At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and improve IT environments for software development at a top university.
- Company: Join the vibrant IT Services team at the University of Manchester.
- Benefits: Generous leave, pension scheme, well-being programme, and staff discounts.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on technology while enhancing your skills in a supportive environment.
- Qualifications: Experience in managing IT environments and strong communication skills required.
- Other info: Opportunities for learning and career growth in a dynamic setting.
The predicted salary is between 55000 - 65000 £ per year.
About IT Services
IT Services at the University of Manchester is a vibrant and fast-moving department, focusing on delivering excellent customer service and quality services for our staff, students, and researchers.
The Team
The role will be joining the Campus Technology Services division within IT Services, comprising multiple teams who support, maintain, and administer core technology functions for the University.
The Role
Based within the Technology division, the IT Environments Manager will play a critical role in building and maintaining an environment management capability for IT Services. We are looking for an experienced and proactive IT Environments Manager to lead the management, coordination, and continuous improvement of our IT environments across the software development lifecycle. This is a critical role that ensures consistency, availability, and integrity of development, testing, staging, and production environments in support of agile delivery and operational excellence. The IT Environments Manager will ensure a stable and efficient software development and testing process, helping to reduce downtime, improve security, and enhance the overall software quality.
The Person
The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:
- Proven experience in managing IT environments or infrastructure within enterprise-level IT departments.
- The ability to define and maintain the environment management strategy for the University’s IT platforms and infrastructure.
- Management of stakeholder relationships, both within IT Services and the wider University.
- Ability to lead both technical & non-technical meetings and discussions.
- Understanding of secure by design principles.
- Knowledge of security best practices and compliance standards in IT environments.
- Strong understanding of application lifecycle management and DevOps processes.
- Familiarity with cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and on-premises environments.
- Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible) and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab).
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Proactive approach to issue resolution and process improvement.
- Understanding of database management, networking, and system administration concepts.
Key Responsibilities
- Own and manage the end-to-end lifecycle of IT environments (Dev, QA, UAT, Staging, Production).
- Coordinate environment provisioning, configuration, and maintenance with internal teams and external partners.
- Collaborate closely with development, QA, DevOps, and infrastructure teams to have standard release management processes and environment readiness.
- Maintain a detailed environments schedule and forecast usage and changes.
- Monitor performance, availability, and capacity of environments; troubleshoot and resolve environment-related issues.
- Ensure environments are secure, compliant, and consistent with configuration management standards.
- Drive automation and efficiency improvements in environment provisioning and deployment pipelines.
- Create and maintain comprehensive environment documentation and knowledge base.
- Support release and deployment activities by managing environment refreshes and data masking strategies.
Desirable Qualifications / Skills
- Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
- ITIL, AWS, Azure, or other relevant certifications.
- Experience in data masking, synthetic data generation, and environment orchestration tools.
Benefits
- Generous annual leave allowance, including Christmas/New Year closure.
- Pension scheme membership to provide benefits for you and your family.
- Well-being programme with counselling, fitness, and leading sports facilities.
- Learning and development opportunities.
- Season ticket loans for public transport.
- Cycle to Work Scheme.
- Workplace nursery scheme.
- Staff recognition schemes.
- Staff discounts on a range of products and services including travel and high street savings.
Equal Opportunities Statement
As an equal opportunities employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.
Environments Manager in Manchester employer: The University of Manchester
Contact Detail:
The University of Manchester Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Environments Manager in Manchester
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to current employees at the University of Manchester through LinkedIn or other platforms. A friendly chat can give you insider info and might even lead to a referral.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for the interview by brushing up on your knowledge of environment management strategies. Be ready to discuss how you’ve tackled similar challenges in the past, especially around agile delivery and operational excellence.
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your proactive approach! During interviews, highlight specific examples where you improved processes or resolved issues in IT environments. This will demonstrate your fit for the role.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets noticed. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team at StudySmarter.
We think you need these skills to ace Environments Manager in Manchester
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience in managing IT environments. Use keywords from the job description to show that you understand what we're looking for.
Showcase Your Skills: Don’t just list your skills; provide examples of how you've used them in previous roles. Whether it's leading technical meetings or improving environment management strategies, we want to see your impact!
Be Clear and Concise: Keep your application straightforward and to the point. We appreciate clarity, so avoid jargon unless it’s relevant to the role. Make it easy for us to see why you're a great fit!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to submit your application through our website. It’s the best way to ensure it gets to the right people and helps us keep track of all applications efficiently.
How to prepare for a job interview at The University of Manchester
✨Know Your Environments Inside Out
Make sure you’re well-versed in the different IT environments mentioned in the job description. Brush up on your knowledge of development, testing, staging, and production environments. Being able to discuss how you’ve managed these in the past will show that you’re the right fit for the role.
✨Showcase Your Stakeholder Management Skills
Prepare examples of how you've successfully managed relationships with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. This is crucial for the role, so think about specific instances where your communication skills made a difference in project outcomes.
✨Demonstrate Your Proactive Approach
Be ready to share examples of how you've proactively resolved issues or improved processes in previous roles. Highlighting your problem-solving skills and your ability to drive efficiency will resonate well with the interviewers.
✨Familiarise Yourself with Relevant Tools
Brush up on your knowledge of infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform and CI/CD pipelines such as Jenkins or GitLab. Being able to discuss your experience with these tools will show that you’re technically equipped for the challenges of the role.