About the Company
Our client is a fast-growing UK managed services provider delivering complex hybrid cloud and on-premises infrastructure services across some of the most demanding managed environments in the UK. Following the award of significant public sector contracts, with more already in the pipeline, they are now building a dedicated delivery team. This is the most senior technical role in it.
About the Role
The Infrastructure Lead for a brand-new five-person managed services delivery team, built around a major government contract starting in August 2025. You are the technical authority for this team.
Reporting into the Head of Technical Services, you sit above two Senior Infrastructure Engineers and two Infrastructure Engineers. When the T2s can't resolve it, it comes to you. You'll lead major incident response, chair post-incident reviews, present complex RFCs to the Change Advisory Board, and own vendor relationships with Dell, HPE, VMware (Broadcom), and Microsoft.
This is a government client environment: highly process-driven, ITIL-heavy, structured change control with no exceptions.
A note on priorities: The single most critical requirement for this role is Linux and cloud automation depth.
The business already carries deep VMware expertise in-house. What the team needs above all else is a genuine Linux authority who can write Ansible playbooks, build Azure automation, and go deep when a Linux environment breaks. VxRail experience is useful but not the make-or-break criterion.
What You'll Be Doing
- Leading P1 and P2 incident response; delivering RCA reports within 5 business days
- Acting as the primary escalation point for Linux, cloud automation, and complex cross-platform incidents
- Managing Dell VxRail cluster lifecycle including upgrades, node expansion, and VSAN health
- Advanced VMware VCF operations: vSphere, VSAN, NSX troubleshooting, DRS/HA tuning
- Owning Veeam Backup & Replication architecture including policy design, SureBackup/SureReplica, and DR runbooks
- Managing HPE ProLiant hardware lifecycle and HPE MSA 2050 SAN administration
- Delivering monthly capacity management reports and strategic recommendations
- Preparing and presenting complex RFCs to the weekly Change Advisory Board
- Developing and maintaining PowerShell and Bash/Ansible automation
- Mentoring T1 and T2 engineers and building the team's Linux capability over time
- 1-in-5 weekly on-call as the senior technical escalation point
What We're Looking For
- 10+ years in enterprise infrastructure engineering or operations with significant managed services exposure
- Deep Linux expertise across RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, and Oracle Linux; Ansible playbook ownership at build level; strong Bash scripting
- Strong VMware knowledge: vSphere, VSAN, NSX; VxRail experience useful but not critical
- HPE ProLiant (Gen 7-10): iLO, SPP, Smart Array, MSA 2050 SAN
- ITIL change and incident management at senior level including CAB participation and RCA delivery
- Process-driven temperament with patience for government-style change control
- No "too senior to patch" attitude; all five engineers participate in patch cycles regardless of seniority
What's in it for You
- Competitive base salary and generous on-call bonus
- Manchester-based hybrid (typically 4 days/week in office), with occasional travel to the client
- Competitive on-call package with weekly retainer and additional pay per call-out
- Access to an experienced peer group including presales architects, solution engineers, and technical leadership
- Realistic paths into solution architecture or broader technical leadership for the right person
Required: VCP-DCV or VCAP; AZ-104 or equivalent
Desirable: Dell VxRail certification; HPE ASE; Veeam VMCE
A police screening check is required. Candidates must have been UK-resident for at least 3 years.
