Technology is the engine providing digital experiences for National Geographic Society. From our staff to our constituents, Technology provides the power to amplify National Geographic’s impact through value-based product delivery, transformational data services, and world-class support and infrastructure services. These services include employee training and technical support, audio/visual production, device management, enterprise architecture, network management, on-premise and cloud computing, information security, identity management, data management and integration, product management, user experience design, software development, systems engineering, and systems administration. Technology is comprised of five teams: Business Products, Constituent Products, Data Products, Infrastructure & Security, and Technology Support Services.

How You’ll Contribute
The GIS Platform Datastore Manager supports the GIS Platform Director to implement the design, operation, and maintenance of the National Geographic Society’s GIS Platform, both on-premise and in the cloud. The GIS Platform Datastore Manager will collaborate with the GIS Platform Director in planning and executing GIS Platform upgrades as well as activities oriented to tracking and reporting usage of cloud resources by business unit or program that utilizes GIS services. The GIS Platform Datastore Manager reports to the GIS Platform Director within the Technology team.

The GIS Platform Datastore Manager works closely with the Geographic Services team, and the rest of the Technology team to implement technology solutions, ensuring a high level of user adoption/satisfaction through effective use of IT best practices followed by the Society.

The GIS Platform Datastore Manager will support the GIS Platform Director in defining KPIs and tracking other metrics to evaluate the health and performance of the GIS data storage infrastructure, identify defects, efficiencies, enhancements, and ensure a cycle of continuous improvement.

• Support the on-going development and implementation of the GIS Platform including data storage architecture, roadmap, and project plans, under the direction of the GIS Platform Director.
• Participate in implementing GIS governance policies with other members of the Technology and Geographic Services teams across all GIS Platform products.
• Contribute to executing plans to incorporate policies and procedures into daily operations and systems design.

• Monitor software with System Monitoring tools to address performance issues or hardware over-utilization, track usage trends, and identify errors.
• Work with other Technology teams to automate the installation and configuration of GIS data store components.
• Support the development and maintenance of operational documentation including standard operating procedures.

• Support collaboration between Technology, Geographic Services, NGP Map teams and other sections that consume NGS GIS technologies.
• Participate in activities oriented to get additional support or consulting services when necessary.
• Recommend and track KPIs and metrics that can be used to evaluate the Platform’s health and performance, identify defects, efficiencies, enhancements, and ensure a cycle of continuous improvement.

• Administer virtual servers and other cloud infrastructure on Linux (for ArcGIS for Server implementations, Portal for ArcGIS and RDBMS) and Windows (for Desktop Users and also Server/Portal/RDBMS if so configured).
• Ensure all engineering implementations are sufficiently documented and all engineering documentation is up-to-date.
• Participate in the planning, development, testing, and deployment of geospatial infrastructure and platform projects aimed at enhancing Platform functionality.
• Working closely with the Architect and Product teams to ensure the data model is effectively supporting the business, and working closely with all business units to develop an in-depth understanding of their critical data needs for the GIS Platform.

• Support a data-driven, DevOps culture within Technology Infrastructure.
• Contribute to developing, and implementing a uniform GIS information architecture.
• Implement COTS tools to audit GIS environments (servers, files, services) for security issues, performance issues, or misconfigurations.
• Contribute when needed to develop and implement programmatic workflows to support the functions of the GIS platform.
• Help implement and configure tools to monitor operational data storage use trends and developments to anticipate change, minimize risk, and identify opportunities for growth.

• Familiarity with best technology practices for geodatabase design to isolated environments for different stages of product development.
• Strong command of GIS concepts and practice, and strong experience in Esri ArcGIS Enterprise, core products and extensions, as well as ArcGIS Online.
• Working knowledge of geodatabase configuration and management for ArcGIS software. SDE installation and connectivity using PostgreSQL instances in Linux servers.
• Monitor geodatabases performance and capacity.
• Recommends measures to improve efficiency and security in data and spatial data management.
• Understanding of HTTP and REST combined with experience securing and monitoring web services.
• Experience in database roles setup and administration, maintenance, and troubleshooting.
• Experience interpreting system logs, in particular related to ArcGIS Enterprise processes.
• Working knowledge of SQL, PL/pgsql.
• Design, implement, operate, maintain, and repair geodatabases and data stores.
• Working knowledge of datastore configuration in ArcGIS Enterprise architectures.

• Designing, implementing, and operating cloud-based data storage solutions that leverage an infrastructure-as-a-service provider such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure.

• Designing and visualizing system architectures from different points of view using different UML 2 diagrams.

• IT service management concepts and processes as well as knowledge of DevOps practices.

• Familiarity with Agile and Kanban or Scrum methodologies for software and product development to be able to collaborate effectively in multiple projects to a successful conclusion.

• Active listening skills combined with strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Experience working in distributed teams of different technology and professional backgrounds. Be able to align mission and business goals with everyday tasks.

• Writing Linux bash scripts for production workflows.
• Working knowledge of GitLab (preferably) or GitHub in team settings.
• Writing scripts and modules using Python in a production environment, including the use of ArcGIS Python API libraries and Jupyter Notebooks.

Remote - Our Remote designation continues to require that staff work in another location in the U.S. or abroad, such as our regional leads for our Education and International teams or regional fundraisers in Advancement. Staff may also be designated as Remote by their supervisors (with approval by the Senior Team lead) because of their duties or personal circumstances, and are afforded this status when it is beneficial to NGS, their respective team, and the employee.