Lead Infrastructure Engineer in Birmingham

Main Purpose of the role

The Lead Infrastructure Engineer is the senior technical authority within the infrastructure function, responsible for defining technical standards, assuring solution design, and leading the delivery of complex changes while remaining hands-on. The role will provide deep technical expertise and leadership while being responsible for the guidance and management of one other team member. The successful candidate will shape the technical direction of the infrastructure estate, ensuring performance, security, resilience and scalability across all Ishida Europe environments. This includes LAN/WAN, server platforms, hybrid cloud services, storage, virtualisation, cybersecurity controls, and enterprise applications. The postholder acts as the final technical escalation point for major incidents, supports project delivery, ensures infrastructure is secure-by-design, and elevates engineering capability across the team. The role will be responsible for the line management of one team member, encompassing performance management, delivery of objectives, ongoing training and skills development, structured knowledge transfer, career growth, and the provision of regular coaching, feedback, and support.

Primary Responsibilities

• Technical Authority & Architecture Direction
  • Act as technical authority for all infrastructure services, patterns and standards.
  • Define, maintain, and communicate reference architectures and engineering best practices.
  • Translate high-level requirements into detailed technical designs.
  • Review, challenge and assure designs produced by engineers and partners.
  • Make technology recommendations aligned to business needs, security, and lifecycle strategy.
• Complex Delivery & Escalation
  • Lead delivery of complex, high-risk or cross-platform infrastructure changes.
  • Act as final technical escalation point for infrastructure and enterprise platform issues.
  • Troubleshoot systemic performance, reliability and interoperability issues.
  • Support major incident management, service restoration and root-cause analysis.
• Technical Leadership of Engineers
  • Provide day-to-day technical leadership, coaching and mentoring to engineers.
  • Set technical direction and priorities for infrastructure workstreams.
  • Review work quality, ensuring adherence to engineering standards.
  • Drive knowledge-sharing, capability development and improved operational maturity.
  • Responsible for at least one other team member.
  • Implement and maintain hardening standards, security baselines and technical controls.
  • Lead vulnerability remediation across infrastructure platforms.
  • Work closely with security teams to meet compliance requirements (e.g., ISO27001, GDPR, NIS2, Cyber Essentials).
  • Lead infrastructure workstreams in major projects and transformation programmes.
  • Coordinate technical delivery across internal teams and external suppliers.
  • Ensure changes are implemented safely, reliably and documented effectively.
  • Support service transition, handover and operational readiness.
• Documentation, Standards & Knowledge Management
  • Own and maintain core infrastructure documentation and diagrams.
  • Create and maintain operational procedures, runbooks and support documentation.
  • Standardise repeatable processes to reduce fragility and reliance on individuals.
• General Responsibilities
  • Provide 3rd-line technical escalation to the IT Support Team.
  • Support Ishida Europe offices across EMEA; travel will be required.
  • Work closely with WAN providers, hardware vendors and cloud partners.
  • Support other areas of the business where required.
  • Undertake additional responsibilities and projects to meet evolving business needs.
  • Work overtime and outside usual business hours where required.
  • Promote and uphold company values in all interactions.
  • Take reasonable care of own health and safety and that of others.

What skills are we looking for?

The successful candidate must have a Level 3 IT qualification or equivalent experience, supported by certifications in VMware, Veeam, Microsoft, Fortinet, ITIL, and Networking. You must demonstrate strong technical leadership with the ability to mentor and coach others, manage time effectively, and lead technical delivery. The role requires advanced troubleshooting, triage, and root cause analysis skills, alongside strong technical design and documentation capabilities, must be experienced in Microsoft Active Directory and Group Policy, LAN/WAN networking, firewalls and VPNs, WiFi configuration and control, Windows Server 2019–2022, VMware vSphere 8.0, enterprise servers and storage (including SAN and hybrid cloud), SQL Server administration, VoIP telephony, endpoint protection, disaster recovery, and secure-by-design engineering with an automation mindset. The ideal candidate must have proven experience delivering virtualisation and hybrid cloud solutions, including Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, as well as cloud backup and mirror site recovery solutions. They will have a strong understanding of cyber security, including cyber frameworks and standards, and demonstrate excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities. The ideal candidate will be able to operate as the highest technical authority while working collaboratively within project teams, communicate effectively at all organisational levels, and remain flexible and adaptable, including international travel when required. They will be highly self-motivated, organised, and professional, committed to continuous improvement, engineering excellence, security, reliability, and operational excellence, while showing ownership, creativity, and pride in delivering high-quality outcomes, working well under pressure, and fostering teamwork and knowledge sharing across the IT department.