Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer

Job Description :

We are seeking a Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer with deep technical expertise in backup, storage, and virtualisation platforms.

This role is a hands-on Subject Matter Expert (SME) responsible for designing, optimising, and supporting critical infrastructure services across onprem and hybrid cloud environments.

The successful candidate will play a key role in ensuring resilient, secure, and cost-efficient infrastructure platforms, contributing to platform roadmaps, driving automation, and supporting strategic initiatives such as virtualisation optimisation and workload migration.

Key Responsibilities :

1. Act as a technical SME for :

- Backup platforms (Veritas, Rubrik preferred)

- Storage platforms (Pure Storage, HPE)

- Virtualisation platforms (VMware and at least one alternative such as KVM or HyperV)

2. Design, implement and support backup, storage, and virtualisation solutions for business-critical workloads :

3. Deliver against platform strategy and roadmap, including :

- Optimisation of VMware environments (VCF, Telco Cloud)

- Migration of workloads away from VMware where required

4. Drive platform stability, performance, and resilience, ensuring services meet operational and availability requirements :

5. Identify and deliver cost optimisation opportunities, particularly in :

- Virtualisation licensing

- Storage utilisation

- Backup retention and architecture

6. Develop and implement automation and standardisation to improve operational efficiency :

7. Troubleshoot and resolve complex incidents and problems across infrastructure layers :

8. Collaborate closely with :

- Cloud engineering teams (Azure, GCP)

- Architecture and security teams

- Wider Infrastructure & Operations teams

9. Maintain and produce high-quality technical documentation, including :

- Platform designs

- Runbooks

- Operational procedures

- Audit and compliance artefacts

10. Participate in the on-call rota to support critical incidents :

Required Skills & Experience :

1. Strong hands-on experience in :

- Storage platforms (Pure Storage, HPE)

- Virtualisation platforms (VMware essential + KVM/HyperV desirable)

- Backup solutions (Veritas required, Rubrik highly desirable)

2. Proven experience in :

- VMware optimisation (VCF / licensing efficiency)

- Migration of workloads between virtualisation platforms

3. Experience working in hybrid environments :

- Integration of on-prem infrastructure with Azure and/or GCP

4. Solid knowledge of :

- Compute infrastructure (Cisco UCS preferred)

- Linux and Windows operating systems

- Networking fundamentals

5. Strong troubleshooting capability across complex, multi-layered infrastructure environments :

Technical Competencies :

- Deep technical expertise; recognised as a go-to SME within the team

- Ability to independently lead technical delivery of complex changes

- Experience with automation, optimisation, and platform engineering practices

- Strong understanding of high availability and resiliency design

- Strong understanding of backup and disaster recovery strategies

- Ability to contribute to design decisions in partnership with architecture teams

Behavioural & Professional Skills :

- Ownership & Accountability : Takes full responsibility for platform stability and technical outcomes

- Technical Leadership : Influences engineering direction without direct line management responsibility

- Outcome-Driven : Focuses on measurable improvements in performance, cost, and resilience

- Collaboration : Works effectively across infrastructure, cloud, security, and architecture teams

- Communication : Clearly articulates technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

- Continuous Improvement : Proactively identifies opportunities for automation, optimisation, and simplification

Preferred Qualifications :

1. Exposure to :

- Container platforms (Docker, Kubernetes)

2. Relevant certifications such as :

- VMware (VCP)

- Storage vendor certifications

- Backup technologies (Veritas / Rubrik)

- Cloud certifications (Azure / GCP)

Education & Experience :

- Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field (or equivalent experience)

- 5-8 years of hands-on experience in infrastructure engineering (storage, backup, virtualisation)

- Demonstrated experience operating at senior engineer / SME level