We are looking for a Perl engineer to join a small team that looks after a multitude of dynamic languages. Perl is used widely in a great variety of ways at the firm. Supporting Perl developers is an important part of the work, dealing with problems that can be very varied. 

There are also a number of in house Perl modules, that need to be developed and subsequently maintained. Maintenance of modules is exacting work, as a large number of critical systems depend on them, so good testing frameworks and source control are a must. Perforce is used for source control and the standard Perl Test::Harness and prove tools are used. 

Perl is installed centrally at Morgan Stanley in a global filesystem, accessible from all machines. This supports several different platforms, currently Solaris, Linux and Windows. Several main versions are maintained in parallel and many modules for each Perl are installed. These modules are installed in multiple versions as well, in such a way that a developer can choose which version of Perl to use with which
versions of modules.

A large legacy of installed Perl versions and modules has built up over time. Instrumenting existing components and moving customers to later versions based on usage data and developing different deployment models will be a goal for 2012. 

Installation of Perl modules has traditionally been done by the group, but will transition to a dedicated packaging group. This will mean making the automated install process transferable and helping the new install group with any technical Perl issues. 

The position is in the EAI group, which supports developers in all programming languages across the firm. The position is in the dynamic languages group that looks after Perl, Python, R, lua and Powershell. The group occasionally offers training in these languages, mostly to guide developers in firm specific approaches.

Tasks
   – improve Perl deployment at the firm
   – help developers with Perl related problems
   – develop Perl modules for internal use
   – do root-cause analysis on issues, down to Perl C and XS issues
   – help with technical problems with installing modules from CPAN

Skills Required 
Technical skills
 Required:
   Perl knowledge: references, OO, modules, regexps. Makefile. Strong Unix skills
 At least several of:
   Advanced Perl knowledge, XS, Swig, writing Perl modules, C/C++, XML, SCM (Perforce/CVS), Windows developer skill set (nmake/vc)

General skills
   – proficient in English, good in communication, dealing with both simple
     and complex queries, time and project management.