Cloud Infrastructure Engineer

Xps Group; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent consultancy firm is seeking a Cloud Infrastructure Engineer to support its Azure based Pension Administration system. This role involves server maintenance, monitoring, and business critical application support. Candidates should have strong Azure and SQL skills along with a passion for technology. This position offers a competitive salary and flexible benefits in Reading, UK.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Annual discretionary bonus

25 days’ holiday

Pension matching

Healthcare plans

Life assurance

Retailer discounts

Flexible benefits scheme

Paid volunteer days

Qualifications

• Previous working experience in a similar Cloud Infrastructure Engineer role.
• Ability to think on your feet and research solutions.
• Passion for technology with an aim to grow into a mature infrastructure role.

Responsibilities

• Support the infrastructure around the Azure based Pension Administration system.
• Ensure all servers are patched and conduct monthly patching.
• Business critical application support for XPS Radar.

Skills

Strong Azure skills

SQL database experience

Strong Microsoft Windows skills

Virtualisation skills with Hyper-V

Excellent communication skills

Scripting (Powershell / Terraform)

Education

IT-related qualification (e.g., National Diploma, HND, degree)

Azure, MCP / MCSA / MCSE or CCNA certification

Tools

Active Directory

Dell PowerEdge servers

Compellent SAN

Job description

Responsibilities

• Support the Infrastructure around the Azure based Pension Administration system.
• Ensure all servers are in monitoring and the monitoring is fit for purpose.
• Respond to monitoring alerts.
• Ensure all servers are patched and conduct monthly patching.
• Perform maintenance on all virtual servers, set‑up maintenance plans and proactive monitoring.
• Keep CMDB database up to date and update capacity planning spreadsheet.
• Ensure all servers are backed up, check daily for backup failures and resolve.
• Monitor certificate expiry and update certificates.
• Test that file restore, server restores and network failover test are successful.
• Business critical application support (XPS Radar) which runs on IIS, SQL, SSL certificates and Windows server. This is hosted in Azure.
• Networking, SD‑WAN, switches, routers, firewalls, load balancer and SonicWALL VPN.
• The XPS IT strategy is cloud first, more systems will be moving into the cloud over time.
• Design, advanced support and monitoring of the Azure environment, Office 365, OneDrive, SharePoint Online, Power Automate, Power BI, Intune, MFA and Teams support.
• ADFS, SAML, WAP, Web servers.
• Managing mail flow, Office 365 and Mimecast.
• DRaaS and BaaS with Zerto and Comm Vault (work with existing third party).
• Perform DR test with DRaaS provider based on the annual DR testing schedule.
• Test backups work on a regular basis.
• Provide data for auditors.
• Azure, Storage accounts, management / deployment of Azure resources.
• Scripting (Powershell / Terraform).

Requirements

• Any employment offer made will be conditional upon you satisfying DBS Disclosure checks, Employment or educational references, Satisfactory credit checks and eligibility to work in the UK before an offer can be made. XPS Group is not able to provide sponsorship to employees.
• Previous working experience in a similar Cloud Infrastructure Engineer role or similar.
• SQL database experience.
• Strong Microsoft Windows skills.
• Virtualisation skills with Hyper‑V.
• The ability to think on your feet. Where there is no solution, research the problem and update the ticket / knowledgebase.
• Strong Azure, O365, Intune, Authentication skills.
• Well‑presented and good communication skills.
• A passion for technology with an aim to grow into a mature infrastructure role.
• Reliable, on time with good attendance.
• Must be a team player and work with the various members of IT.
• A can‑do attitude is essential. If a user asks a question, the first response should not be no, we should always try to help where we can.
• Ability to be reliable, this role will require some regular out of hours working based on regular maintenance, Some IT qualifications, for example: National Diploma, HND or degree in IT. Or equivalent IT qualifications Azure, MCP / MCSA / MCSE or CCNA.

Desirable

• Active Directory / Entra ID experience
• Previous infrastructure or 3rd line experience
• Experience maintaining Dell PowerEdge servers
• Compellent SAN experience
• Hyper‑V cluster experience / Virtual Machine Manager
• Microsoft Failover clusters
• Average SQL server administration
• Competent networking skills
• Experience with backup technologies
• ADFS, ADCS
• DHCP
• Internal and external DNS
• Domain sites and trusts
• MDM with Office 365
• BitLocker
• DFS
• UPS and PDU management
• Certificate management, (SSL), generate CSRs and apply certificates
• PowerShell
• NAS / SAN and iSCSI volume management
• Previous monitoring management (PRTG)
• ITIL V3 foundation
• Maintaining build images
• Decommissioning infrastructure

About XPS Group

XPS Group is a prominent UK consultancy and administration firm within the pensions and insurance sectors. As a FTSE 250 company with over 2000 employees, we leverage expertise alongside advanced technology to serve over 1,400 pension schemes and their sponsors. Our goal is to foster a workplace where diverse talents thrive. XPS Group IT provides IT services to all XPS offices located across the UK and Ireland. XPS currently employs 2,000 employees across multiple business areas. XPS have an in‑house IT Service Desk, 2nd line, 3rd line and infrastructure engineers. There is a dedicated Cyber Security Team monitoring the security of the network and servers. There is a primary and secondary data centre which uses Hyper‑V servers. Around 200 virtual and 19 physical servers exist across the business.

This role will be remote however there will be some office attendance. XPS have many large projects in the pipeline, office moves, migration to the cloud, which will mean the department will remain very busy for the next 18 months+. Some of these projects may require you to travel to other XPS sites or the XPS London data centre.

Compensation & Benefits

Enjoy a competitive salary, annual discretionary bonus, and 25 days’ holiday with buy / sell flexibility. Benefits include pension matching, healthcare plans, life assurance, and retailer discounts. We support our team with a flexible benefits scheme, employee assistance, and digital GP service. Participating in volunteering events is encouraged with paid volunteer days available. Referral bonuses are offered for introducing suitable candidates to XPS.