as a customer advocate across internal teams (engineering, execs, sales, support)
• Lead customer performance reviews and ensure alignment on priorities, impact, and urgency
• Provide reporting and feedback to ensure a voice of the customer is embedded in operations

Leadership & Team Management

• Manage and mentor support team (L2/L3)
• Balance multiple tasks, self-prioritize, and work independently
• Lead Agile collaboration across teams for design and delivery of AWS solutions

Technical Expertise & Solution Architecture

• Implement best practices of cloud technologies and particularly AWS services (EC2, S3, IAM, Lambda, RDS, DynamoDB, EKS, etc.)
• Partner with architects/devs to build scalable, observable, and automated cloud platforms
• Implement best practices in container design, platform observability, and supportability

YOUR BACKGROUND:

Education and Experience

• 4+ years prior management/supervisory experience
• 7+ year degree in Information Systems or equivalent work experience.
• 4+ years of experience with AWS Cloud Solutions including monitoring/observability.
• 4+ years’ experience with ITSM tools, implementation and practices such as ServiceNow and JIRA Service Management.
• Experience in the Life Sciences space is desirable, but not explicitly necessary. Laboratory and Clinical Data experience are big pluses.
• 1+ years of experience with CI/CD solutions, including Ansible, Terraform, Docker, GitOps, etc.
• 1+ years of experience with network/server configuration for automated software deployment
• Excellent troubleshooting skills across technology types, layers and with integrations and data issues.

Additional Eligibility Requirements:

• Strong experience with systems, IT operations, process improvement and best practices of the same.
• ITIL Certification highly desired and expertise is mandatory.
• Comfort with frequent, incremental code testing and deployment.
• Comfort with collaboration, open communication and reaching across functional borders.
• Willing and able to help define and improve lifecycle processes.
• Ability to handle difficult customer issues and situations and possess strong collaboration and conflict resolution skills.
• Adherence to policies, procedures and documentation standards.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with an ability to go deep technically yet be able to deliver communications concisely and effectively to various audience levels and types.
• Located in Germany

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all qualified candidates.