Data Centre Lab Engineer

NP Group; West Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Networking People (UK) seeks a Data Centre Lab Engineer on a 6-month contract in West Yorkshire, onsite four days per week. Start date is immediate; rate £350-£380 per day inside IR35.

The role is hands-on, involving racking, cabling, hardware configuration and certification testing, while software configuration is handled by other teams. You will troubleshoot hardware and recreate environments for live incidents and investigations.

Qualifications

• Hands-on data centre hardware experience with racking, cabling, physical server builds and troubleshooting.
• Experience with hardware consoles (iDRAC, iLO or XClarity).
• Working theoretical knowledge of VMware and virtualization.
• Familiarity with SAN/storage from a hardware connectivity perspective.
• Ability to follow diagrams/specifications and liaise with multiple teams.
• Strong troubleshooting skills and independent problem solving.
• Experience in regulated environments such as financial services is beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Racking, cabling and physically installing hardware, connecting it correctly to storage infrastructure
• Certification testing of new server and component hardware (e.g. Dell PowerEdge) – confirming it racks and functions correctly
• Troubleshooting hardware and server issues
• Recreating environments to support investigation of live incidents
• Liaising with software teams, network teams and floor management as required
• Working across BAU tickets and planned certification/project work
• Supporting hardware provisioning and decommissioning

Skills

Hands-on data centre hardware

Hardware troubleshooting

VMware knowledge

Server cabling and racking

Cross-team liaison

Tools

iDRAC

iLO

XClarity

Job description

Position: Data Centre Lab Engineer (Contract)

Start Date: Immediate

Duration: 6-Month Contract (extendable)

Location: West Yorkshire, onsite 4 days a week

Rate: £350-380 per day (Inside IR35)

Reference: 20659

This is a hands-on, hardware-focused role. Racking, cabling, hardware configuration and certification testing sit with this team, while software configuration itself is handled by other teams. The successful candidate needs a strong theoretical understanding of the software side, but the day to day work is physical - connecting hardware to storage infrastructure, testing new server and component hardware, and troubleshooting when things go wrong.

The role combines scheduled work - certification testing and project work planned weeks or months ahead - with reactive work, such as recreating an environment to help investigate a live incident elsewhere in the company.

Key Responsibilities

• Racking, cabling and physically installing hardware, connecting it correctly to storage infrastructure
• Certification testing of new server and component hardware (e.g. Dell PowerEdge) - confirming it racks and functions correctly
• Troubleshooting hardware and server issues
• Recreating environments to support investigation of live incidents
• Liaising with software teams (on diagrams and configuration handover), network teams (VLANs etc.) and floor management, depending on the project
• Working across both BAU tickets and planned certification/project work
• Supporting hardware provisioning and decommissioning

Skills and Experience Required

• Genuine hands-on data centre hardware experience - racking, cabling, physical server builds and troubleshooting
• Confirmed hardware console experience - iDRAC, iLO or XClarity
• Working theoretical knowledge of VMware and virtualisation (software configuration itself is handled by other teams)
• SAN/storage familiarity from a hardware connectivity perspective
• Comfortable liaising with other technical teams and following detailed diagrams/specifications
• Solid troubleshooting ability - must be solution focused and able to work through hardware problems independently
• Experience in a regulated environment such as financial services is beneficial

Networking People (UK) is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.