Infrastructure Operations Specialist (M365 & Azure)

Laing O'Rourke group; Dartford; Remote; GBP 60,000 - 86,000; Full time

Job summary

Laing O'Rourke is seeking an Infrastructure Operations Specialist to manage and evolve our Azure and Microsoft 365 environments. The role focuses on delivering reliable, secure cloud services that underpin a large engineering and construction business.

You will work closely with Operations, Security and Service Management to resolve incidents, implement automations and contribute to infrastructure projects and service improvements across the UK-based environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in IT with 3+ years in operational, customer-facing support.
• Hands-on Azure administration in live environments.
• Experience administering Microsoft 365.
• Strong knowledge of Azure infra, networking, monitoring, security, backup, and resilience.
• Experience with AD/Entra ID, RBAC, enterprise apps and SSO.
• Experience resolving complex 2nd/3rd line incidents and root cause analysis.
• Scripting or automation with PowerShell or Azure CLI.
• Familiar with ITIL-aligned service management and change control.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related field, or equivalent.
• Collaborative, customer-focused with ability to explain tech clearly.

Responsibilities

• Operate and continually improve Azure and Microsoft 365 services.
• Provide 2nd- and 3rd-line support for incidents and problems.
• Administer Azure infrastructure including VMs, storage, networking, load balancing, private endpoints.
• Support Azure networking, VNets, DNS, NSGs, Azure Firewall and hybrid setups.
• Manage identity with Active Directory and Entra ID, RBAC and SSO.
• Monitor availability and performance using Azure Monitor and Log Analytics.
• Maintain cloud security controls with Defender for Cloud and Azure Policy.
• Support backup, recovery, resilience, and DR testing.
• Monitor Azure consumption and advise on cost optimization.
• Automate repeatable tasks with PowerShell, Azure CLI and IaC tools.
• Support Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Intune, tenant config and licensing.
• Contribute to governance, data protection and eDiscovery controls.
• Plan, document, test and deliver changes with customer impact in mind.
• Maintain runbooks and knowledge articles.

Skills

Azure administration

M365 administration

PowerShell scripting

Azure CLI

RBAC / Entra ID

ITIL knowledge

Incident analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IS or related

Tools

PowerShell

Azure CLI

Bicep / ARM templates

SolarWinds

Nutanix

Commvault

Job description

Infrastructure Operations Specialist

Azure & Microsoft 365

Help shape reliable, secure and continually improving cloud services at the heart of a major engineering and construction business.

Laing O'Rourke's IT function has renewed its strategy to support the company's ambition to transform the construction industry, making it more sustainable, more productive, and fit for the future.

Technology has a critical role to play in achieving this ambition. Our focus is on applying digital capability in ways that genuinely matter, shaping how complex projects are delivered, how decisions are made, and how innovation improves outcomes for people, communities, and the environment.

Our mission is clear: to create a modern and resilient technology environment where trusted data informs every decision, AI enhances every process, and digital capability enables the organisation to operate with greater scale and productivity.

To deliver this, we are building a different kind of IT function, one that is trusted by the business, forward looking in its thinking, and deeply connected to operational outcomes. We are looking for individuals who are curious, thoughtful, and motivated by contributing to work that has real industry impact.

The role

As an Infrastructure Operations Specialist, you will provide second- and third-line operational support across our cloud environment. Your primary focus will be Microsoft Azure, complemented by support for Microsoft 365 services.

You will help maintain the availability, security, performance and capacity of our services while resolving complex incidents, delivering controlled changes and identifying opportunities to automate and improve how the environment is supported.

Working collaboratively with colleagues across Operations, Engineering, Security, Service Management and the Service Desk, you will provide practical technical guidance and contribute to infrastructure projects, migrations and service improvements.

Key responsibilities

• Operate, monitor and continually improve Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 services.
• Provide second- and third-line support, taking complex incidents and problems through investigation, resolution and root cause analysis.
• Administer Azure infrastructure and platform services, including virtual machines, storage, networking, load balancing and private endpoints.
• Support Azure networking and connectivity across VNets, subnets, routing, DNS, Network Security Groups, Azure Firewall and hybrid environments.
• Manage identity and access services using Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID, including RBAC, privileged access, managed identities, application registrations, enterprise applications and single sign‑on.
• Monitor availability, performance and capacity using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, alerts, dashboards and Service Health.
• Maintain cloud security controls through Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Azure Policy, secure configuration standards and vulnerability‑remediation plans.
• Support backup, recovery, resilience and disaster‑recovery arrangements, including restoration and continuity testing.
• Monitor Azure consumption and cost, investigate unusual activity and recommend practical configuration, reservation or licensing improvements.
• Automate repeatable activities using PowerShell, Azure CLI and infrastructure‑as‑code tools such as Bicep or ARM templates.
• Support Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive and Intune, including tenant configuration, access, licensing, provisioning, mail flow and endpoint management.
• Contribute to Microsoft 365 governance, data retention, data loss prevention, information protection and eDiscovery controls.
• Plan, document, test and deliver changes with careful consideration of customer impact and operational risk.
• Maintain clear procedures, configuration records, support runbooks and knowledge articles.

Essential requirements

• At least five years' experience in IT, including three years in an operational, customer-facing support role.
• Substantial hands‑on experience administering and supporting Microsoft Azure in a live operational environment.
• Practical experience administering and supporting Microsoft 365.
• Strong knowledge of Azure infrastructure, networking, monitoring, security, backup and resilience.
• Experience with Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID, including identity and access management, RBAC, enterprise applications and single sign‑on.
• Experience resolving complex second‑or third‑line incidents and completing evidence‑based root cause analysis.
• Scripting or automation experience using PowerShell, Azure CLI or comparable tools.
• Familiarity with ITIL‑aligned service‑management and change‑control processes.
• A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or a related subject, or equivalent practical experience.
• A collaborative and customer‑focused approach, with the ability to explain technical issues clearly and consider their wider business impact.

Desirable requirements

• Experience with one or more of the following would be beneficial:
• Infrastructure as code using Bicep or ARM templates.
• Windows Server and Linux workloads hosted in Azure.
• SolarWinds monitoring tools.
• Nutanix infrastructure.
• Nasuni file services.
• Commvault backup and recovery.
• Hybrid Azure and Microsoft 365 connectivity.
• Azure Private Link and private endpoints.
• Azure Firewall, Azure Virtual WAN, VLANs and hybrid routing.
• Illumio micro‑segmentation.
• Microsoft 365 retention, data loss prevention, eDiscovery and information‑protection capabilities.

What makes this role compelling

This is an opportunity to work across both day‑to‑day cloud operations and meaningful service improvement, with Azure forming the core of the role. You will have scope to resolve technically complex issues, improve monitoring and resilience, introduce automation and help shape how cloud services are operated across the organisation.

The breadth of the environment will allow you to deepen your Azure expertise while maintaining experience across Microsoft 365, identity, security, networking and hybrid infrastructure.

About Laing O'Rourke

Laing O'Rourke is an international engineering and construction business known for pushing boundaries in digital engineering, modern methods of construction and sustainable delivery. With more than 150 years of heritage, we are committed to creating environments in which diverse teams can excel and thrive.

Accessibility & Inclusion

We are proud to be part of the Disability Confident scheme. If you meet the essential criteria and would like to be considered through our Offer an Interview scheme, please let us know. We're also happy to provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

If you require an alternative format of this advert or need support during the application, please contact: [e-mail]

#LI-SB1