ELK Stack Engineer (RTA - Network) at Onafriq

About the Role

• We are looking for a highly skilled Senior ELK Administrator/Engineer will be responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance, and optimization of our Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Beats, etc.) infrastructure.
• This individual will play a key role in centralizing log management, real-time data analysis, and creating insightful visualizations and alerts to support various teams, including operations, security, and development.
• The ideal candidate will possess deep technical expertise in the ELK Stack, strong problem-solving skills, and a proactive approach to system health and performance.

Key Responsibilities

• ELK Stack Architecture & Design: Design, implement, and maintain highly scalable, secure, and resilient ELK Stack solutions to meet the organization's monitoring and management needs.
• Installation, Configuration & Upgrades: Install, configure, and manage all components of the Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch clusters, Logstash pipelines, Kibana dashboards, Beats agents, etc.) in production and non-production environments. Plan and execute upgrades and patches to ensure the ELK Stack remains current and secure.
• Data Ingestion & Processing: Configure and manage data ingestion pipelines using Logstash, Beats, and other data shippers to efficiently collect, parse, transform, and enrich logs and metrics from diverse data sources (applications, infrastructure, security devices).
• Performance Tuning & Optimization: Proactively monitor, analyze, and optimize the performance of the ELK Stack, including Elasticsearch cluster health, indexing performance, query efficiency, and storage management. Troubleshoot and resolve performance bottlenecks and issues.
• Monitoring & Alerting: Develop and implement comprehensive monitoring strategies and alerts within Kibana and other integrated tools to provide real-time insights into system health, application performance, security events, and other critical metrics.
• Security & Access Control: Implement and enforce robust security measures within the ELK Stack, including user authentication, role-based access control (RBAC), SSL/TLS encryption, and integration with enterprise security systems.
• Troubleshooting & Support: Act as a subject matter expert for ELK-related issues, providing advanced troubleshooting and resolution for complex problems in production environments. Provide support and guidance to users across the organization leveraging the ELK Stack.
• Automation: Automate the deployment, configuration, and scaling of the ELK Stack using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools (e.g., Ansible, Terraform) and scripting languages (e.g., Python, Bash).
• Documentation: Create and maintain detailed technical documentation for ELK Stack configurations, procedures, best practices, and troubleshooting guides.
• Collaboration: Work closely with DevOps, SRE, Security, Development, and other IT teams to understand their data requirements, integrate ELK with existing systems, and provide tailored monitoring and analytical solutions.
• Capacity Planning: Conduct regular capacity planning for the ELK infrastructure to ensure it can scale to meet future data growth and performance demands.
• Innovation: Stay up-to-date with the latest ELK Stack features and trends, evaluating and recommending new technologies and best practices to enhance our monitoring and management capabilities.

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on experience designing, implementing, and managing large-scale ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, Beats) deployments in production environments.
• Deep understanding of Elasticsearch architecture, clustering, indexing, querying, and performance tuning.
• Proficiency in configuring and optimizing Logstash pipelines, including Grok parsing, filters, and output plugins.
• Extensive experience with Kibana for dashboard creation, visualizations, saved searches, and alerting.
• Strong experience with Linux/Unix system administration and shell scripting.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Ansible or Terraform.
• Familiarity with containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
• Solid understanding of networking concepts and protocols.
• Experience with security best practices for the ELK Stack, including X-Pack security features (or equivalent).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, agile environment.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with containerization (Docker) and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation).
• Participation in Agile/Scrum environments.

Why work for us

• We work at the very cutting edge of fintech in Africa.
• We solve relevant problems for Africa and the world in hope of continuing to make an impact on the millions, if not billions, of users who also believe in what we do.
• We have a very diverse work environment with over 28 nationalities represented and continually strive to build a culture of caring and execution.
• We operate a flexible working and unlimited leave policy.
• We offer a competitive salary package and bonuses.
• We prioritize the overall well-being of our staff through various initiatives aimed at ensuring they reach their full potential in a supportive environment.
• Work on high-impact products used across Africa and beyond.
• Collaborative, inclusive, and innovative engineering culture.
• Opportunities for growth, learning, and making a difference.